Even before he began travelling to Asia for work, Chinese-Canadian actor Ludi Lin had visited the region on his own.
“I’ve been to Malaysia several times,” he recalls in this exclusive Zoom interview from Singapore, fresh from a gym session.
“The first time was when I went as a backpacker right after graduating from university, and I did lots of scuba diving.”
Since then, the 38-year-old has returned to Malaysia to shoot the series Marco Polo and The Ghost Bride.
He hopes to visit again, especially “to the East Coast to do some more scuba diving”.
From these visits, Malaysia’s weather and food immediately come to mind.
“I remember lots of Malaysians offering me different kinds of food, a lot of which I couldn’t eat because I was still plant-based,” adds Lin, who was vegan for several years but has since reintroduced fish into his diet.
What stayed with him most, he says, is the people and Malaysia’s cultural diversity.
“I remember the people, the variety of cultures in Malaysia, and just how fun it was to get around because each city had its own distinct character.
“In Penang, there’s lots of Chinese food. And Johor felt like a vacation paradise,” he recalls.
Another highlight is the abundance of tropical fruits.
“The mangoes are so juicy, and the rambutans – oh my God, they’re so good.
“And things you haven’t even seen before, like dragon fruit in all these different colours.
“So I can really splurge on fruits when I’m there,” says the friendly star with a laugh.
And yes, he loves durian – even introducing the fruit to his friends in Canada by asking them to close their eyes and smell it before tasting.
“It’s 50-50,” he says of their reactions.
“I think it’s all mental. If you’re open-minded and you trust me, then you’ll take that extra step to taste it. And that’s where it gets you.
“The taste of durian is so complicated, so complex. There’s nothing else like it.”
Lin is speaking to StarLifestyle in conjunction with the release of the summer blockbuster Mortal Kombat II, in which he reprises his role as fan favourite Liu Kang.
The films are based on the video game series of the same name, centred on Earth’s warriors battling enemies from other realms in a high-stakes fight to save the planet.
For the sequel to 2021’s Mortal Kombat, Lin set out to bulk up to give the character a stronger on-screen presence, especially with heightened expectations from fans of the franchise.
“The characters in the video games are way too jacked – it’s unrealistic. But I wanted to get as close as I could,” he says.
While the fitness enthusiast had no trouble with the workouts, maintaining a vegan diet made gaining weight a challenge.
“Durian would’ve helped because it’s so rich,” jokes the animal lover, who is a proud dad to canine Pax.
“The difficult part was the amount of food I had to eat. Because I tried to keep it natural, it was difficult for me to gain weight.
“I was eating 24/7 and it was still really hard to put on the pounds.
“I was eating lots and lots of bananas – like a monkey, a whole bushel every day (about 45 bananas) – and just swallowing avocados... like three at one go.”
But Lin is not complaining – being part of the Mortal Kombat universe has been deeply meaningful, reconnecting him with something he loved growing up.
“To share that with everyone out there who had the same experience as me has been amazing.
“I watched a lot of reaction videos (of fans watching the trailer), and you can see that moment when people go, ‘Whoa, this feels like I’m back in my living room with my friends, playing the game again’,” shares Lin, a fan of comic books, manga and anime, who first gained attention as the Black Ranger in 2017’s Power Rangers.
“I’m so excited to show Mortal Kombat II to everybody. The film is bigger, more exciting... we’ve levelled up in every single way.”
Beyond the physical transformation, Lin is also keen to show a different side of himself this year – his sense of humour, to be precise.
With projects like Mortal Kombat and Power Rangers, he says, it’s easy for audiences to see him purely as an action star.
“To me, authentic representation also means showing yourself as a full person.”
Growing up, humour played a big role in his life.
“No matter where I was, I was the class clown. It was my way of diffusing tension, getting out of tricky situations, and dealing with my own insecurities.”
So when a friend invited him to take part in a stand-up showcase, Comedy InvAsian III, he decided to go for it.
“I don’t think there’s anything more gratifying than making someone laugh.”
He admits, however, that he hasn’t had the courage to watch a recording of his performance.
“Laughing at your own jokes is the worst thing, right? I don’t think I could actually suffer through that,” he says seriously.
Although he says good comedy is harder than action, he sees humour as essential – even in high-intensity films.
“I actually think Mortal Kombat wouldn’t work without humour.
“In the first film, my favourite character was Kano, played by Josh Lawson – he completely stole the show... A lot of his lines were improvised (by Lawson).
“And in the sequel, we not only have Josh back, but also Karl Urban as Johnny Cage, who’s a very humorous character. Karl himself is hilarious, so I’m really looking forward to fans seeing the kind of banter they’ll bring.”
One person Lin is especially excited to show the film to is his mother, whom he often brings to premieres.
“That’s one of my favourite things out of doing a movie – just to show my mum that final product.”
In the beginning, she wasn’t entirely convinced of his career choice, insisting he pursue a double major – Dietetics and Theatre Performance – at the University of British Columbia, Canada.
Even now, he says, she continues to worry.
“She worries a lot – like, ‘Why am I putting all my energy into a dog instead of finding a girlfriend? Why am I taking a break? Why am I travelling instead of trying to get the next acting job?’”
For Lin, that uncertainty comes hand-in-hand with acting.
“Acting is inherently unstable, and honestly, so is anything that involves taking risks.
“A lot of the things that are truly worth doing come with uncertainty – especially when it comes to your dreams.
“They’re meant to be big, and a little far-fetched.”
Still, he says, his mother is slowly coming around.
“She’ll come to something like the Mortal Kombat premiere, see everything come to life, and for a night or two, she’ll forget all about it.
“Then she’ll go right back to worrying – but that’s OK.”
He laughs at how his “tiger mum” has also evolved in her own way – particularly when it comes to expressing affection.
“My mum has started saying ‘I love you’ and even using cute little emojis, which I never thought I’d see.
“She’ll send kisses, say she misses me – things like that.
“But interestingly, she only does it on social media. She’d never say those things in person.”
On social media and in interviews, Lin comes across as level-headed, self-assured and quietly strong.
According to him, that resilience was hard-won – shaped by being pushed into unfamiliar situations while growing up in different places.
Born in China, Lin moved to Australia when he was nine and later to Canada at 17.
He now splits his time between Canada and China.
“Moving around a lot as a kid meant constantly making new friends, learning new things – even new languages – and figuring out how to get along with people.
“A lot of the time, you’re thrown into life without an instruction manual,” says Lin, who has shared in the past he faced racism while growing up, which he dealt with by learning to stand up for himself.
At this point, Lin becomes contemplative, recalling a line from a short film he worked on years ago that has stayed with him: that you come into this life alone, and you leave it alone too.
“So, in many ways, you’re the one constant you carry with you.
“That made me realise you have to find your own strength and your own reasons to face challenges,” shares Lin, who has said on Instagram that he’s always felt like a “lone wolf in a way”.
“That said, I still struggle with it every day. In really tough moments, I’ve learned that you also need other people – sometimes that’s the only thing that helps.
“So it’s about balance. You can’t do everything on your own. Making a film, for example, would be impossible without a great cast, a solid crew and people you trust.”
He goes on to tell StarLifestyle that if he could travel back in time, he would speak to his nine-year-old self – just as he was leaving China for Australia, “and about to face so much difficulties and being unprepared for it”.
“I’d tell him that things will be OK – that whatever happens, whether the choices turn out to be mistakes or the right ones, it’ll all add up to something meaningful.”
While there are undoubtedly many twists and turns in his life and career, Lin admits he will always move forward and give it his 110% on whatever he does next.
That mindset also shaped one of the biggest decisions of his career – moving to Asia to work, a journey he describes as the one that tested him the most.
“I didn’t know anybody here. I didn’t know the industry. And I had to really polish my language skills,” says Lin, who speaks Mandarin, Cantonese and English.
“But it was also the best decision I’ve made.
“If any new or up-and-coming Asian actor in Hollywood asks me for advice, I always tell them to go to Asia.
“Find your roots, reconnect with your origins – that’s how you stay grounded and truly understand what you’re representing on screen.”
Mortal Kombat II is showing at cinemas nationwide.
