WHY HENRY REALIGNED HIS LIFE
THE SNAKE EYES STAR CONTINUES TO BREAK BARRIERS WHILE LEARNING TO SLOW DOWN FOR HIS BABY GIRL
Henry Golding breathes a happy sigh. “When Liv and Lyla were here, we just spent time in Primrose Hill walking around, going to coffee shops, spending time together smooching and cuddling,” he says, smiling over Zoom from England as he recounts his last perfect day off with his wife, Liv, and 5-month-old daughter Lyla.
His two favourite girls have since returned to LA, “and I can’t wait until I get back,” says Golding, 34, who’s been abroad shooting Netflix’s upcoming film adaptation of Persuasion alongside Dakota Johnson since May. “As soon as I finish this movie, I’m going home.”
It’s no surprise Golding is missing his family, but he’s homesick in an entirely new way. After more than a year hunkered down in Los Angeles with his wife – including two and a half uninterrupted months with their newborn – the actor sees life through a different lens.
“I’ve realigned what’s important in life,” says the Malaysian-born Brit, who moved from Singapore to LA in 2019 with Liv, 36, a Taiwanese-Italian fitness entrepreneur he first met a decade ago. During the pandemic lockdown, “we were able to explore the West Coast together, focus on family time and be present for the entire pregnancy journey,” he says. “Money can’t buy that type of quality time.”
It’s a lesson Golding may not have learned without a forced pandemic break. In 2018 he charmed audiences as the sweet and dashing Nick Young in Crazy Rich Asians. The film – which grossed $326 million worldwide – was the most successful romantic comedy in a decade. It also cemented Golding, who got his on-screen start hosting travel shows in Asia and New Zealand throughout his 20s, as Hollywood’s next leading man.
Following the movie’s runaway success, he starred in a string of mainstream releases, including A Simple Favor and Last Christmas, and earned critical acclaim with his moving portrayal of a gay British-Vietnamese refugee in the 2019 indie film Monsoon. Reflecting on his relentless schedule – including months away in Vancouver and Japan in late 2019 and early 2020 shooting his latest film, Snake Eyes – Golding acknowledges he feared losing momentum.
“You’re always kind of like, ‘Oh, this is going to be the last job,’” says the actor, who plays the title character in the GI Joe spin-off. “You can plan and plan and plan until you’re red in the face, but it only takes a pandemic to be like, ‘Nope.’ You realise you have to make hard decisions sometimes for the better of your personal life – and your soul.”
As one of the few Asian men landing lead roles on the big screen, Golding is determined to continue breaking barriers. Snake Eyes is white in Larry Hama’s comic book series, but producers made a conscious decision to write the ninja warrior as Asian American in the film. “It’s really about if the characters are written with justice: are they three-dimensional? Is there a backstory? Is there a reason they’re from this certain country or of this certain ethnicity?” says Golding, who was raised in Malaysia and Surrey, England, by his Malaysian mother, Margaret (a nativeborn Sarawakian of indigenous Iban ancestry), and English father, Clive. “We don’t want to be the butt of the joke. It’s not funny anymore.”
Becoming a dad, he says, pushed him to think more deeply about inclusion. “I have an Asian American baby, and I hope I’ve helped lay a foundation where she grows up in a society that accepts you for who you are,” he says. It’s a mindset Golding brings with him to work. “The schedule was ruthless, yet he would organise dinners and make sure everyone felt included and a part of the team,” says his Snake Eyes co-star Samara Weaving, who plays a
GI Joe agent in the film. “Henry is a very generous and kind human being.”
Looking ahead, Golding hopes to follow in the footsteps of his inspirations: Daniel Day-Lewis, Gary Oldman and Tom Hardy. “It’s gravitas,” says Golding, who dreams of starring in “the next big sci-fi action” film. “They all have that thing you’re just drawn to: the way they stand, the way they look at you. They don’t even have to say anything.”
They’ve also quietly carved out full lives off-screen, something he hopes to achieve. “I’ve travelled my entire life all over the world, and hopefully we get the chance to travel equally as much,” he says. “Lyla’s already got one country on her little passport. We’ll be collecting them and taking note for her.”
As for now, he’s just itching to get home to more baby snuggles. “It all goes by in a blur,” he says of parenthood. “No words can describe how challenging it is, but it’s just been an absolute joy.”