I left the E15 Acting School in 1973. So I have now notched up 53 years as a professional actor! During this time I have worked in film, television, theatre and radio and various other voice mediums both in the UK and internationally.
Historically, I am still remembered by many for the role of Detective Sargent John Ho, in ‘The Chinese Detective’ written by Ian Kennedy Martin for the BBC in the early nineteen eighties.
It was the success of ‘The Chinese Detective’ that opened the way for me to be cast in a series of Hollywood movies, ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’, directed by Stephen Spielberg, ‘A View to a Kill’, directed by John Glen and ‘Entrapment,’ directed by Jon Amiel. My fan base became international and I was firmly in the public eye.
But I eventually needed to go back to my roots and what was important to me. Dad was a Chinese seaman from the Canton area of southern China, who first arrived in war torn Liverpool on a Blue Funnel ship in 1942. Mum was a local girl. They married and had eight children.
The experience of being brought up in a mixed race working class family has been a source of inspiration and curiosity throughout my life and career. In response to this I have written and presented six documentaries for television and radio about the Chinese Community in Liverpool.
Now, at the age of seventy-five, I feel a huge sense of gratitude for my life and career and this is put into focus and perspective by my Buddhist faith. Since 1996 I have been a member of SGI-UK, which is one of the many SGI organisations in over 190 countries worldwide.
SGI – Soka Gakkai International. Soka means the ‘creation of value’ and gakkai means ‘society.’ SGI is a lay organisation based on Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism and the teaching and chanting of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, which encourages the development of the individual’s greatest potential.
It is because I became a Buddhist that I was able to bring together the twin driving forces in my life and career. Wanting to see and hear the real voices and stories from not only Chinese/East Asian communities but other minority communities too. Importantly those stories to be written and told by people from those communities. This meant it was time to tell my story.
‘Gold Mountain’ has its roots in my experiences of growing up in Liverpool and the strained relationship I had with my father. The rough draft of a story/script was based on the transcripts I made, of a series of conversations I recorded with dad and myself in the mid nineteen eighties. The adventure of my life was about to begin.
It all started that day in Montreal, 2008, Unity Theatre in Liverpool had sent me there to meet the three geniuses. Daniel Meilleur – director, Michel Robidous – music and soundscapes, Yves Dubé – video and photos. This trio were Les Deux Mondes, and they changed my life forever.
‘Gold Mountain’ was now a co-production with Graeme Phillips of Unity Theatre and the internationally acclaimed French Canadian, multi-media theatre company, Les Deux Mondes.
From 2008 to 2010 we worked together travelling back and forth to Liverpool and Montreal, work-shopping and shaping ‘Gold Mountain.’ In 2010 at Les Deux Mondes theatre base, I was writing the final script whilst we were rehearsing and refining the multi-media aspects of the show. Eugene Salleh had joined me in the cast and the whole team were in a creative hive of activity.
At the end of this hectic period, ‘Gold Mountain’ had evolved beyond just a personal story to being a global story. Opening up the ideas and themes of identity, belonging, history and redemption.
‘Gold Mountain’ was premiered at The Unity Theatre in Liverpool in October 2010 and went on to be performed in Liverpool, London, Montreal, Vancouver, Sweden and Mexico until 2013.
All my work since then has been influenced by this experience. ‘Yellow Face’ and ‘The Great Wave’ at the National Theatre in London. ‘Ping Pong’, ‘Blue Funnel’, ‘Break,’ small British independent films.
In 2022 I was blown away, humbled and thrilled when I found out that the academic world had knowledge of and interest in my body of work and campaigns. Enough to award me not one but two Honorary Doctorates! Edge Hill University Honorary Doctor of Arts. University of Essex Honorary Doctor of the University.
Museum of Colour has kindly chosen me to be one of the subjects for their ‘Test Card Exhibition.’ I am thankful to them for this and hope my contribution will inspire and inform those whose curiosity brings them to view the exhibition.