There are many ways to make a name for yourself in Hong Kong, but when you're a cross-dressing wrestler called Ladybeard, who also does heavy metal covers of Canto-pop songs during bouts, it's likely you'll stand out that little bit more.
Dressed in a lacy negligee and with his hair in pigtails, Richard Magarey has gathered a loyal following among the city's wrestling fans. The 28-year-old from Adelaide came to Hong Kong in 2006 and has found fame thanks to his alter-ego Wu So Lui, Cantonese for Ladybeard.
'Back in Australia, I'd go to a live rock gig and wear a dress just to get a laugh. It wasn't that big a deal and wasn't that shocking to most people. But try doing something like that at a gig or a party in Hong Kong and you'll get a very different reaction,' he said.
Magarey has trained in a variety of martial arts over the past 15 years, including Tae Kwon Do and Jeet Kune Do, but when he began wrestling with the Hong Kong Wrestling Federation in 2009 he needed a character to play. Ladybeard was born.
'Because of the reactions I got when people first saw me wearing a dress in public here it made sense to make it my character as a wrestler,' Magarey explained. 'Wrestling is always full of these cartoon characters, so I just went with it and it all snowballed from there.'
Margarey plays a cartoon character in his day job as well, as he dubs animated Japanese and Mandarin cartoons into English for Omni Productions. In the wrestling ring he had initially planned for Ladybeard to be the bad guy in local wrestling circles as he was 'the big hairy gweilo in a dress who spouted bad Cantonese and everyone would hate me', but fans preferred him as a good guy.