What’s it like acting opposite Tony Leung? Young star of Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on his big-screen debut
- Jayden Zhang Tianyi makes his big-screen debut in Marvel’s latest superhero movie opposite Hong Kong film icons Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Michelle Yeoh
- The Vancouver 12-year-old describes working with Leung as both ‘amazing’ and ‘unnerving’ and says he was shocked by how realistic the film’s sets were
How did that small kid acting opposite Chinese-language film icons Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Michelle Yeoh in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings get his part as the young Shang-Chi in the first place? With a bit of luck, as it turns out.
“I thought I completely flunked the audition because when I was asked about my hobbies, I replied: ‘Sleeping.’ I even added that I got sad when my mom woke me up in the morning,” says Jayden Zhang Tianyi, 12, in an interview with the Post.
“When I first got the call, I wasn’t that nervous because all I could think about was how exciting this big news was,” he recalls. “However, when the filming date drew closer, I got a bit nervous as it registered in my head just how influential this role was, and how many people worldwide would see me.”
Zhang was destined for a life in the public eye. His mother enrolled him in an acting camp when he was nine, and his talent caught his manager’s attention at a showcase organised by the Vancouver Young Actors School in 2019.
“When I was younger, I would tell my parents I wanted to be just like the characters in movies, and they would reply, ‘they’re just actors playing a part in the movie!’ After that, I decided I wanted to be an actor, even though I had no idea what that word meant at the time,” says Zhang.