Let’s get one thing straight: you do not have much in common with Kris Wu.

Unlike the Chinese-born, Canadian- raised entertainer, you will probably never star in a film that grosses $550 million in international box office receipts. It is also a safe bet that you will never be the first person from your country to chart a #1 single on iTunes. And try as you might to always look your best, your odds of being the first person of Chinese heritage to front a campaign for a major European fashion house are growing slimmer by the day.

However, if it’s any consolation, there are few people on planet Earth today who can claim to have acquired as much global fame and prominence as 27-year-old Wu. And yet, he is acutely aware that you have quite probably never heard of him. When I meet him at Koreatown’s kitschy-cool Break Room 86 on a balmy May evening, he divulges that he has put a great deal on the line to change that.