Taiwanese star Kiwebaby Zhang, 29, is one of the few celebs in Asia to come out as trans. Though she's a hugely popular social media personality ─ she has almost 100K followers on Instagram ─ her path to becoming an actress hasn't been all that smooth-sailing.
It's why she was very suspicious when she was approached to audition for Singapore movie Number 1 (a.k.a the film for which Mark Lee was nominated for a Golden Horse Best Actor award.).
“I thought it was a scam,” Kiwebaby told Taiwanese media. “I only realised they were serious when I saw the poster for (hit movie) More than Blue in the company where I had my audition, and I knew that it was a legitimate offer.”
Kiwebaby's performance in Number 1 was critically lauded and even earned her praise from Oscar-winning Taiwanese director Lee Ang, who told her, “You’re the one who acted as Pearly in Number 1, right? You were outstanding and very charming!”