Story highlights Kris Wu got his start with the popular Korean-Chinese pop band, EXO.

The Canadian-Chinese artist starred in multiple movies, including "xXx: Return of Xander Cage."

Kris Wu's latest single "Deserve" rose to No. 1 on the U.S. iTunes Top Songs Chart.

(CNN) His face is plastered across billboards in China, but when Kris Wu participated in the NBA All-Star Celebrity Basketball Game in Toronto last year, fellow stars had no idea who he was.

"Toronto is obviously Drake city," said Wu about the popular rapper and team coach. "It's his hometown, but I had more fans than him ... so pretty much everyone was like who is this guy?"

Terrence Jenkins of Team USA and Kris Wu of Team Canada during the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game in 2016 in Toronto.

The Chinese-Canadian artist is hard to miss these days. After getting his start in the very popular Korean-Chinese pop group EXO, the 6-foot-plus star has gone solo, starring in multiple movies in China and Hollywood, modeling for such brands as Burberry and judging a popular Chinese reality show.

Now he's casting for a complete crossover, working on a new English-language album set for next year. Collaborators include Houston rapper, Travis Scott. The two just released "Deserve," a club-banging single which rose to No. 1 on the US iTunes Top Songs Chart within three hours of release in October.

"I always wanted to be a youth influencer," said Wu, 27. "Working with Travis, I felt like we had a similar vision .... We kind of clicked right away because of it."

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