Chuando Tan

Chuando Tan was born on March 3, 1966 in Singapore. He spent his formative years in Toa Payoh and was the youngest of three children. His father was a famous ink artist and painter. Tan currently remains a bachelor and spends most of his time with his friends and at the gym. He prefers to live a low-key life as he is shy. He confessed that after he became popular, he stayed at home for two days because it overwhelmed him.

Chuando Tan pursued the arts and creative direction since his academic days. He first studied at Nanyang Primary and later Pei Dao Secondary School. He went on to earn a diploma in graphic design from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. However, he started working as a model in the late 1980s and became one of the most successful male models in Singapore. Later, he switched to working as a Mandarin pop singer under his stage name Chen Yufei, but this change was short-lived. He decided to become a fashion and celebrity photographer, in 1996. In his initial days, he photographed popular Asian celebrities, such as actresses, Shu Qi and Rosamund Kwan. He also worked for international fashion magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar, Muse, Jalouse, L’Officiel, and Elle.

In 2006, he entered into a collaboration with Frey Ow, a photographer and engineer. The duo was called Chuando and Frey. They have since worked their way to the top and are among the most reputed photographers in the world today. Their clientele includes L’Officiel & L’Officiel Hommes, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, Levis, and Motorola among others. Their most well-known project is their art direction for the album cover and photographs for Janet Jackson’s album ‘Discipline’ in 2008.

Chuando Tan created his Instagram account in February 2015 in order to expand his professional network. He initially posted photographs from his projects and shoots. Within some time, he also started posting photographs of himself on holidays. His well-trained, fit body was a constant feature in these photographs and initially earned him around 100,000 fans. However, he became famous overnight after he was featured on Yidian Zixun, a Chinese news website. The feature included a piece on how Tan looked young and almost half his age despite being 50 years old. The story was picked up by other news outlets, and in no time, Tan had several agencies calling him for an interview. His Instagram account became hugely popular overnight and witnessed a surge of followers and messages. Currently, after his story went viral, Tan has over 1 million followers on Instagram.

While Tan’s status as a social media influencer is what makes him popular, he continues to work as a photographer. He was recently seen alongside the Chinese actress Angelbaby as her photographer. He also runs his own modelling agency, Ave Management, and is actively involved in its administration. Tan is also an ambassador for the Chinese charity, Spread the Hope, alongside other stars, such as Naomi Campbell, Gigi Leung, and JJ Lin.