From Li Jun Li to Lewis Tan and Stephanie Hsu, 8 breakout Hollywood stars with Hong Kong or China connections who will make their mark in 2023
- After success for films like Everything Everywhere All at Once and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Hollywood is opening its doors to Chinese actors
- These are the actors and actresses we think will enjoy a stellar 2023, from Jessie Mei Li to Everything Everywhere’s Stephanie Hsu to Li Jun Li and Lewis Tan
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Barring the occasional breakout, Hollywood was for decades closed to actors from Hong Kong and mainland China. Even Chinese-American actors were marginalised.
For example, March will see the release of John Wick 4, in which Hong Kong action superstar Donnie Yen Ji-dan makes a rare foray in American cinema playing an adversary of Keanu Reeves’ hitman.
But what about those who are just bubbling under the surface of? We take a look at who we think will be enjoying a breakout 2023.
Jessie Mei Li
When Jessie Mei Li was young, she and her brother were diehard fantasy fans. “We used to watch Lord of the Rings and act [it] out with our cousins,” she says.
Li Jun Li
The moment her character, Lady Fay Zhu, lights up a cigarette and starts singing at a 1920s party, a scene inspired by Marlene Dietrich in Morocco, the whole audience is in the palm of her hand.
It does not stop there for Li, who channelled Chinese-American silent-movie star Anna May Wong – although it is uncertain whether Wong ever had to suck out rattlesnake poison from someone’s neck, as Zhu does in one crazy moment.
Born in Shanghai, where her father was a painter, Li has enjoyed a solid career in US television on shows like Quantico and Blindspot, but if there is any justice, her work in Babylon will propel her to the next level.
Stephanie Hsu
Things had already been going quite nicely for Stephanie Hsu, the Taiwanese actress who was raised in California.
Landing the role of Chinatown gambler Mei on Amazon show The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel in 2019 was no more than she deserved after a decade in jobbing television roles.
Then came the moment actors dream of – landing a key role in a hit movie, in Hsu’s case this year’s US$100 million indie surprise Everything Everywhere All at Once. All of a sudden, she is on every director’s watch list.
Among her coming slate of projects are animated film The Monkey King and David Leitch’s The Fall Guy, a reboot of the 1980s action show with Lee Majors which will see her co-star with Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt and Aaron Taylor-Johnson.
Lewis Tan
If he is not quite a household name yet, it is not for want of trying. Half-Chinese, half-British, Lewis Tan has it in his DNA to succeed.
The son of Philip Tan, a Chinese-Singaporean martial artist and stunt coordinator, he was trained by his father, who nevertheless warned him the odds are stacked against Asian performers. “He said, ‘We’re 1.5 per cent of the working actors. You really want to do this?’” Tan said in an interview.
The British-born star brought his physicality and charisma to action series Into The Badlands and Wu Assassins, and movies Deadpool 2 and Mortal Kombat.
Now he has joined the season 2 main cast of Netflix’s young-adult show Shadow and Bone alongside Jessie Mei Li, playing Tolya Yul-Bataar, an intimidating ex-mercenary.
Isabella Wei
Ben Wang
On the cusp of stardom, Ben Wang has the lead in American Born Chinese, the new Disney+ series due in early 2023 based on the Gene Luen Yang graphic novel.
The high-school set show, which delves into Chinese folk mythology and martial arts, sees him play Jin Wang, an American teen whose parents immigrated from Taiwan.
The New York-based Wang, who speaks fluent Mandarin, has already worked in television, off-Broadway theatre, and film – and will next be seen alongside Greg Kinnear in Sight, a movie about Doctor Ming Wang, one of the world’s top laser eye surgeons.
Poppy Liu
Born in Xian, China and raised between the US state of Minnesota and Shanghai, Poppy Liu – who identifies as queer, non-binary and genderfluid – has been performing since she was four.
Schooled in traditional Chinese dance, Liu later studied theatre at the London drama school Royal Academy of Dramatic Art before moving to New York. Gradually roles have come – including a recurring character in Breaking Bad prequel Better Call Saul as Nacho’s girlfriend Jo, Tales of the Walking Dead and HBO Max show Hacks.
2023, however, looks like it will be Liu’s year, with a role in American Born Chinese, as Princess Iron Fan, and in Dead Ringers, a juicy-looking drama starring Rachel Weisz as the identical Mantle Twins.
Izaac Wang
Born in Minnesota to a Laotian mother and a Chinese father, child actor Wang landed his first major role in television show Teachers and has since found work in movies like Clifford the Big Red Dog – playing next-door neighbour Owen Yu – and the Disney animation Raya and the Last Dragon.
In 2023, he takes the lead role of Sam Wing in Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, a computer-animated sequel to the classic 1980s movies Gremlins and The New Batch.
