How well do you know Xu Bin?

Season 2 of Campus Superstar to be exact. The program is a talent search competition looking for new singing talent and the champion of the 2007 series was Shawn Tok. Xu Bin was but one of the contestants in the show who made it to the 6th to 10th place for the Male category.

"In my teenage years, I signed up for Campus Superstar with a happy-go-lucky mentality. I was there to gain experience and wanted to see where it would take me. Advancing into the top 20 back then was totally unexpected but a pleasant takeaway. It was a process of growth and honing my skills, and it set a very good foundation for my later years in showbiz."

Another fun fact about Xu Bin? He actually isn't Singaporean but was born in Fuzhou, China and moved here to study. "During my first few years as a student in Singapore, I was relatively young and all I knew I had to do was to adapt to this whole new environment. I did not have a close relationship with my classmates back then as I was still getting used to the English language, hence I spent a lot of time just studying and reading. Little did I ever imagine I would be taking on a journey in showbiz years later."

Xu Bin wouldn't step in front of a camera again until 2012 when he clinched the role of Sky in the local film Timeless Love. He took part in three dramas that same year — It Takes Two, Poetic Justice and Don't Stop Believin' — thereby setting Xu Bin down the path as an actor.

Since then, Xu Bin was named one of the 8 Dukes of Caldecott Hill, a term given to a group of rising young actors that also consisted of Zhang Zhenhuan, Romeo Tan, Desmond Tan, Jeffrey Xu, Ian Fang, Aloysius Pang and Shane Pow. His popularity would later be affirmed with multiple Star Awards' Top 10 Most Popular Male Artistes wins.

Headed by Xu Bin and Chantalle Ng, My Star Bride was the drama of 2021 where they played a married couple with the latter's character hailing from Vietnam. That show was not only popular in Singapore but also attracted many fans in China as the show's video views on Douyin hit over 100 million in August 2021.

Consequently, My Star Bride was instrumental in giving Xu Bin a career boost. He snagged a Top 10 Most Popular Male Artistes win in 2022, six years after his last trophy. He was also up for his first Best Actor win but lost out to Chen Hanwei.

As we previously mentioned, Xu Bin moved from Fuzhou to Singapore for studies. He was 11 when it happened. However, Xu Bin wasn't a bright student then, especially since he lacked the English proficiency our education system demands, scoring nine out of 100 (which he chose out of luck on the multiple choice questions) for the English language primary school placement test.

My mother was very sad and the both of us felt very dejected as we walked out of the school. That was when we bumped into the first person who would change my life for the better. Madam Lim, [who was] principal of the primary school. We didn’t know that she was the principal… I don’t remember exactly what happened but we had a short chat. She said to my mum, ‘I feel that this little boy is exceptionally smart after looking into his eyes.' She asked me if I knew any English words so I said 'TV', 'fridge'. Perhaps our interaction made a difference, and I wanted to do my best after seeing how sad my mum was. I wanted to prove myself to the principal, and even though I wasn’t fluent, I was confident when speaking to her [in English]."

Principal Madam Lim decided to give him a chance and placed him in primary four. Through his own hard work and the help of his classmates and relatives, Xu Bin eventually acclimatised and began passing English. It was no wonder then that Xu Bin considers her to be the most pivotal person is his life.

With a good boy image, it can be difficult to imagine that Xu Bin ever had a rebellious phase back in his younger days. "I was a typical bad student, and our teachers couldn’t do anything about it." He even got into fights as he "was not happy" with the other people involved. Xu Bin was also once beaten up by the jealous ex-boyfriend of his then-girlfriend and his gang of members in Orchard when he was around 17 or 18.

Xu Bin later began to shed negative friends and influences after he got to know celeb Dasmond Koh during his third year in polytechnic. "I started breaking away from that circle after I got to know Dasmond, who would call me to urge me to think about my future. Dasmond called me one night and we had a three or four-hour-long conversation that lasted until the wee hours of the morning. He convinced me to give acting a try, which may not be lucrative at first, but might gradually give me the chance to make more in the future."

At the tail end of 2017, Xu Bin announced that he was getting married to Chinese national Evelyn Wang Yifei. "She’s from China and she graduated from the Beijing Film Academy. She’s 27 years old and works in the real estate business with her parents in China. I met her at a friend’s birthday party and fell in love with her as she’s very pretty. We’ve been in a long-distance relationship since and we try to meet up several times a year by flying to and from China but sometimes we don’t get to see each other for three months at a go. It’s been really tough for her but she has been very sweet and understanding about it."

Three weddings were held — a lunch in Singapore and then one in their respective hometown in Fujian and Wuhan, respectively.

A year later, the couple welcomed Ethan as a new addition to their family. Then in 2021, the couple welcomed their second child, daughter Elyse, thereby making it a family of three.

In 2022, the family of four had a scare when Xu Bin's son contracted the rare complication Multi-system Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) after testing positive for Covid-19. Symptoms of MIS-C include persistent fever, difficulty breathy, neck swelling and more. Ethan was the first to get Covid-19 before spreading it to his father and sister and because of the complication, he had to be warded at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

A fellow member of the 8 Dukes, Xu Bin's friendship with the late Aloysius Pang is well-documented. They are of similar ages and are both managed by Dasmond Koh and Noon Talk Media.

Not long after I joined showbiz, a director told me that I should maintain my friendship with Aloysius, and not let it change over the years. At that time I didn’t understand why he would say something like that, but I soon learned that it happens very often, where two people go from being close to merely ‘colleagues'."

In fact, Aloysius Pang was instrumental in picking out the name of Xu Bin's son's name, Ethan. Aloysius Pang gave Xu Bin a list of 20 baby name suggestions, each with a pronunciation guide and what it meant. The couple took time to contemplate before choosing Ethan because they hoped he would be strong and firm when he grew up. "I also hope that his English will be as good as Aloysius'."

In a 2022 interview, Xu Bin revealed that he has enjoyed collecting items such as stamps and coins from all around the world since he was young. He, however, is against displaying "anything that looks somewhat human". "Figurines, dolls and the like... I won't want to display it if it's shaped like a human or has a face. I don't really dare to buy Bearbricks too."

In fact, there is a portrait of himself in his home but it isn't displayed. Instead, it is hidden behind a curtain with the face facing inwards.