Anthony Chen Relocates To Hong Kong From London; Says He’s Glad His 4-Year-Old Son Can Learn Mandarin There

Singaporean director Anthony Chen, 38, who’s been based in London for the past 15 years, has relocated to Hong Kong.

In an interview with Lianhe Zaobao, Anthony shared more about the move, revealing that his family-of-three relocated after his risk analyst wife, Rachel Yan, was transferred to Hong Kong for work.

Anthony and Rachel have a four-year-old son, Ethan, together.

However, although his family is now based in Hong Kong, most of Anthony’s time will still be spent abroad. The director will be flying to France in early September, where he will stay for a month, in order to do post-production work for his current project, before heading to England to continue work on his film.

“After staying in Hong Kong for three weeks, I’ll have to go overseas, the next time I return will be two months later,” Anthony said, later adding that he has always had to fly from “the East to the West” ‘cos of work anyway.

He shared that he’s currently working on several projects.

According to reports, Anthony recently finished shooting his first English-language feature film, Drift. The movie, which was shot in Greece, stars English actress Cynthia Erivo and American actress Alia Shawkat.

Apart from that, he’s also directing an Amazon movie, Secret Daughter, starring Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Sienna Miller .

His Mandarin feature film The Breaking Ice, featuring Chinese star Zhou Dongyu and Liu Haoran, is also in post-production right now.

As his wife will be busy with work in Hong Kong, Anthony’s mother, a retired accountant who’ll turn 70 next year, will be taking care of Ethan.

Anthony’s mum recently flew over to Hong Kong from Singapore, and finished her mandatory three-day quarantine period last week.

The director shared that his mum, who is Cantonese, really dotes on his son. Ethan was also relatively excited after knowing that the family will be moving to Hong Kong, though the 4-year-old’s still getting used to his new home.

“He just started school, [Aug 22] was his first day of school. He was born in England, and England’s weather and environment is different from Hong Kong, so he’s still getting used to it. On the first day of school, he did cry a little,” Anthony revealed.

Ethan’s currently enrolled in the kindergarten 2 class at Hong Kong International School.

He added that one perk that came about ‘cos of their move to Hong Kong is that Ethan will be able to learn Mandarin.

Speaking of Ethan, the seriously adorable four-year-old is a familiar face on former Mediacorp artiste  Sharon Au’s Instagram. Anthony and family have visited Sharon, who’s based in Paris, a couple of times.

Anthony shared that he actually became friends with Sharon after chatting with each other on Instagram.

He’ll also be visiting Sharon during his upcoming trip to France, and will bring along with him a box of mooncakes his wife specially ordered from a famous hotel in Hong Kong for her.

Photos: Anthony Chen/Instagram, Sharon Au/Ínstagram