CITY OF HEROES Ever since I was a kid I have loved Hong Kong; I saw Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon and fell in love with martial arts films and [imagined] coming to Hong Kong and being involved in some way with the Hong Kong movies that I loved. I moved to Hong Kong in 1992 and completely fell in love with the city and its people; the energy and the excitement of the place really affected me. Here I was, in the city where Bruce Lee, Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen, Jet Li and Jean-Claude Van Damme all began their careers - and it was also the place where I was able to start my own career in film. Hong Kong has played a very strong role in my life, it's ... somewhere I'll always feel is my home. FULL CIRCLE I got started in martial arts when I was about seven years old, in an old drama studio [in Stockport, northern England] - I would ask my father to take me there early so I could watch the actors performing before the martial-arts class began. I found my two loves, acting and martial arts, at a very early age and knew from then what I wanted to do with my life. Growing up in Stockport, I felt like a normal kid but as I got older, I did feel a little different, being half English and half Persian. That's why I looked for a role model and found Bruce Lee. He transcended racial boundaries and everyone found something they could relate to in Bruce's messages and the characters he played. The irony with me appearing in Ip Man 2 is that if not for the real Ip Man, I don't think I would have led the life I lead now. Ip Man was Bruce Lee's sifu [teacher] - and now here I am playing a character who wants nothing more than to destroy Ip Man! I feel my own life and career have come full circle and it feels right. LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION Before I moved to Hong Kong, I went to a seminar that Donnie Yen was holding in London, which covered both real martial arts and Hong Kong film-style fighting. Donnie was the first actor I met and the first person I learned anything about film fighting from. Later on, I had the opportunity to work for British action director Mark Houghton on a couple of movies in Malaysia and he taught me about stunts and fighting for film. Then I moved to Hong Kong with my best friend and worked as a doorman at various clubs and did security work for Kim-Maree Penn's Signal 8 Security while I did what I could to try and break into film. A VILLAIN IS BORN I did a few small roles in films and would regularly send my portfolio and show reel to production companies and casting agencies, and that led to me being invited to come in and meet with legendary action director Yuen Woo-ping, who hired me to play the main villain in Tai Chi 2, which he also directed. The film starred Christy Chung and introduced a young Wushu athlete-turned-actor named Wu Jing as the hero. Director Tony Leung Siu-hong saw the movie and called me to come into Seasonal Film [the company that launched the careers of Chan and Van Damme] to meet him and producer Ng See-yuen. They hired me to play the lead villain in their English-language production Bloodmoon, which helped start my career in the West. IDENTITY CRISIS I've been based in Vancouver [Canada] for the past 10 years and have done a lot of work on movies like I Spy [co-starring with Eddie Murphy], 300, In The Name Of The King, and TV shows Reaper and Sanctuary. I moved to Vancouver after shooting a couple of films there and falling in love with a local girl. But after [the September 11 terrorist attacks] Hollywood just sees you as Middle Eastern because my last name is Persian, but really I'm just an English kid. In Hong Kong movies, I was 'a Westerner'. It didn't matter if I was Persian, English, French, American or from anywhere. They look for Westerners with a good look, acting/martial arts skills and good attitude. Hollywood isn't like that; writers there describe the ethnic make-up of the characters in the script and breakdowns, and it's white or black, with the occasional Asian, Indian or South American role - although it's getting better. I have just completed a movie of the Aladdin story and it may end up as a TV series, so we'll be able to create a positive role model for Middle Easterners and other ethnic minorities. BACK AND FORTH I had kind of lost touch with films from Hong Kong for a while but, after watching SPL and, especially Ip Man, I found the movies that Donnie Yen was doing with director Wilson Yip reignited my interest. The first Ip Man movie is one of my favourite films, so to be invited to be part of the sequel and to have a major role was a dream come true. I am very proud of this movie and very grateful to Wilson, Donnie and, especially, Big Brother Sammo for making me look so good. I worked harder on this film than any other and pushed myself every day. I have been lucky enough to work on a couple of other very strong projects since we completed shooting, and hope to be back in Hong Kong for further projects. Ip Man 2 is currently showing at cinemas in Hong Kong