Posted on 03/31/2022 9:33:13 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A gunshot rings out. Covered in blood, Kevin Lee slumps to the ground - wrapping up yet another successful turn in a Chinese blockbuster.
Back home, the British actor is virtually unknown. But in China he has become a familiar face, always playing the villain who either gets killed or beaten up - defeated by the Chinese hero every single time.
Known as Kaiwen in China, he has played a hitman in Jackie Chan's Kung Fu Yoga, and a blue monster in fantasy film Super Me.
But he is best known in China for playing American colonel Allan D Maclean in last year's blockbuster The Battle of Lake Changjin, cementing his status as China's favourite Western bad guy.
"I feel I've become the most sought-after foreign actor in China," Mr Lee told the BBC in a recent interview.
A chance encounter Growing up in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, Mr Lee loved watching Chinese martial arts movies. Jackie Chan, he said, was his "biggest hero".
More than two decades ago, shortly after getting an IT degree, he decided to study martial arts in Mudanjiang, a small town in north-eastern China for a whole year. It was his first trip to the country, and he could barely speak Mandarin.
Upon his return to the UK he found a job as a salesman - but he soon realised what he really wanted to do was to be an actor. He studied drama at an acting school, then returned to China in 2010.
But he didn't have much luck in China's movie industry until a chance encounter in 2013 with action superstar Wu Jing, who has since become synonymous with nationalistic movies in China.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
not jon senna?
Sounds like he’s kinda of a “house caucasian.” It’s a living, I guess.
He’s not really reflective of our diversity, which is our strength.
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