For her first-ever action role as female fighter Chun-Li in the martial arts movie Street Fighter, Callina Liang trained up to six days a week to get her ripped physique.
But off-duty, the Chinese Canadian actress cannot resist Singapore’s hawker food – and had her fill of it when she lived here for five years.
Born in Vancouver, the up-and-comer has also lived in China and Australia. She moved to the Lion City around the age of 14 because of her father’s work, and attended the Australian International School and Lasalle College of the Arts here.
Now 26, she waxes lyrical about Singapore’s hawker scene in an e-mail interview, calling it “genuinely unmatched”.
“Chicken rice is always a must – who doesn’t love chicken rice? Fried carrot cake was one of my absolute favourites growing up. And do not even get me started on the McSpicy, which is an essential Singapore experience. I genuinely wish McDonald’s would take the Singapore menu worldwide because I think it is the best.”
Liang reportedly resides in Toronto, but visits Singapore at least once a year. Every time she is here, the first thing she does is head to a hawker centre and order chicken rice.
“I think what I love most is that Singapore still feels so familiar to me whenever I go back. Having spent such a big part of my teenage years there, it will always hold a really special place in my heart.”
During her time at the Australian International School, where she did her IGCSEs (International General Certificate of Secondary Education), drama was one of her electives.
“At the time, I was still trying to convince my dad to let me pursue acting as a career.”
It wasn’t until she received the Top in the World award for her Drama IGCSE in 2017 that he finally gave the green light.
“I guess that was when he realised maybe I wasn’t half-bad at acting after all.”
Liang then enrolled in the performance programme at Lasalle College of the Arts.
“My love for acting actually started when I was around 12, but I think my time at school really helped turn that passion into something more serious. The more I studied drama and explored the craft, the more I fell in love with it. I think those years were really important in giving me both the confidence and the foundation to pursue acting professionally.”
She made her television debut in British teen drama Tell Me Everything (2022 to 2024).
In 2024, she starred as Lucy Liu’s daughter in the Steven Soderbergh-directed supernatural thriller film Presence and played the female lead in heist thriller Bad Genius alongside Benedict Wong.
But her big break came after she nailed her audition process and was cast in Street Fighter, which is based on the Japanese video game first released in 1987.
Chun-Li is known for her muscular thighs and powerful kicks. When Liang was growing up in China, she always picked Chun-Li as her character while playing the game in arcades.
The movie is the third live-action feature-length film in the franchise, after Street Fighter (1994) and Street Fighter: The Legend Of Chun-Li (2009), and features other beloved characters such as Ryu (Andrew Koji), Ken (Noah Centineo), Guile (Cody Rhodes), Blanka (Jason Momoa) and Dan (Andrew Schulz).
Liang said: “If I went back and told my younger self that I would be playing her hero one day, she would absolutely freak out. I definitely did not imagine this in my wildest dreams.”
The character’s backstory of trying to avenge her father while pretending to help his killer, the villainous Lord M. Bison (David Dastmalchian), really resonated with the actress.
Liang, who was raised by her father, said: “What I found most compelling about (Chun-Li’s) journey was her emotional strength. She is essentially navigating all of this alone, constantly having to suppress her emotions and maintain her cover while being face-to-face with someone who has caused her so much pain.
“That takes an incredible amount of strength, even before you factor in all the physical fighting. Playing her actually reminded me of the strength I have within myself, which I think is something we all have but sometimes forget. It was really empowering to tap into that side of myself through her, both physically and emotionally.”
At times, shooting was definitely challenging; but the joy always outweighed the pain, she recalled.
Liang had to learn not only all the fight choreography, incorporating taekwondo, muay thai and wushu for Chun-Li’s kicks, but also weapons training with nunchucks and a bo staff, as well as horse riding.
She said: “It was a lot to take on, but that was also what made it so rewarding. There was something incredibly satisfying about finally nailing a move you have been struggling with for weeks. And honestly, I found all the kicking pretty therapeutic, too.”
The moment she finally felt like Chun-Li was the first time she put on the full costume, including the character’s iconic blue qipao.
“I remember sitting in hair and make-up, looking at myself in the mirror, and having to pinch myself a few times because I genuinely could not believe it was real.
“After all those months of training and preparation, seeing everything come together in that moment was pretty surreal. That was when it really hit me that I was actually playing Chun-Li.”
If she could bring her alter ego to Singapore for a day, they would definitely kick off the culinary tour at a hawker centre fruit stall and “one of Chun-Li’s favourite things is fruit”.
Gardens by the Bay would also be the perfect backdrop for one of Chun-Li’s iconic moves, Liang continued. “Imagine her doing a Spinning Bird Kick with the Supertrees behind her. That would be pretty iconic.” – The Straits Times/ANN
Street Fighter is showing at cinemas nationwide.
