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Sumnima Kandangwa

Freelance Editorial Assistant for Style by SCMP


“I always picked Sub-Zero whenever I played Mortal Kombat,” says Ludi Lin when asked which avatar he gravitated towards in the iconic fighting game. “I like that he can freeze opponents. It gives me a moment to think about what I’m going to do next.”
It’s an intriguing choice, given Lin plays Liu Kang – the franchise’s central hero – in the Mortal Kombat films.

It’s a regular Monday when we meet at East Hong Kong hotel in Quarry Bay. We begin with the usual small talk – the weather, travel, Vancouver – as the 38-year-old settles easily into the sofa across from me. Having spent some of his formative years in Hong Kong, the actor clearly feels at home.
I had seen him on the big screen just a week earlier at a private screening of Mortal Kombat 2, and can’t help but contrast the actor and the character. On screen, his Liu Kang is formidable: a former Shaolin monk, champion of the Mortal Kombat tournament, the God of Fire, protector of Earthrealm. In person, Lin is open and disarmingly warm – far removed from the austere stoicism of his character. He speaks candidly, moving between stories: from being rejected by his high school crush, actress Jessica Matten – now known for her role in Robert Redford and George R.R. Martin’s Dark Winds – to recounting getting into a minor car accident on the way to audition for Liu Kang.

“My trousers were ripped going into the audition,” he tells me. “But sometimes you need something to take you out of your head. I was in a bit of pain, just trying to get through it – and they really liked it.”
Starring Lin alongside The Boys’ Karl Urban and Hong Kong-born Adeline Rudolph as Johnny Cage and Kitana, the long-awaited sequel to Mortal Kombat (2021) finally arrives in Hong Kong cinemas on May 7 – and worldwide on May 8 – promising action-packed scenes and double the gore. Originally scheduled for October 2025, the film’s release was pushed back after an overwhelming response to its US red-band trailer, which drew over 100 million views, breaking records and signalling strong summer box-office potential.
“I try not to be narcissistic, but I loved seeing fans explode with enthusiasm for the movie. It’s the most gratifying thing for me,” Lin says.
The actor’s childhood has all the makings of a Karate Kid story. Born in Fuzhou, China, he spent some of his childhood in Hong Kong before moving to Australia, eventually settling in Vancouver at 17. Growing up as the only Asian kid in predominantly white environments, combined with the instability of moving frequently, often led him into scuffles with bullies.

The self-described “troublemaker” admits that part of it came from a need for attention. “I was by myself a lot of the time because I moved around so much as a kid. It was probably a way to compensate for neglect. Not getting enough attention and needing people around,” Lin explains.
Frustrated, he turned to martial arts. Today, the actor’s ripped physique speaks to his long hours of training in Muay Thai, jiu-jitsu and wushu. Still, acting was always his first love.
He recalls watching his mother perform opera on stage in their hometown in China as a three-year-old. The experience left a lasting impression. His childhood in Hong Kong, once known as the Hollywood of the East, further shaped his love for cinema. He names local icon Stephen Chow as his role model growing up.
“I feel like there are two types of people in this world. Ones that can go to a performance and just enjoy it, and then there are people like me who think, ‘I want to be doing that,’” he enthuses.

Despite that pull, Lin initially followed a more conventional path, spending two years in medical school due to family pressure and getting a degree in dietetics before eventually leaving to pursue acting.
His first taste of the industry came as an extra on Hilary Duff’s Disney series Lizzie McGuire. I raise my eyebrows in surprise when he tells me this; his IMDB page makes no mention of the role.
“People are always impressed when I tell them that,” says Lin, catching my reaction. “Especially girls. So I kind of started off at a peak and I’ve been in decline ever since,” he jokes, laughing.

In fact, his trajectory since suggests otherwise. From the 2017 Power Rangers reboot to Monster Hunt – which became the highest-grossing film in Chinese box office history at the time – to DC’s Aquaman, Netflix’s critically acclaimed Black Mirror, and Mortal Kombat, one of the biggest fighting game franchises, Lin’s career has been on a steady rise ever since.
But Lin credits the 2019 Chinese coming-of-age film Summer Knight as his most transformative role to date. “It was very eye-opening for me because I had to speak in a Sichuan dialect and I was playing a retired soldier. It was something drastically different from who I am,” he pauses, before adding, “Another meaningful project for me would be one I think I’m going to work on later this year, called Finding Theo, because it explores a gay foster child’s love story.”
Outside of acting, Lin is a vocal advocate for Asian rights and feels encouraged by Hollywood’s increasingly open attitude towards Asian-led stories – especially in the wake of successful films such as Crazy Rich Asians, Parasite and Everything Everywhere All at Once – but compares the rise in Asian visibility to a Hunger Games tribute.

“We’ve made [a huge] improvement, but we only have one tribute in the game each year and that’s the quota, and that needs to change. Starting from Parasite winning the Oscar for best picture, and then comedy series Beef and K-pop Demon Hunters, every single year we see one thing that gets pitched into the ring and we have to kill it every single time,” he explains. “We always have the top title. Yet there’s always only one. Whereas so many films produced with a Western perspective fail, but they can try and try and try again.”
The actor, who is also stepping into producing with the upcoming sci-fi thriller The Unlucky – revolving around an Asian Yale graduate who finds himself in a sinister predicament when he accepts an invitation to a woman’s family gathering – is keen to change that.

“It’s like a sexy sci-fi horror thriller, which really hasn’t been done before with an Asian lead. It’s exciting,” Lin shares, adding that he is looking forward to giving his body a break from action projects following Mortal Kombat 2.
As a producer and a third-culture kid whose identity is defined by all the countries he’s lived in, Lin hopes to tell cross-cultural stories that resonate globally.
“I do have a goal,” he says. “One of them is to make films internationally – films that connect with a global audience. To open them to projects like a Tom Cruise film, but Asian.”


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Ludi Lin as Liu Kang in Mortal Kombat 2. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures

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Ludi Lin spent some of his childhood in Hong Kong, so feels very much at home in the city. Sweater: Tod’s, trousers, sneakers: Lin’s own. Photo: Jocelyn Tam

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Before he resumed his Mortal Kombat role, the actor worked on Power Rangers, Monster Hunt, DC’s Aquaman and Netflix’s Black Mirror


Before he resumed his Mortal Kombat role, the actor worked on Power Rangers, Monster Hunt, DC’s Aquaman and Netflix’s Black Mirror.


Ludi Lin – Liu Kang in Mortal Kombat 2 – on Asian representation and his upbringing

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Before he resumed his Mortal Kombat role, the actor worked on Power Rangers, Monster Hunt, DC’s Aquaman and Netflix’s Black Mirror

Before he resumed his Mortal Kombat role, the actor worked on Power Rangers, Monster Hunt, DC’s Aquaman and Netflix’s Black Mirror