How Hong Kong actor ‘Siuyea’ Lo Chun-yip went from indie film director to leading man
The ‘late bloomer’, who switched directing for acting in 2015, takes on his first main lead role with new film The Dating Menu
When Lo Chun-yip turns 40 this December, he will celebrate the milestone as one of the most recognisable faces of a new generation in Hong Kong cinema – an unthinkable development when he shifted his focus to acting 11 years ago.
Yet for a performer whose melancholic gaze has anchored several of the city’s most poignant recent films, his breakthrough as a leading man feels decidedly different from those of many of his contemporaries, who tend to be either natural-born comedy actors or intimidatingly handsome.
Also known affectionately to his peers as “Siuyea” – the Chinese pronunciation of the Japanese surname Ono, a moniker bestowed upon him as a teenager by schoolmates who thought his shaved head resembled that of football star Shinji Ono – Lo spent years observing the margins of society for his documentaries and short films before becoming a full-time actor.