In April 2001, classic Taiwanese drama Meteor Garden premiered on television, which means it’s been exactly two decades since the luscious-locked boys of F4 stole hearts all over Asia. Feel old yet?

The show launched the showbiz careers of Jerry Yan, Vanness Wu, Vic Chou, and Ken Chu to stratospheric heights, and the quartet became certified heartthrobs and household names.

Even after going their separate ways in 2009, they continued to make headlines for both their professional endeavours and personal lives (although probably more so for the latter).

Keep scrolling to see what the guys of F4 have been up to over the years.

Arguably one of the most popular members — if not the most popular member — of F4, Jerry aka Dao Ming Si started developing his career in China in 2010.

Last year, the 44-year-old starred in idol drama Count Your Lucky Stars opposite Chinese actress Shen Yue, who took on the role of Shan Cai (played by Barbie Hsu in the 2001 version) in the 2018 remake of Meteor Garden.

Their 20-year age gap drew criticism online, with some likening their onscreen coupling to “an uncle being in love with his niece”.

Although the series generated a lot of buzz, it failed to live up to the massive success of Meteor Garden. In terms of the big screen, Jerry doesn’t really have anything too notable to speak of, but there’s reportedly a lot of anticipation for his new film Tempting Hearts, which is set to be released next month.

When it comes to his love life, Jerry hasn’t exactly had the smoothest of journeys (believe it or not, he once told 8days.sg that it’s “hard” for him to meet girls). The eligible bachelor’s most high-profile relationship was with Lin Chiling, who married Japanese singer-actor Akira in 2019.

Experiencing better fortune in his career and romance is Vic.

In 2009, he received his first Best Actor nomination at the Golden Bell Awards for his role in drama Black & White, and his loss came as a big surprise as many were expecting him to bag the trophy. The 39-year-old finally took home the prize for Coming Home four years later, in 2013.

Alas, things kinda went downhill from there when he shifted his focus to China that same year. His shows like Beauties in the Closet and The Flame’s Daughter didn’t create much hype, and his latest project Palace of Devotion is being panned so badly, it has a 3.8 out of 10 rating on Chinese social networking site Douban. Ouch.

On the bright side, he’s got a blissful marriage to enjoy. Vic, who dated Barbie for three years in the noughties (yes, Hua Ze Lei got the girl in real life, at least for a while), married Taiwanese actress Reen Yu in 2015 and they have a daughter, who turns five this year.

Vic was recently busy filming iQiyi original production Danger Zone, his first Taiwanese drama in nine years, in which he stars alongside our very own Christopher Lee.

Vanness has — or rather, had — a connection to Singapore thanks to his five-year marriage to local heiress and socialite Arissa Cheo. The ex-couple dated on-and-off for seven years before walking down the aisle, and their divorce was finalised in early 2019.

The 42-year-old, who played Mei Zuo in Meteor Garden, has proven to be quite the multi-talented entertainer. In 2006, he formed a one-off pop duo with South Korean star Kangta, and he has also collaborated with several other artists on his many studio albums.

However, his music didn’t really manage to make a mark and has taken a backseat to his acting and variety show endeavours in recent years.

2019 was a busy year for him as he appeared in Ip Man 4: The Finale and Undercover Punch and Gun, as well as the third season of hit talent show Street Dance of China, where he got to show off his dancing skills.

Poor Ken, who played Xi Men, has probably had it the hardest, at least when it comes to his career, compared to his former bandmates. In fact, Ken, who lived in Singapore when he was a teenager and was a student at Boon Lay Secondary School, was once cruelly dubbed “the worst F4 member” (yikes).

In 2007, he starred in The Legend of Chu Liuxiang as the titular character, but viewers slammed him for being unworthy of the role 'cos they didn't think he was handsome enough. Still, the drama got a lot of attention and is widely considered as a career-defining piece of work for him.

These days, the 42-year-old, who married Chinese actress Vivian Han in 2016, is living a much more low-key life and hasn't done much acting since 2018.

He is also very into ceramic art these days and often shows his finds on social media.

Since their disbandment, all four F4 members have only reunited twice… well, if you count their gig at Jiangsu TV’s 1001 Night Festival in October last year, which didn’t really happen ‘cos only Vanness was actually there in person while the others were projected onto the stage virtually. Cheat people’s feelings.

The station later clarified that the rest were unable to travel to China due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Before that, F4 performed ‘Meteor Rain’ and ‘Di Yi Shi Jian’ (or ‘First Time’) at the Jiangsu TV Spring Festival in 2013, and yes, they actually showed up in person that time.

When grilled about a possible reunion earlier this year, Vic admitted that it “might be a little troublesome” to plan anything ‘cos they’ll need to observe all the current trends in order to look the part, but added that as long as the other three are open to it, he’d be happy to do it too.

Photos: PBE Media, Jerry Yan/Weibo, Danger Zone/Facebook, Vanness Wu/Weibo, Ken Chu/Weibo, Count Your Lucky Stars/Weibo, Vic Chou/Weibo