Acting career

Wang had displayed interest in acting when he starred in several musical plays when he was in high school and college. In 2000, he made his feature film debut in the Hong Kong action crime thriller, China Strike Force, starring alongside Aaron Kwok, Norika Fujiwara, and Ruby Lin. Hong Kong critics had remarked Wang for giving a well-toned performance as his first film. His next starring role was the 2001 Hong Kong science fiction film The Avenging Fist as the main character Nova. He then starred in two Japanese films Moon Child (2003) and Starlit High Noon (2005).

The major breakthrough in his film career was in Lust, Caution, directed and produced by Academy Award-winner Ang Lee. The film is based on a novella written by Eileen Chang and revolves around a plot to assassinate a high-ranking Chinese official in the Wang Jingwei Government using a beautiful young woman as bait. Wang plays Kuang Yumin, a patriotic college student who persuades Wong Chia-chi (Tang Wei) to seduce Mr. Yee (Tony Leung). The film was released in the US cinemas on September 28, 2007.Lust, Caution was produced on a budget of approximately $15 million and grossed $64,574,876 worldwide.
In 2009, Wang was selected to star with Jackie Chan in Little Big Soldier.
In 2010, Wang stepped behind the camera to direct and star in, Love in Disguise (Chinese: 戀愛通告; pinyin: Liàn ài tōng gào), also starring Liu Yifei and Joan Chen.Love in Disguise went on to become the highest grossing film for a first-time director in Chinese history grossing over 60,000,000 RMB domestically.

Wang co-starred with Chris Hemsworth and Tang Wei in Blackhat (2015), an action thriller film on cybercrime which was written, directed and produced by Michael Mann.
In July 2013, Wang was announced to be starring in an adaptation of Stan Lee's Annihilator. The film is a co-production between Magic Storm Entertainment, who partners with Stan Lee's POW! Entertainment banner and the Chinese state-run National Film Capital.