Transformers 4 Casts Chinese Superstar Han Geng

Chinese Mandopop singer Han Geng has been cast in Transformers 4, where he still star opposite Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci, Kelsey Grammer, Jack Reynor, Nicola Peltz, Sophia Myles, TJ Miller and Chinese actress Li Bingbing in the fourth installment--director Michael Bay's last as the man behind the camera. "Han Geng has been a sensation in China and we are happy to have him in our movie," said Michael Bay. Think of him as kind of a Chinese version of Justin Timberlake, transitioning from boy band member to successful solo artist to actor in the span of a fairly short time. He debuted in 2005 as a member of the hugely popular group Super Junior, Han Geng later turned to a solo career, releasing his first album "Geng Xin" in 2010, which went on to sell over a million copies. His most recent album "Hope in the Darkness" was released in 2012 and has earned Han Geng a number of hit singles. Han Geng has appeared on both the big and small screen, with roles that have shown his range as an actor. In 2008, Han Geng appeared in CCTV's Stage of Youth, a 12-episode drama that drew incredible ratings. Among his big screen roles, he had a cameo appearance in the 2010 feature film The Founding Party, along with other A-list Chinese celebrities and later that year had his first starring role on the silver screen in the action movie My Kingdom. His most recent starring role was in So Young, a major box office hit in China, having earned more the $115 million since its release in May. Transformers 4 marks Han Geng's debut in an English language production. The film is being made as a Chinese co-production, much like Looper and Iron Man 3, although so far it seems as though Paramount has been careful to avoid the controversy that cropped up around those films, which the Chinese film industry had claimed were co-productions in name only and so classified just for the tax break.  Paramount Pictures will release the film on June 27th, 2014.