Social Connect with Kent S. Leung

By: Hamza Shafique
 

We recently noticed Chinese actor Kent S Leung in an upcoming Pakistani Film trailer Chalay Thay Saath (CTS) and thought of him as a perfect celeb to interview for our new segment Social Connect.

How does Social Connect works? We try to get in touch with Celebs on their official social media pages and ask them for a 5 questions interview. If we get a positive reply, then we ask for an official email address to make sure we are in touch with the right person. Rest of the interview and correspondence is purely on mail to stay true to the theme of the segment.

Luckily for us we got positive response from Kent and he had a website with official email which made our verification process easy. Kent's journey and struggle to achieve his dreams is very inspirational and real. I believe our readers will enjoy Kent’s take on 5 question asked by DDR(Dubai Desi Reviews).

 

DDR-Who is Kent S. Leung? Tell us a little bit about your journey from being a model in Canada to Beijing film Industry.



Kent-Well to keep things from becoming a novel, I'm a CBC (aka Canadian Born Chinese) born and raised in Vancouver. I grew up without a splinter of an idea I would become an actor. When I went on to study Psychology in university is when I realized how interested I was in human behavior. At that time, I was also transforming myself from being an extremely average pretty chubby teenager into a gym addicted overcompensating young adult.

Ludi Lin Power Ranger as Zack

By the time I graduated I had gotten enough of modeling. By no means am I saying I did a lot but I learned very quickly how superficial it was and how little I was learning from it.In the following years, I hosted a local TV program called Azn Lifestyles TV. This show boosted me into a position where I could sign a talent agent. The years later included me slugging out countless number of auditions and I say extremely modestly with an average amount of success.While struggling (and I do mean struggling) I learned as a minority in North America, trying to make it as an actor isn't exactly a piece of cake. It wasn't many years later until I heard talk of actors like me (CBCs or ABCs) moving to HK and the mainland of China to pursue a career in the entertainment industry over there. Years go by and I book a few roles.Got my name out there but no where near where I want to be. And where I want to be is essentially be the Chinese Leonardo Di Caprio. Not just an actor who has "a" career but an actor that has "the" career. So, after some thought I realize... shit... this thing in Vancouver kind of isn't working. One of my friends who helped me immensely once I arrived in Beijing is the Black Ranger (Ludi Lin) in the up and coming Power Rangers Movie. Suffice to say moving to China worked out well for him.

 

 

DDR-How did you become part of “Chalay Thay Saath”? How was your experience working in a Pakistani Film?

 

Kent-It was because of the people I met in Beijing that helped me get the role in CTS. How odd it does sound though when I tell people I moved to China and landed a role in a Pakistani film!

Shooting CTS was a lot of fun. I got to travel to some amazing places and meet and work with many amazing people. However, after 35 or so straight days in Hunza we all were starting to go a little crazy. But I wouldn't mind waking up to the view of the Hunza valley again!

DDR-I loved the part where you try to speak Urdu, in trailer of Chalay thay Saath, tell us about your character in the movie, how he becomes part of this group in the movie?

 

Kent-Adam in many ways is on a much more serious journey than the rest of the group when he meets them. His backstory is quite complex but in a nut shell he's on a journey to discover the truth of his family and more specifically his father. Adam as a character is wholesome and respects the concept of family very deeply. He's also extremely curious so on this trip he finds amazement and wonder in everything. But he finds Resham (Syra) the most fascinating of all.

 

DDR-How hard is it to keep, your true self intact while performing different characters?

 

Kent-Everyone's "true self" is constantly changing, whether you're an actor or an accountant. As an actor, we constantly explore many different facets of humanity and in doing so I believe we learn about ourselves arguably quite a bit more than others in more normal jobs do. Because of this constant self-exploration, we tend to know our true selves quite clearly and we find our own personality and character to be what makes us special. Because of that, even though we don the mask of characters many times throughout the year, we're good at separating what is character and what is ourselves. I don't mean to speak for all actors as we are all very different but I do feel this may be applicable to a lot of us. For me specifically I feel the "spell" of being in character is also increased by being around others that see you as that character. For example, being Adam for me makes a lot more sense and would come a lot easier when I'm around Syra, Osama, Mansha, Faras and Zhalay as opposed to say my brother, or parents. So being around people that live-in Kent's world as opposed to Adam's world and the environment itself plays a huge factor in bringing myself out of character when the film is done.

DDR- Any future projects? Where can we see more of you?

Kent-At the moment, nothing concrete but in talks with some Hollywood producers about some projects.As well as been chatting with a friend back in Vancouver about a role in a TV show pilot he's directing. But I'm gunning hard for a big role in something in China by the end of this year. That's the nature of the beast unfortunately.

Until I am Chinese Leonardo DiCaprio, I am (just) the decent looking foreign leading man opposite Pakistani super star Syra Shahroz. Not a bad place to be by any means but it still means that I unfortunately still got to go hunt me down my next gig!
 

DDR- Thankyou for your time and participation in Social Connect. We wish you best of luck for future and hope to see more of you in near future.
 

Kent- Thanks Hamza. Wishing you and your blog all the best