Ranking Chin Han’s Hollywood TV & Movie Roles — Including Mortal Kombat — From Dead Serious To Least Serious

This story was first published on Apr 10, 2021.

Chin Han is a serious actor and he has played many serious characters.

Ever since his Hollywood breakthrough as the scheming and stuck-up criminal bookkeeper Lau in 2008’s The Dark Knight, the LA-based Singaporean has appeared in over 15 movies and TV shows, working with the likes of Roland Emmerich, Steven Soderbergh and the Russo Brothers.

He’s often called up to portray characters that are sombre, calculating, humourless and, shall we say, morally flexible. You know, very Lau. (In short: folks you find it hard to care about. He’s no Tzi Ma.)

In his latest, Mortal Kombat, now showing in cinemas, the live-action adaptation of the ultra-violent video game, he plays Shang Tsung, an evil sorcerer from Outworld plotting to take over Earthrealm by way of the titular supernatural MMA tournament.

What does Chin Han, 51, look for when playing a villain?

“If you can make sense to it, if there’s a logic to it, then you can play it,” he tells 8days.sg via Zoom. “You’re looking more at the person who can exist in that world and when you find that relation to the world that you’re creating, then I think you are quite free to explore that world.”

And in Shang Tsung’s case, he’s from a dying world and his desperation to save it “creates the engine for the character to do what he does,” Chin Han continues.

“Whether Shang Tsung is doing it for Outworld or Jia Sidao [his character in the Netflix series Marco Polo] for the Sung Dynasty, these are things that one can identify with and use as a tool to portray the character.”

At a time when movies like Minari and Yellow Rose humanise Asian characters, is he concerned that Mortal Kombat — despite its strong diverse cast that also includes Ludi Lin, Joe Taslim and Tadanobu Asano — might continue to perpetuate the martial arts stereotype?

“No, I feel there is enough space in the film world for all kinds of movies and they fulfill different social functions,” says Chin Han, who was made a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2018.

“Mortal Kombat, if anything, emphasises the diversity of people in the Earthrealm and how it is important to work as a team to defend and protect their kind,” he explains. “A movie like Minari or Jump [the volleyball flick starring China-born Singaporean actress Gong Li], they are about different realities of being Asian. There is no one reality to be Asian, let alone one Asian monolith.”

Here, we revisit some of Chin Han’s Hollywood roles over the years, ranking them by seriousness, from dead serious to there-is-room-for-more-levity. Ramblers, let's get rambling!

This story was first published on Apr 10, 2021.

17. Lau - The Dark Knight (2008)

The Hollywood breakthrough! As the snooty accountant (“I’m good at calculations ) who launders money for Gotham City’s mob families, Lau may be a small role but in terms of fanboy coolness, he gets our ‘wow’ vote. C’mon, how often do you share the same universe with the Joker and Batman? One question remains: Lau is last seen tied up and sitting on a heap of burning money? Did he die? “You have to ask Christopher Nolan,” Chin Han told us in 2008. He’s alive all right — Lau lives on in some of Chin Han’s subsequent roles. On HBO Max

16. Frank Chen - Arrow (2013)

Chin Han returns to the DC world with a four-ep arc (in the first season) as a business tycoon and an old family friend of Oliver Queen’s (Stephen Amell). Frank is also a member of the Tempest, a shadowy consortium planning to destroy the city. He’s framed for plotting to assassinate the big boss Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman), who has him killed instead. Bummer. Frank Chen is kinda like a more suave version of Lau. The two probably went to the same evil business school. Someone should write fan-fiction about their freshmen days. On HBO Max

15. Neil Chung - Fringe (2012)

In the Season 4 ep ‘Making Angels’ of the JJ Abrams-produced sci-fi drama, Chin Han gives a understated performance as a MIT professor-turned-angel of mercy killer who chooses his victims using alien technology that lets him glimpse into their future. Why is Neil doing this? It has something to do with a childhood tragedy. If you know your Fringe, Neil’s obsession to play God is linked to the show’s larger inter-dimension-traversing mythology, which is hard to explain to non-fans. On Prime Video

14. Sun Feng - Contagion (2010)

In Steven Soderbergh’s viral outbreak thriller, Chin Han plays a Hongkong official who shows Marion Cotillard’s WHO scientist the lay of the land, so she can figure out how and where Patient Zero (Gwyneth Paltrow) was infected. Sun Feng does more than just play tour guide: he also kidnaps the doctor and holds her hostage in his village in exchange for the cure. Chin Han is a little overqualified for a pedestrian role which he described as “button-down and serious”, same qualities you’d ascribed to some of his characters. It was surreal to watch the movie again during the Covid-19 pandemic. "When we did that film, it was meant as a cautionary tale, not as a documentary," says Chin Han. On HBO Max

13. Dr Lee - Restless (2011)

Gus Van Sant’s terminal-illness romance stars Henry Hopper, son of Easy Rider icon Dennis Hopper, as a young man with a morbid fascination with funerals in love with a young woman dying from cancer. Chin Han turns up in a few scenes as the girl’s doctor to deliver, you know, doctor-ly lines. Nothing earth-shaking, but very serious. On Apple TV

12. Councilman Yen - Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Tom Hardy. Michael Keaton. Ryan Reynolds. Ben Affleck. And Chin Han. They’ve all played characters in both the DC and Marvel-verses. As World Security Council member Yen, Chin Han doesn’t have much to say. He just looks stern, drinks some champagne, and points a gun at S.H.I.E.L.D boss/Hydra sleeper agent Robert Redford, who in turn ends up killing him. Fun fact: Chin Han’s Masters of the Sea co-star Donald Li plays an unnamed WSC member in The Avengers. Oh well, at least Chin Han’s character has a name. On Disney+.

11. Commander Jiang Lao - Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)

Chin Han joins the Air Force! (#ChinHanSolo!) He is reunited with 2012 director Roland Emmerich on the belated sequel to the 1996 alien-invasion thriller, as the stern (is there any other kind?) CO of moon-based Earth Space Defence Force. He's a tough bastard (he tears Liam Hemsworth’s insubordinate pilot a new one) but has a tender side as well, as the dotting uncle to Angelababy’s niece and hotshot aviator. On Disney+ 

10. Togusa - Ghost in the Shell (2017)

In Rupert Sanders’ live-action adaptation of the classic anime of the same name, Chin Han plays a member of the multi-ethnic crime-fighting unit Section 9. But, because the focus is on Scarlett Johansson's character, The Major, he and co-stars Yutaka Izumihara, Lasarus Ratuere and Danusia Samal — Who? Who? Who? — are sidelined and have a little moments to shine on their own. Even the legendary ‘Beat’ Takeshi Kitano is criminally underused. They’re seen and not seen at the same time. The only thing memorable about Togusa is his mullet. Very lao beng. On Apple TV

9. Tenzin - 2012 (2009)

In Roland Emmerich’s end-of-the-world epic, Chin Han plays a Tibetan welder working on aircraft carrier-size arks reserved for rich people escaping an impending global catastrophe. It’s a small but integral role: Tenzin gets to decide the fate of a group of survivors — including John Cusack and Amanda Peet — by sneaking them onto the arks. It’s a physically demanding part, too. “I have to be speaking Tibetan and running from a giant tsunami at the same time,” he told us in 2009. “Now, that’s a talent!” Respect. On Apple TV

8. Zheng Li - Last Resort (2012)

Remember when Chin Han was rumoured to be in the running to play ex-PM Lee Kuan Yew in the birth-of-the-nation drama1965? (He dodged a bullet with that one.) Give him a suit and he looks like someone running for public office, and he gets to play one in this short-lived military series — from The Shield creator Shawn Ryan — about a rogue US nuclear submarine blamed for starting WWIII. He has a four-ep appearance as a Chinese emissary who offers the beleaguered sub’s skipper (Andre Braugher) a way out of the tense quagmire. And to be an effective negotiator, he has to — wait for it — be stern and calculating…Streaming availabile unknown

7. Chancellor Jia Sidao - Marco Polo (2014)

Before Crazy Rich Asians, this pricey Netflix flop — about the 13th century Italian explorer’s days in China — was the Hollywood production with the most Singaporean actors. Chin Han gets to be stern and scheming as the power hungry Chancellor Jia Sidao. And when Jia isn’t plotting political chicanery, he’s busy tormenting a maiden (Oon Shu An). We’re so used to seeing Chin Han in Western garb that it’s kinda weird to see him in ancient Chinese wardrobe .... and with a man bun. Even weirder: him doing martial arts. (Northern Praying Mantis, anyone?) On Netflix

6. Shang Tsung - Mortal Kombat (2021)

I’m just going to come out and say it: Isn’t Shang Tsung Jia Sidao by another name? If you don't buy Chin Han in period clothes, then you’ll have issues with him as the armour-clad evil sorcerer in this live-action adaptation of the violent video game. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, who played Shang Tsung in the 1995 version, had a blast with the part and he even got to fight. Chin Han’s take simply order people around (pfff!). Okay, he does get to suck the soul of one of the good guys. Still, he’s serious but not very menacing; a one-note villain that’s all bark and no bite. Not his fault, though: everyone in this brutal but bland actioner takes themselves way too seriously, more so than the material deserves. On HBO Max

5. Kay Song - Serangoon Road (2013)

Welcome home, Chin Han! This 10-part detective noir drama — produced by HBO Asia (still Hollywood!) and Australian Broadcasting Corporation — is set in 1960s Singapore (it was shot in Batam, where the sets were later re-purposed for Channel 5’s Mata Mata and 1965). Chin Han plays the leader of a triad called Red Dragons, a Lau-ish part which he can play with his hands tied behind his back. But we know where Kay Song gets his serious genes from — his grandfather, played by Lim Kay Tong. On HBO Max

4. Zhao Long Ji - Skyscraper (2018)

3. Wujing - The Blacklist (2013)

Chin Han breaks bad again. In this Season 1 guest role, he’s the star of his own episode — as Wujing, a spy killer for China, ranked No.84 on Concierge of Crime Raymond ‘Red’ Reddington’s catalogue of criminals and terrorists. Unlike Lau, Wujing is less uptight and has a more rock n’ roll vibe to him. Maybe because he isn’t wear a suit. He’s still serious looking, though. Fun fact: Wujing is tasked with killing a CIA asset named Henry Cho. Remember that name ̕cos it’ll pop up in this story later on. On Netflix

2. Salizar Vasquez Deleon - The Spoils Before Dying (2015)

Will Ferrell produced this parody of an awful (faux) 1960 noir thriller — told over six half-hour eps — by wannabe filmmaker Eric Jonros (Ferrell) whose novel the movie is based on. Michael K Williams stars as a jazz singer accused of murdering his girlfriend (Maya Rudolph), and Chin Han is the gangster giving our hero a tough time. Here’s the thing: Deleon is a Mexican gangster. Chin Han’s casting is meant to poke fun at the old studio practice of hiring white actors to portray people of colour, and the joke is, it’s an Asian playing the part. Incontrovertible proof that Chin Han can do funny. Streaming availability unknown

1. Henry Cho - Lethal Weapon (2017)

Someone must’ve seen Chin Han on The Spoils Before Dying before offering him to guest-star in the ‘Homebodies’ ep (Season 1) where he plays an affable Korean detective assigned to help Murtaugh and Riggs (Damon Wayans and Clayne Crawford) on a drug case. During the investigation, Cho and Murtaugh find out they have lots in common (they are both sticklers for the rules and die-hard foodies). They get along so well that Cho offered to be Murtaugh’s new crime-fighting partner. It’s nice to see Chin Han loosen up, smile, and have some fun for a change. He should do this more often. Streaming availability unknown