Henry Ewan Golding (born 5 February 1987) is a Malaysian-British actor and television host. Golding has been a presenter on BBC's ''
The Travel Show
''The Travel Show'' is an EP by British rapper Braintax, was released through Low Life Records in 1999. The EP was never released on CD; however, it can be purchased on the Internet as a digital download in MP3 format.
Track listing
Digit ...
'' since 2014.
He is known for his film work, playing the role of Nick Young in ''
Crazy Rich Asians
''Crazy Rich Asians'' is a satirical 2013 romantic comedy novel by Kevin Kwan. Kwan stated that his intention in writing the novel was to "introduce a contemporary Asia to a North American audience". He claimed the novel was loosely based on his ...
'', the
title character
The title character in a narrative work is one who is named or referred to in the title of the work. In a performed work such as a play or film, the performer who plays the title character is said to have the title role of the piece. The title of ...
in the action-adventure ''
Snake Eyes'', Sean Townsend in the thriller ''
A Simple Favor'', and Tom in the romantic comedy ''
Last Christmas
"Last Christmas" is a song by British pop duo Wham!, originally released in December 1984 on CBS Records internationally and as a double A-side on Epic Records with "Everything She Wants" in the UK. Described as a "high watermark of mid-80s Br ...
'', the latter two directed by
Paul Feig
Paul Samuel Feig (; born September 17, 1962) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. He is known for directing films starring frequent collaborator Melissa McCarthy, including ''Bridesmaids'' (2011), '' The Heat'' (2013), ''Spy'' (2015) ...
.
Early life
Golding was born in
Sarawak
Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the M ...
in the district of
Betong, Malaysia. His mother, Margaret Likan Golding,
is a native-born Sarawakian of indigenous
Dayak Iban ancestry. His father, Clive Golding, is British. The family lived for almost five years in
Terengganu
Terengganu (; Terengganu Malay: ''Tranung'', Jawi: ), formerly spelled Trengganu or Tringganu, is a sultanate and constitutive state of federal Malaysia. The state is also known by its Arabic honorific, ''Dāru l- Īmān'' ("Abode of Faith"). ...
, before moving to
Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
, England, when Henry was eight years old. There he went to
The Warwick School, Redhill. He moved to
Kuala Lumpur
, anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera''
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia
, pushpin_map_caption =
, coordinates =
, su ...
when he was 21 to pursue on-camera roles after working as a hairdresser on
Sloane Street
Sloane Street is a major London street in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea which runs north to south, from Knightsbridge to Sloane Square, crossing Pont Street about halfway along.
History
Sloane Street takes its name from Sir Han ...
in London for a couple of years.
Career
In March 2017, after a global casting call, it was announced that Golding would star in the film ''
Crazy Rich Asians
''Crazy Rich Asians'' is a satirical 2013 romantic comedy novel by Kevin Kwan. Kwan stated that his intention in writing the novel was to "introduce a contemporary Asia to a North American audience". He claimed the novel was loosely based on his ...
'' alongside
Constance Wu
Constance Wu (born March 22, 1982) is an American actress. Wu was included on ''Time'' magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2017. She has earned several accolades, including nominations for a Golden Globe Award, fo ...
. He was first brought to director
Jon M. Chu
Jonathan Murray Chu (born November 2, 1979) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known as the director of 2018's ''Crazy Rich Asians'', the first film by a major Hollywood studio to feature a majority cast of Asi ...
's attention by accountant Lisa-Kim Ling Kuan, and Golding's charm and personality quickly won him his first acting role. ''Crazy Rich Asians'' was released in the United States and Canada on 15 August 2018 by
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film production and distribution company of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group division of Warner Bros. Entertainment (both ultimately owned by Warner Bros. Discovery). The studio is the flagship producer of liv ...
and was met with high critical praise, becoming the number one movie in U.S. and Canadian theatres over its opening weekend. A month later, Golding appeared in
Paul Feig
Paul Samuel Feig (; born September 17, 1962) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. He is known for directing films starring frequent collaborator Melissa McCarthy, including ''Bridesmaids'' (2011), '' The Heat'' (2013), ''Spy'' (2015) ...
's thriller ''
A Simple Favor'', co-starring
Blake Lively
Blake Ellender Lively ( Brown; born August 25, 1987) is an American actress. Born in Los Angeles, Lively is the daughter of actor Ernie Lively, and made her professional debut in his directorial project ''Sandman'' (1998). She starred as Brid ...
and
Anna Kendrick
Anna Cooke Kendrick (born August 9, 1985) is an American actress. She has received various accolades, including a Satellite Award, five Teen Choice Awards, three MTV Movie Awards, and nominations for an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award a ...
, playing Sean, the husband of Lively's character. Following the success of ''Crazy Rich Asians'', and, to a lesser extent, ''A Simple Favor'', Golding was cast opposite
Emilia Clarke
Emilia Isobel Euphemia Rose Clarke (born 23 October 1986) is an English actress. She is best known for her portrayal as Daenerys Targaryen in '' Game of Thrones''. She has received various accolades, including an Empire Award, a Saturn Award, ...
in the
romantic comedy
Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...
''
Last Christmas
"Last Christmas" is a song by British pop duo Wham!, originally released in December 1984 on CBS Records internationally and as a double A-side on Epic Records with "Everything She Wants" in the UK. Described as a "high watermark of mid-80s Br ...
'', directed by Feig (in their second collaboration). Filming commenced on 26 November 2018 and continued until February 2019, and the film was released on 8 November 2019.
Golding starred alongside
Matthew McConaughey
Matthew David McConaughey ( ; born November 4, 1969) is an American actor. He had his breakout role with a supporting performance in the coming-of-age comedy '' Dazed and Confused'' (1993). After a number of supporting roles, his first succes ...
,
Hugh Grant
Hugh John Mungo Grant (born 9 September 1960) is an English actor. He established himself early in his career as both a charming, and vulnerable romantic lead and has since transitioned into a dramatic character actor. Among his numerous a ...
, and
Michelle Dockery
Michelle Suzanne Dockery (born 15 December 1981) is an English television and film actress. She is best known for her leading performance as Lady Mary Crawley in the ITV television period drama series ''Downton Abbey'' (2010–2015), for which ...
in ''
The Gentlemen'', a 2019
crime film
Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...
directed by
Guy Ritchie
Guy Stuart Ritchie (born 10 September 1968) is an English film director, producer and screenwriter. His work includes British gangster films, and the ''Sherlock Holmes'' films starring Robert Downey Jr.
Ritchie left school at age 15 and wor ...
. Golding went on to star in ''
Monsoon
A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...
'', a
Hong Khaou
Hong Khaou (born 22 October 1975) is a Cambodian-British film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his debut feature film ''Lilting'' and the short films ''Summer'' and ''Spring''.
Early life
Khaou was born in Cambodia to Chinese-C ...
film, as Kit, a man who travels from London to his birth country of Vietnam to scatter his parents' ashes.
In August 2019, Golding was cast in
the title role of ''
Snake Eyes'', a spin-off from the
''G.I. Joe'' movie franchise, which was released in July 2021. Filming for ''Snakes Eyes'' began in October 2019 in
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
, and wrapped in February 2020 in Tokyo.
Upcoming projects
On 29 April 2019, CNBC reported that Golding is to reprise his role as Nick Young in the back-to-back filming of two sequels to ''Crazy Rich Asians'', which are currently in pre-production.
Golding stars in spy movie ''Assassin Club'' along with
Noomi Rapace
Noomi Rapace (; ; born 28 December 1979) is a Swedish actress.Karen Olsson, ''The New York Times Magazine'', 27 May 2012, p. 26. She achieved international fame with her portrayal of Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish film adaptations of the ''Mil ...
,
Sam Neill
Sir Nigel John Dermot "Sam" Neill (born 14 September 1947) is a New Zealand actor. Neill's near-50 year career has included leading roles in both dramas and blockbusters. Considered an "international leading man", he has been regarded as one o ...
, and
Daniela Melchior
Daniela Melchior ((); born November 1, 1996) is a Portuguese actress. After beginning her career in her home country, she garnered worldwide attention with her English-language debut as Ratcatcher 2 in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) film '' The ...
, with
Camille Delamarre
Camille Delamarre is a French film editor and director, best known for directing ''The Transporter Refueled'' and '' Brick Mansions''. He edited films including ''Transporter 3'' and ''Taken 2'', among others.
Career
In 2014, Delamarre made hi ...
directing and screenplay by Thomas C. Dunn. Production on the film has been wrapped in
Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...
,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
.
Personal life
Golding met Liv Lo, a Taiwanese television presenter and yoga instructor, on New Year's Day 2011. They became engaged in 2015, and were married in August 2016 in
Sarawak
Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the M ...
. The couple lives in Venice Beach, California with their daughter Lyla.
Before his marriage, Golding completed his ''bejalai''—the
Iban
IBAN or Iban or Ibán may refer to:
Banking
* International Bank Account Number
Ethnology
* Iban culture
* Iban language
* Iban people
Given name
Cycling
* Iban Iriondo (born 1984)
* Iban Mayo (born 1977)
* Iban Mayoz (born 1981)
Football
* ...
rite of passage into manhood—in the wilderness of
Borneo
Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...
, filming the experience over two months (and carrying the camera equipment himself) for the documentary series ''Surviving Borneo'' on
Discovery Channel Asia
Discovery Channel Southeast Asia (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, often referred to as simply Discovery) is the Southeast Asian version of Discovery Channel operated by Warner Bros. Discovery Asia-Pacific, a division of Warner ...
.
His journey ended in him receiving a traditional hand-tapped
''bejalai'' tattoo by Ernesto Kalum of Borneoheadhunters Tattoo in
Kuching, Sarawak
Kuching (), officially the City of Kuching, is the capital and the most populous city in the state of Sarawak in Malaysia. It is also the capital of Kuching Division. The city is on the Sarawak River at the southwest tip of the state of Sarawa ...
. The tattoo on his right thigh is a fig tree that wraps around other trees and takes their form to become the tree itself.
When interviewed by Michele Manelis of ''
The New Zealand Herald
''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspapers ...
'', Golding said of his surname, "Golding is really darn Jewish, isn't it? My grandfather during the war was in London and as the story goes, he was possibly adopted by a Jewish family by that name. Out of respect he took on their name and it was passed down. So, I'm proud to be an honorary Jew."
"Why Crazy Rich Asians is a Hollywood gamechanger."
Manelis, Michele. ''The New Zealand Herald
''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspapers ...
''. Published 23 August 2018 Accessed 14 November 2018.
Filmography
Film
Television
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Golding, Henry
Living people
1987 births
21st-century British male actors
British male actors of Asian descent
British people of Malaysian descent
British male film actors
British male television actors
Iban people
Malaysian people of British descent
Malaysian male film actors
Male actors from Surrey
People from Sarawak
People from Terengganu