It's easy to assume that actor Ludi Lin, known for portraying a spate of physically demanding roles, would be a meat-eater.
The Power Ranger actor reveals he is in fact powered by plants. “I stopped eating meat a long time ago. Then I stopped eating fish about five years ago,” he tells StarLifestyle in an exclusive video call.
“I’ve never felt stronger, faster and younger. And people are always telling me how good my skin looks.”
The latter is something this interviewer can definitely attest to, with nary a blemish spotted on his glowing complexion throughout our Zoom session.
Veganism is the practice of abstaining from all animal products including eggs and dairy. Lin shares his daily diet includes lots of vegetables, healthy carbohydrates and a vegan protein supplement.
“The strange thing about me is I don’t get sick of anything. I can eat a piece of broccoli, and it will taste so good.”
The 33-year-old adds his plant-based lifestyle has even rubbed off on some of his fellow cast and crew members.
“On set, people never believe me until they see me do this for months and then they try it, and they actually go, ‘Whoa, it’s so good!’”
Lin says it was ultimately his love for animals and the environment that fuelled his decision.
“It has taken a lot of weight off my heart because I feel like this is how the world needs to be. We can’t just keep pretending that we’re not hurting things.”
Embracing veganism has helped Lin inhabit some of his roles better too.
“I stopped eating fish some time before Aquaman (2018). I felt that if I’m going to be swimming around in the ocean, I can’t be eating everything by my side, ” reasons the actor who plays Commander Murk, the leader of an underwater army, in the film.
Being vegan also helped him embody his latest role, Shaolin monk Liu Kang in Mortal Kombat.
“I usually try to connect myself to the character that I play as much as I can. With Liu Kang, he’s a monk. That means he’s not going to go around killing animals. So that was very helpful as well.”
Childhood hero
Mortal Kombat is a martial arts fantasy action flick based on the popular 1990s video game franchise of the same name.
This adaptation introduces a brand new character Cole Young, played by Into The Badlands’ Lewis Tan, whose mysterious dragon- shaped birthmark on his chest points to a destiny greater than his current mixed martial arts (MMA) fighting career.
When he gets hunted down by the film’s villain, ice ninja Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim), a team of fighters come to his aid. One of them is Liu Kang, an iconic character in the video game franchise.
Lin, who played the video game all those years ago as a boy, felt he had to do justice to the role on behalf of the generation of kids who also grew up playing it.
“I’m living the dream and I want to show people that your childhood heroes actually mean something. No matter what you’re doing now, if you’re an accountant, a lawyer or a doctor, that piece of your childhood really meant something to you.
“Those people were your friends. Those were probably some of the happiest times in your life.”
Lin is an avid martial arts practitioner in real life, having picked up muay thai, jiu jitsu and Olympic-style wrestling from as early as his teenage years.
As such, Lin, who trains even on his off days, is always in combat – or should I say, Kombat – mode. “The training (for the film) was crazy but it was doable, ” he says modestly.
The video game franchise has given birth to two film adaptations in the past, in 1995 and 1997.
Asked if he drew inspiration from the two previous iterations, Lin replies he wanted to start the 2021 reboot with a clean slate.
“I went into it thinking like Liu Kang in the Buddhist sense that each time it restarts, it’s a reincarnation.
“And in reincarnation, you can’t really remember your past life. So I felt like the story is starting anew.”
Mortal Kombat is now in cinemas.
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