Everyone else in the family had injured their finger in the slicer but not me and I was proud of that. Inevitably though, one day, I did and I was quite upset.

In those days when you bought bottles of soda, you collected the caps and received a gift - a yo-yo or even a Rubik's cube. I was always the first to have these because we'd have them to give out at the shop.

St John Bosco Primary School was where I went for my primary education. I was always second in class after a girl who always came first. During break, I liked to hang out with the girls. We'd tie rubber bands together and jump over the chain. I also played volleyball.

One day, though, the PE teacher exploded at me and said: 'Do you want to be a sissy?' From that day on, I played with the boys because of course I didn't want to be a sissy. I was a traditional kid who did as he was told.

I went on to Chan Sui Ki (La Salle) College in Ho Man Tin for secondary school - and in the process went from being near the top of the class to near the bottom. I simply lost interest in studying. The boys would call me names.

It wasn't until Form Three or Four when I shot up and became one of the tallest that they stopped. I also liked playing sports such as badminton and volley ball and was on the school teams. It made me more determined and developed my team spirit. Form Three was also when I won a singing contest and took part in an English speaking competition.

I was always good at maths and English; in fact, in my matriculation in my final school year I achieved a perfect score in pure and applied maths. That final school year I went to Adelaide to study, where my sister was living. Like many of the decisions in my family, it was Wong Tai Sin Temple where my mother worshipped that decided it for me.

I remember stepping off the plane and was mesmerised by how wide the blue sky was.

There weren't many Asians living in Adelaide but that wasn't a problem. I was once yelled at by a big fat man on the bus who mentioned World War II thinking I was Japanese. Other passengers told him to shut up.

At school, my teacher made maths so much fun. I went on to Flinders University, in Adelaide, to do computer science and then headed to the bright lights of Sydney in the second year to continue it. But I also had this interest in music and musicals - I'd sung for television ads when I was younger - and I did a summer course in audio engineering.

For six years I was an IT consultant, which took me to Germany and California. It was in San Francisco that I found sexuality wasn't an issue and where I came to terms with mine.

I remember going into a cinema in Yau Ma Tei when I was younger and watching a gay-themed film called Torch Song Trilogy. There was this mysterious force guiding me into the building and I felt very moved by the film. I suppose I'd always wanted my own family and kids and being a gay man wouldn't allow me to do that.

Later, I moved back to Australia and became involved in amateur musicals such as Oklahoma! and Pacific Overtures. The director of the latter really opened my eyes and, having seen a clairvoyant who described a picture of me performing, I took the plunge. I quit my job and enrolled at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney.

I'm so happy to be doing what I do and to be passionate about it. I took a series of risks building up to the big one - to leave my job and pursue a new career. I've found that by taking a leap, the net will appear. You have to do it when the opportunity presents itself - and in that split second of a heartbeat.