Chang Chen, the chair of the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival Executive Committee and last year’s Golden Horse best leading actor winner for “Lucky Lu,” offered guidance to six of Taiwan’s rising performers during a Taiwan Creative Content Fest (TCCF) showcase in Taipei.
The “TCCF x The Golden Horse Awards: Taiwan Emerging Actors Showcase” featured Bai Xiao-ying, Ho Man-xi, Rosen, Jimmy Liu, Ma Shih-yuan and Lin Yi-ting. All six participants are winners or nominees for Best New Performer at the Golden Horse Awards, which are the top honors for Chinese-language cinema. The showcase was designed to connect these performers with media, investors, and international creative teams.
The lineup included performers from two consecutive Golden Horse Awards cycles. Bai Xiao-ying and Ho Man-xi are nominees for this year’s Best New Performer award for “Girl” and “Sunshine Women’s Choir,” respectively. Ma Shih-yuan won the award last year for “Left-Handed Girl,” while Rosen, Liu and Lin were nominated for “Marching Boys,” “Blind Love” and “A Dance With Rainbows,” respectively.
During the event, the performers shared personal backgrounds and goals. Bai, a university film student who began acting at age 6, noted she has trained in traditional Chinese martial arts for a decade. Ho, who described herself as serious and full of contrasts, shared her dance training and expressed a desire to pursue suspense action films or other physically forceful roles. Liu mentioned practicing taekwondo for seven years.
Lin Yi-ting stated, “At this stage, I feel it’s more important to light up others than to light up myself.” Ma Shih-yuan explained that acting serves as an outlet for pressure, saying, “When you give yourself completely to a role, audiences can feel your sincerity. It can give others strength and help you understand yourself better.” Rosen discussed his love of nature and his experience learning Western fencing for a project, which led to him winning a bout in a competition.
When asked about future roles, Bai, Ma and Liu expressed a desire to move away from familiar casting to attempt comedy or villainous roles.
