Crazy Rich Asians: Henry Golding on identity, family, love, and why he may not be able to walk down Orchard Road in his pyjamas now

Henry Golding didn’t have “leading man in a major motion picture” on his list of job options. Instead, the Malaysian-British actor, who was once a professional hairstylist in London, found fame as the host of The Travel Show on the BBC, based in Singapore.

But then the call went out for someone to play Nick Young in the big-budget Crazy Rich Asians, and Golding – then newly married – found himself having to cut short his honeymoon to jet over to Los Angeles to audition for it.

Of course, he got the job, smoothly inhabiting the role of the polished, urbane, highly educated scion of a socially prominent Asian family who is somehow still down-to-earth, affable and profoundly good-natured. On a recent afternoon in Los Angeles, however, Golding was wondering how much his life might be about to change.

“A lot of people have been talking to me about the subject of anonymity,” he tells the Post. “I still live in Singapore, and I think Singaporeans would be so proud of the movie. I love walking down Orchard Road in my pyjamas on a regular day. And I don’t think that’s going to be possible any more.”

Golding loves that the film was shot partially in Singapore, where he played host to the other cast members, many of whom had never been to Asia. “I felt responsible,” he says. “Everybody was so joyous to be on set.”

Given what’s at stake for those behind the movie – the fact it has an all-Asian, stereotype-busting cast is pivotal to how, and whether, future projects like this get greenlit – Golding is well within his rights to have pre-release qualms. But however it performs at the box office, he says the fact the movie was made at all is a huge accomplishment.