Watch Benny in XIII2 – “Berzerk”
Remember I worked in this Canada and France co-produced TV show “XIII The Series 2” Episode 12 – “Berkzerk” last summer? Below the short clip is extracted from French Canal+ HD’s preview of XIII 2 Episode 12 “Berzek” in France, hence, it’s all in French.
Appearing as “Yen-Boi” a Supporting Role in TV Series XIII2 Ep 12 “Berzerk”
I landed a supporting role at the action TV show “XIII” season 2 episode 12 “Berzerk”, playing a 13-year-old Chinese boy Yen-Boi setting in Shanghai. I filmed from July 19th to July 27th, 2012 and had enjoyed it greatly. One of the interesting things was, I was pleasantly surprised to find out my Kung Fu master – Sifu Alan Tang, whom I trained Wushu (Kungfu) with since age 7 in Sunny Tang Martial Arts School in Scarborough, was the stunt double for me in this show! When he showed up onset, I was like “wow!”
I started to train Wushu (a.k.a. Kungfu, a type of Chinese martial arts) at age 7 and sort of stop training for competitive martial arts at age 12 after I competed in Canadian National Wushu Championships, because my feet were feeling a bit weird perhaps from some minor injuries during training, and my mom worried that I might not be able to grow tall if I kept training Wushu due to all those stretching I had to do every day lol.
Well, I am 5’8″ at age 14, so I guess height isn’t becoming a problem at all! 😛
Some on-set still images can be seen over here.
Working in Short Film “Searching for Wonder”
In 2010, my agency forwarded an email to my mom in which a young Toronto director Tricia Lee of A Film Monkey Production invited myself to play a lead role in her upcoming short film production “Searching for Wonder”. It is about a 12-year-old child prodigy who attends University and lives in an adult world, who discovers the feeling of wonder for the first time when a street magician blows his mind with magic. It”s about a kid learning to be a kid again. My mom read the script and discussed with me, we both love this character and what this film would bring out, so I accepted the role – Kevin and I looked forward to playing it.
In summer 2011, after finishing my work for “Flashpoint”, I worked 2 days (August 6 & 7) shooting this short film. The cast and the crew are all very nice and helpful, especially Tricia, a very dynamic and energetic, at the same time, rather strict director. Some shots/scenes we had to do many takes before she”d say “ok, let”s move on.” She made sure it is done as perfect as possible. That”s what my impression about her. “Searching for Wonder” was screened during 2011 Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival and on Bravo!, I went to the premier held at National Film Board (NFB) in Toronto. The production is indeed very nice! Everyone”s hard work got paid off! It is also a Bravo!FACT production.
Here is the video of the short film “Searching for Wonder”for your viewing pleasure:
Also check out those behind the scenes shots 🙂
Supporting Senior House Yee Hong Charity Concert
Tonight I did a performance which I can claim to be very proud of – I performed in a charity fund raising concert for the Senior House Yee Hong Community, in which I not only played piano (solo – “Serenade”) but also showcase my Kungfu skills 😛 .
This concert was organized by my piano teacher Debby Du who has taught me piano for like 4/5 years since I was 6. I made a bit mistake during my piano performance, though :S , as the big piano was a bit new and I couldn’t adjust properly. The Kung Fu piece I did was excellent, however 😀 , which won me the most applause in the full Markham Theatre – I mixed my straight sword with some traditional Chinese bare hand forms including Eagle Fist, Drunken Fist, Wing Tsun, Monkey Fist, Praying Mantis Fist and Chang Quan. I think I did really well. 😀 The biggest Mandarin Chinese TV station in Canada “Talentvision TV” (城市電視) interviewed me before the performance and I got a certificate after the show. I am proud that I can help raising funds for seniors, they remind me of my grandma (of my mom”s side) who always take care of me wholeheartedly, and my grandparents who left me and went to heaven when I was still young. We should all love, respect and help seniors. Oh yeah, forgot to mention – my mom is one of the sponsors to this event as well. She took all those photos for me.
Here is the Program of the concert; and I was mentioned as a “Special Performing Guest” for my Kung Fu showcase 😛 ‘I am proud of supporting Senior House Yee Hong Charity Concert as performer! You may also checkout a bunch of photos from my performance that night over here.
Click the thumbnail below to watch my performance (both the piano solo and the Kungfu) in this clip:
Recording for Animation Production “The 99”
This is the 3rd role I landed, which is a voice-over job for a UK animation production called “The 99” about a bunch of kids (friends) who have super power and fight against intruders…fantasy type of animation show.
I am an Indian kid in this show (only providing voice so…) with a normal name “Ashok” and a hero name “Wassi”. 😛 I was in the recording studio working for about 3 hours last Friday and I had SOOOO much fun as our voice got twisted into “monster” and “chipmunk” as we transformed to heros. I love working on this project!
Benny gave voice to Ashok in animation series The 99
