Henry Golding doesn’t want to be "defined as the Asian leading man".
The ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ star hopes his rise to fame as a result of his role in the hit movie will "inspire" other people to follow their dreams.
He said: "I don’t want to be defined as the Asian leading man. I want to be the leading man. Henry Golding. If it means helping inspire other Asians to be leading men, hell yeah, I’ll take it. You don’t know how proud I am to have that associated with my name. Sadly, we’re so underrepresented that we have to start with these labels to be proud of it, to normalise it. So shit, I’ll be the next Asian leading man."
And the 31-year-old actor is keen to branch out with other movie genres in the future.
He added to GQ magazine: "I don’t want to get stuck in romantic comedy. I love these modern dramas, but when I’m in make-believe, I want to be beyond that of this reality."
Meanwhile, it was previously revealed that Henry was mistaken for a crew member
by his co-star because he was so "humble".
Rapper-turned-actress Awkwafina said: "I thought he was the assistant director (AD) because when I landed in Singapore, I was in a hotel room, I was very jet lagged and I heard a knock on my door. I see this beautiful man and he’s like, ‘Hey, I’m Henry, I just want to introduce myself’ and then he came in and I was like, ‘What’s the call time tomorrow?’ and he was like, ‘You know, I don’t know but I can check it out,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, so you’re the AD…?’ He was like, ‘No, no, no, I’m playing Nick!’ I never experienced someone to come here to my room to say hi (sic)"