Following his acclaimed role in Abang Adik and a Golden Horse Awards nomination, Jack Tan is back in the spotlight with his latest project, Gold. With a blend of fierce ambition, boyish charm and unwavering focus, the Malaysian actor has firmly set his sights on a blazing future.

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 &ldquo;Hey, you know how to swim, right?&rdquo; Jack Tan asks, just before diving into the 14-m deep pool, Armani &ldquo;cape&rdquo; flowing and a <a href="https://www.tagheuer.com/my/en/collection-aquaracer/collection-aquaracer.html">TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 300 Date</a> watch glinting on his wrist. We thought we had the shot in the bag but the 33-year-old actor insists, &ldquo;This could be better. Let&rsquo;s go again!&rdquo; Jack&rsquo;s relentless pursuit of perfection is nothing new. On the set of his upcoming cinematic project, Gold, he tirelessly worked to ace a shuttlecock smash scene, getting visibly frustrated when it didn&rsquo;t match his vision. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want to use CGI because I knew we could get the shot,&rdquo; he asserts. His dedication is indeed paying off. The Kuala Lumpur-born actor consistently takes on challenging roles, earning acclaim for bringing depth and sensitivity to films grounded in gritty realism. His recent turn in Abang Adik, a story of two stateless orphans struggling to survive in Malaysia&rsquo;s capital city, earned him nominations for Best Supporting Actor at the 2023 Golden Horse Awards and the 2024 Asian Film Awards. &ldquo;Good thing I didn&rsquo;t drop out of school,&rdquo; he jests. Despite over a decade of being in the limelight around the region, Tan remains humble and grounded. A thrill-seeker in his free time &mdash; think car racing, drifting, rock climbing and hiking &mdash; it is certain the local supernova is set to deliver even more <a href="https://www.hommesmalaysia.com/personalities/malaysian-independent-designers-interrogating-cultural-identity">groundbreaking performances</a> in the years ahead.
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 How did you get into acting? Being an actor was never on my radar. I went with my friend to an audition for an acting program in Malaysia, just to keep him company. Then this lady stopped me and asked if I&rsquo;d try out too. So, I thought, why not? I didn&rsquo;t know anything about acting so I showed off my dancing and singing instead. They weren&rsquo;t exactly impressed [laughs]. But a few days later, I got a call saying I&rsquo;d been accepted into the course. I felt a mixed bag of emotions: surprise, confusion and calm. I was young and had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. But I figured, why not give it a shot? It could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and who knows, maybe I&rsquo;d be good at it. And that&rsquo;s how my acting career started. Can you recall your first acting gig? My debut performance in Kuala Lumpur was in a musical. Since it was live, I couldn&rsquo;t watch it myself so I had to rely on the video recording. My first TV drama, though, was a different story. Seeing myself on screen for the first time felt a bit strange and I felt embarrassed [laughs]. Even though I&rsquo;d rather not watch myself act, I do it to see where I can improve.
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Top, pants and shoes ONITSUKA TIGER Aquaracer Professional 300 Date TAG HEUER

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 What do you love most about acting? Acting lets me wear many hats and understand different walks of life through the characters I play. Still, it wasn&rsquo;t something I was sure I&rsquo;d focus on. When I first got into the acting academy in Taiwan, my parents were hesitant because they didn&rsquo;t think acting was my strong suit. They weren&rsquo;t wrong &mdash; there were times in school when I thought about quitting and getting a regular 9-to-5 job. I also faced some internal struggles that kept me from being active on screen. It was a tough time, but I reminded myself how far I&rsquo;d come and that quitting wouldn&rsquo;t solve my problems. I kept pushing myself to improve as an actor and performer, and I&rsquo;m proud of where I am today. Your performance in Abang Adik was impeccable, and your brotherhood with Wu Kang-ren was just as inspiring. What have you learned from him career-wise? I&rsquo;m thankful for the amazing team behind Abang Adik. The synergy we had was incredible, making it one of my favourite projects so far. Wu Kang-ren, in particular, helped me a lot with my acting. He taught me to be braver and more daring with my characterisations. Before that, I just stayed in my comfort zone, following whatever the production team thought suited the character. But Kang-ren showed me that it&rsquo;s important to speak up and offer suggestions to make the character come to life. It&rsquo;s great to challenge yourself and see what you&rsquo;re capable of &mdash; don&rsquo;t stay in your comfort zone for too long.
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You&rsquo;ll be amazed at what you&rsquo;re capable of with each new challenge.

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 Is there any part of the character Adik that resonates with your personality? Not at all. When I first got the brief for the character from the director, I suggested he might want to find someone else for the role. But Jin Ong had faith in me [laughs] and gave me plenty of time to study the character. This led me to wander around the city, especially the Pudu area, every day to get familiar with the community&rsquo;s lifestyle. I observed how people worked, talked and moved, paying attention to their body language and gestures. I also spoke to many foreign workers to learn more about their lives in the city. Moving on to your next breakthrough performance in Gold, a docudrama biopic based on the national hero Cheah Liek Hou&rsquo;s journey to winning a gold medal in the 2020 Paralympic Games for badminton. I&rsquo;d say it&rsquo;s not an easy job considering Cheah Liek Hou will be watching your performance. How did you handle the pressure? I&rsquo;d never worked with Adrian Teh before so having his full trust to take on this role was a big deal for me, especially given his impressive contributions to Malaysia&rsquo;s film and entertainment industry. At first, it was nerve-racking because I had no skills in badminton, let alone playing it with my left hand like Cheah Liek Hou. I also had to undergo some serious body transformations &mdash; gaining 20 kg and then losing it again to get back to my original state. The pressure was real, but I was excited to show what I could do with this character. As an actor, I believe playing a real-life figure isn&rsquo;t about replicating them exactly, otherwise, we&rsquo;d just cast the real person. My job was to bring Cheah&rsquo;s character to life with subtle nuances without creating a completely new persona.
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 And how did Cheah react to your performance? I&rsquo;m really happy that I managed to do justice to his character. He was deeply touched by what my team and I did for the film. He even felt sorry for the challenges I had to face to portray him. Can you tell us more about it? I had to gain 20 kg for the role within three months which was quite a struggle because my metabolism was really high. I had to double or even triple my meals, eating five to six times a day. The sheer volume of food messed up my digestion and sleep. There were times when I felt pretty down about my body and couldn&rsquo;t do much to fix it. My back started to hunch, and my mood was all over the place. Once filming wrapped, I had to get my body back to its original state quickly since I had other projects lined up. It wasn&rsquo;t an easy journey, but I enjoyed every moment of it. At the end of the day, that&rsquo;s all part of the job as an actor.
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 What have you learned about yourself throughout your career? All the characters I&rsquo;ve played so far have taught me to be more grateful for what I have. Not everyone gets to do what they love for a living so having this opportunity is a real blessing. I&rsquo;ve learned to be more proactive with my work, keep learning and stay hungry. It&rsquo;s also pushed me to be more versatile which I think is crucial. As an actor, while establishing a signature style is important, versatility is just as valued. You&rsquo;ll be amazed at what you&rsquo;re capable of with each new challenge.
 Looking at your achievements so far, including Best Supporting Actor at the 2024 Malaysia Global Golden Awards, what would you tell your ten-year younger self? Good that you didn&rsquo;t give up on acting [laughs], and thank you for keeping on chasing your dream. Is there anything that you&rsquo;d like to ask yourself? I&rsquo;d like to know when I am going to compete in drifting. I love motorsport and it&rsquo;s one of my dreams to be competing in the arena, especially in Japan together with my idols such as Naoki Nakamura and Daigo Saito.
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COVER CREDITS:
Words Syazil Abd Rahim Creative Direction &amp; Styling Amelia Tan Photography Lock Chee Wei Grooming &amp; Makeup Jenn Teh Photography Assistant Ang Zi Shen

Digital Cover: Jack Tan on taking risks, metaphorphosis and staying hungry with Tag Heuer

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