Jason Chan’s (陳智燊) breakthrough opportunity as the male lead for the recent TVB series Missing You <幸福摩天輪> came with a mixed bag of reviews. The road to becoming a male lead was not easy for this fresh-faced actor hailing from London. Coming from a family of 4 boys, Jason felt the added pressure to make something of himself. With his eldest brother as a dentist, younger brother as an optician and his youngest brother currently in college with aspirations of becoming a lawyer, Jason had hopes of becoming an accountant or consultant with his Masters in Economics. Unfortunately he was unsuccessful in his job search. “I didn’t demonstrate my ambition during the interviews, but I think it’s really because I didn’t find my passion.” He eventually worked as a hospital administrator and decided that he wanted to move to Hong Kong and pursue a career in acting. After moving to Hong Kong and working as an English tutor, Jason waited patiently for the right opportunity to come along. He once considered participating in the Mr. Hong Kong competition, but backed out before submitting the application. Finally, after a year of waiting, he jumped at the opportunity when TVB had open recruitment. “I was very nervous during the interview. There were some Chinese words I couldn’t read. When I was asked to sing, I stopped after 30 seconds. I really thought I had no chance.” To his surprise, Jason was called back. And thus began Jason’s journey into acting. From hosting gigs such as the New Year’s Eve fireworks show to being called-in as Bosco Wong’s (黃宗澤) stunt double when Bosco was injured, Jason’s breakthrough finally came when he was cast as the lead in Missing You at the age of 35. “With my age comes wisdom and experience. In my TVB acting class, I was 26 and some of my classmates were 16, so there were a lot of things they didn’t know nor understand and wasted a lot of time.” When asked how his parents felt about his transition into acting, Jason admitted, “My mom was worried when I went into acting. But she is still my biggest fan. She recently texted me: ‘You’ve improved and the acting is pretty natural. But why you have your hands in your pockets? I am not so sure…’ What does she mean by ‘not so sure’?” Jason questioned. He also shared that acting has brought him closer to his family. “My parents wouldn’t ask my dentist brother how many teeth did he pull today, but they would have a lot of questions for me as an actor, so it has brought us closer together.” Creds: Ming Pao
