Movie casting chances boom for expat actors

As Chinese cinema continues to establish itself on the international stage, a growing number of foreign actors and Chinese talent agencies are taking advantage of a niche market that can no longer be faked, Alice Philipson discovers

Chances are if a filmmaker in China wrote a foreign character into a script 10 years ago, a Chinese actor in a wig would have arrived on set. But in 2010, both directors and audiences want the real deal and that leaves foreigners in Beijing in a great position to embark on a career in film or TV.

Christopher Boobier, a 23-year-old English teacher in both Beijing and Tianjin, is one such foreigner who capitalized on the growing number of acting opportunities.

In November, Boobier will appear in soap opera Today in the Court after filming a scene last month in which he played the Western husband of a Chinese woman.

Boobier, who came to China seven months ago from the UK, was paid in line with his co-workers, receiving approximately 500 yuan for half a day's work.

However, foreigners working on higher profile programs can expect to be paid significantly more than their Chinese counterparts.

"I was the first Westerner to appear on the show," Boobier said.

"The director used the word 'experimental'. It was such a strange experience; imagine the whiskey advert Bill Murray does in the film Lost in Translation and that's pretty close to what I went through."

For many Beijingers looking to get into acting full time, China can be an easier place than the West to land those big roles.

"Chinese cinema is growing and is a very big market now, so there are some good opportunities to get into movies," said 26-year-old Bulgarian actress Boryana Trifonova, who came to Beijing in 2008 with a degree in drama.

"But there are all kinds of programs, like documentaries and chat shows that need foreigners. We say in Bulgaria that Western actors are like warm bread in China - they literally gobble us up."

Trifonova, who filmed four episodes of reality TV cooking show Top Chef three months after arriving in China, spoke no Chinese at all when she first arrived in Beijing.

Although she found her first job quickly, both she and Boobier admit that if you don't speak Mandarin, opportunities, certainly on television, are limited.

But in Chinese film there are no hard and fast rules about how much of the language you need to know, according to Hou Yong, a Chinese cinematographer and director best known for his collaborations with filmmaker Zhang Yimou.

For many roles, no knowledge is necessary at all. One useful tip Hou gives is that he looks to the many talent agencies representing foreigners in Beijing to find actors.

"In the past, we might have chosen to eliminate roles for foreign actors because they were so expensive to hire," said Hou, who cast foreigners in five main roles for his 2008 film, The One Man Olympics.

"But, in my last film, I was surprised to learn that there were some professional Chinese talent agencies that have foreign actors on their books - it encourages us to add more foreign elements to movies."

That's not to say life is a bed of roses for every foreign actor in Beijing though.

According to China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, foreign actors or crew members cannot make up more than one-third of the total employment for a movie or TV program made in China.

Additionally, certain locations, such as military bases, are off-limits to non-Chinese.

But there's no doubt that the blossoming of the Chinese film industry has created a unique opening for expats living in Beijing.

"In Hollywood, there are so many productions going on but there is so much competition for parts," said Hou. "Here, you can be in demand."

(China Daily 11/09/2010)