Sun Yat-sen role next for In Geek We Trust star Ling Man-lung, and the Hong Kong actor says playing the Chinese revolutionary is his ‘most challenging’ part yet

Hong Kong-born Ling Man-lung was drawn to the part of the Chinese revolutionary because it goes beyond the usual glorification of ‘the founder of modern China’

Musical’s cast have until recently been rehearsing day and night, and hoping a Covid-19 spike doesn’t derail its presentation at the Hong Kong Arts Festival

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Actor Ling Man-lung will play a young Sun Yat-sen in a new musical commissioned by the Hong Kong Arts Festival. Photo: Courtesy of Ling Man-lung

Published: 12:45pm, 16 Feb 2022Updated: 8:04am, 17 Feb 2022

Hong Kong actor Ling Man-lung has been making waves with his portrayal of an idealistic first-time entrepreneur experiencing the hard knocks and cynicism of the start-up scene in ViuTV’s hit series In Geek We Trust.

Ah Seon, the character’s name in Cantonese, instantly sends a warm signal to viewers of a certain age because it is the same as the protagonist of Oshin, a Japanese series about a woman with unsinkable fortitude that kept many Hong Kong families glued to their televisions in the early 1980s.

Ah Seon is quite a departure from Ling’s award-winning turn as the autistic son in the touching 2018 film drama Tomorrow is Another Day and it is testament to his appeal that he isn’t at all outshone by the three members of Canto-pop boy band sensation Mirror who are also in the cast.

“I don’t look for characters who are likeable. I love the challenge of playing different roles,” says the youthful and genial 35-year-old, a former full-time Hong Kong Repertory Theatre actor who grew up in a public housing estate in Tai Po in the New Territories and who likes to take his Spider-Man toy with him wherever he goes.

After the final episode of In Geek We Trust aired on February 4, Ling was set to return to the stage as the revolutionary Chinese statesman Sun Yat-sen in a new Cantonese musical commissioned for the 50th Hong Kong Arts Festival (HKAF), though that is now up in the air given the exponential rise in Covid-19 cases in the city.