Jackson Yee tops Forbes China Celebrity List for second straight year
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BEIJING • Singer-actor Jackson Yee has topped the Forbes China Celebrity List for the second year running, while actor Wang Yibo came in second and actress Jia Ling made a big leap from 93rd last year to third this year after a wildly successful directorial debut.
Yee, 20, snagged the top position last year, thanks to the critically acclaimed romantic crime thriller Better Days (2019), which won him several awards and nominations, including the Best Newcomer awards at the Hong Kong Film Awards and Asian Film Awards last year.
Yee, a member of Chinese boy band TFBoys, followed up Better Days with two well-received movies - A Little Red Flower (2020) and Korean War epic The Battle At Lake Changjin (2021).
The Forbes list ranks Chinese celebrities based on factors such as their commercial value or exposure in the media.
Wang, 24, who is ranked second, made his debut as a member of the South Korean-Chinese boy band Uniq in 2014. He has acted in popular television series such as the The Untamed (2019), My Strange Friend (2020) and Legend Of Fei (2020 to 2021).
Jia, 39, is the director behind tear-jerking drama-comedy Hi, Mom (2021), which is inspired by her late mother.
The movie was the second-highest-grossing movie in China after the action blockbuster Wolf Warrior 2 (2017) and highest-grossing movie ever by a female director, beating American director Patty Jenkin's Wonder Woman (2017).
In fourth place is Chinese actress Yang Mi, 34, who has appeared in several Chinese variety shows, television serials and movies. Taiwanese singer Jay Chou, 42, whom Forbes says is an "evergreen" in the music industry, is ranked fifth.
