China’s Chosen Sam Coast actor stars in landmark TV series
MEET the Mandarin-speaking Gold Coast actor poised to become a household name in film and TV – in China.
Mudgeeraba actor, model and businessman Sam Hayden-Smith stars in Chosen,a landmark Chinese TV series set to screen in 195 countries including the US and Australia later this year after it was picked up by Netflix.
Adapted from the US TV drama of the same name, the $4.6 million Mandarin-language series also stars Taiwanese-born actor Blue Lan Cheng-lung, Chinese actor Deng Jiajia and Han Pengyi.
“My character, John Henry – I’ve never seen a Chinese film or TV show with a caucasian character so good,” Hayden-Smith said.
“If you’re in a Chinese film and you’re caucasian, you’re usually the bad guy.”
Filmed in Sydney last year and presented in three episodes, the series was directed by Australian Tony Tilse (HBO Asia’s Serangoon Road; Channel 9’s Underbelly) and had more than 30 million views when it premiered on leading streaming platform iQIYI in China and Taiwan in January.
Father of four HaydenSmith, who owns a company that manufactures high-end shop fittings for retail clients including David Jones, studied Mandarin at university before spending almost six years living and working in China and Taiwan. He said he’d all but given up on a fulltime career as an actor when he landed his role in Chosen.
“I chased acting for so many years and then I thought, I’ve got a family to feed, I’m going to focus on my Chinese and I’m going to set up (a business),” he said.
“When my agent called me last year and said hey ‘you’ll never believe this but there’s this Sony production looking for a Mandarin speaking caucasian detective’, I was like ‘oh my God’.
“I auditioned for that role and then they saw my tape and gave me a lead.”