When our Henry meets Ellen in US

Making history: Golding and Wu appearing as guests on

PETALING JAYA: It’s a proud shout-out for the country when an Iban actor appeared on an Emmy award-winning US talk show.

“I’m Iban, I’m half-Malaysian and half-British. My mother is from East Malaysia, Sarawak,” proclaimed Henry Golding on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Monday.

Golding, who is the first Malaysian to be on the popular daytime show, made the appearance together with American actress Constance Wu to promote their romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians, which also stars Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh.

He said it was his first time being interviewed on a top talk show, gushing that it was an “insane” experience.

“There are real people here,” quipped Golding, referring to the live studio audience.

DeGeneres, whose talk show has been on air since 2003, said Crazy Rich Asians was a big deal because the movie featured an all-Asian cast.

The former TV presenter of 8tv Quickie told DeGeneres during the show that this was his first film, having been involved in travel shows on BBC and Discovery Channel in the past.

He was also one of the main host for the Football Crazy programme which ran in ESPN Asia from 2010-2012.

His co-star Wu, of Fresh Off the Boat fame, complimented him on being a natural actor.

“He’s just oozing charm.

“You’d fall in love with him the second you see him on the screen,” she said.

Crazy Rich Asians, directed by Jon M. Chu, is set for release on Aug 17.

Its full-length trailer was released on Monday to much excitement and hype.

The film revolves around Rachel Chu (played by Wu) who follows her boyfriend Nick (played by Golding) to Singapore to meet his family, who turns out to be “crazy rich”.

Yeoh, who acted as Nick’s mother, disapproves of Rachel dating her son.

Golding looks set to chart a successful run on the silver screen with his second film A Simple Favour, which also stars Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick, set for release in September.

His next project will be as the lead in Monsoon, a film by Cambodian-born British director Hong Khaou.