Kris Wu was born to Stacey Yu Wu and Li Kaiming. His parents divorced when he was a toddler and he was raised solely by his mother.

At the age of ten, he moved to Vancouver, Canada with his mother.

He returned to China at the age of 14 and attended Guangzhou No.7 Middle School for a brief period, after which he and his mother went back to Vancouver, where he attended Point Grey Secondary School and Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School under the name Kevin Li.

At the age of 18, Wu auditioned for SM Entertainment’s Canadian global auditions, which were held in Vancouver, after passing the auditions, he became a trainee for the company and was offered a role in Exo in 2012.