The Foreigners in Film series features interviews with talented members of China’s film and television industry from around the world.
Brian O’Shea is an Argentinean actor, talk show host, and social media influencer. During his time in China, he amassed over 10 million followers across his various social media accounts, including more than 1.6 million on Weibo alone.
While most of his online content focuses on food, his true passion is acting. He is best known for his roles in Gank Your Heart, Ip Man 4, and My True Friend, as well as for his appearances on various Chinese talk shows.
O’Shea lived in Beijing and Shanghai before making the big move to Los Angeles to try and make it in Hollywood. It will help that he is a polyglot – he speaks Spanish, English, Italian, Mandarin, and Japanese. He is also currently studying an array of martial arts, so he can kick your butt in five different languages.
You might be a bit confused by his name – Brian O’Shea is not the typical moniker for an Argentinian who grew up in Italy, but his great grandfather is from Ireland and his dad’s name is Alejandro. His brother is Santiago, but he apparently came out of the womb too white for a Latino name…
We spoke to O’Shea about his time in China and what it was like becoming an influencer in a foreign country.
How did you end up living in China?
This is so funny, but it was because of the food. Let me explain – I was studying acting in Sydney, Australia and living in Chinatown. I had a bowl of dumplings, and I just fell in love with it. I decided to move to China to eat all the foods.
What are some of the most interesting foods you encountered during your travels in China?
It became a game to me – like catching Pokémon. I wanted to eat anything I hadn’t tried before, especially the weird stuff. My top favorite ‘interesting foods’ would be river snail rice noodle (螺蛳粉)，pig brain (脑花)，stewed pork intestines lungs with dried tofu skins (卤煮)，and bell pepper stir-fried with chili pepper (青椒炒辣椒)。
What was it like being a social media icon in a foreign country?
[Laughs] I’m flattered. It’s pretty wild, even with an underlying constant imposter syndrome. Even now living in the US, I get stopped every once in a while for a selfie and my friends are super confused.
It’s definitely a net positive, and I think the fact that it’s a foreign country helped ease the shock factor. This is because even before I was famous, people would still look at me on the street in China, because I look different than the average person. So, in that sense, it just felt like the next step in the same direction. I think it would feel weird to be famous in Argentina though.
How did you get involved in doing talk shows?
Back when I started doing the videos in English, I shared my video in a ‘Argentinians in China’ WeChat group to promote myself, and that’s when my fellow Argentinian Brian Gonzalez (功必扬) reached out to me to see if I wanted to go on the show Informal Talks (非正式会谈).
Mind you at that point my Chinese was horrible, but I still said yes – fake it till you make it, right? That decision changed my life. Even though my videos were doing pretty well on their own, that show launched my career to the next level.
But it also came with a lot of pressure and stress, because I had to memorize scripts that were 90% unknown vocabulary to me. I remember crying myself to sleep one night after receiving the materials I had to memorize [laughs].
Which acting projects in China were your favorites? Is there one you are particularly proud to have been a part of?
I think my absolute favorite is Gank Your Heart (陪你到世界之巅) with Yibo Wang (王一博). We had so much fun filming in Hangzhou, the production team was super friendly and welcoming – we’d stay up playing games.
I was also allowed a lot of character development and even some improv. The cast was awesome on and off the screen. And the craziest thing is, I got recognized for that character by a Thai girl in a massage parlor in Sydney two years after that show came out. So that show made it internationally. It’s a great show, go watch it!
What would you say is one of the strangest experiences you had while filming in China?
They’re not that strange, but for one project I was flown to Canada for five days for a 10-minute shoot that took place in a forest with no landmarks – I was very confused.
This other time, the director wanted this Italian character to have blue eyes for some reason, so we had to put on colored contact lenses. Turns out, it can take up to 45 minutes and three people to make that happen. My eyelids kept closing shut involuntarily and made it really hard to be on time to the set [laughs].
How has the transition of moving to Los Angeles been for you?
It’s been really awesome. It helps that the Chinese food in San Gabriel Valley is really good, so at least I can go there when I miss it. I’ve been very lucky to meet incredible friends here, and people in the industry that are genuine and supportive. I can’t say much, but there’s some projects on the works that you’ll be very excited to see!
Any plans to return to China for future projects?
I’d love to! Right now, my focus is on my acting career – so, if any projects take me back to China, it would be incredible. But I have to go wherever my opportunities take me right now, and so far there are none happening in China. If you’re reading this and have something in mind, hit me up!
[All images are courtesy of Brian O’Shea]
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