Lewis Singwah Tan is a British actor, model and martial artist. Born to a Singaporean father and an English mother. He is known for his roles as Zhou Cheng in Netflix's Iron Fist, Gaius Chau in the AMC series Into the Badlands, Lu Xin Lee in the Netflix's Wu Assassins and Shatterstar in Deadpool 2.
Early life
Lewis Singwah Tan was born in Salford, England, and was raised primarily in Los Angeles, living also in France, Thailand, Spain, and China. Tan identifies as half-Asian, half-British. His father, Philip Tan, is a martial artist, actor, and stunt coordinator of Chinese descent from Singapore. His mother is British and a retired fashion model from the UK. His family moved to Los Angeles when his father was hired as a fight coordinator for Tim Burton's 1989 filmBatman. He is the eldest of four brothers. His younger brother, Sam Tan, is also an actor. His youngest brother, Evan Tan, is a photographer based in LA whose work has been featured on the art for songs from artists such as Kali Uchis and Zack Villere. Tan's father trained him in martial arts from a young age. He also began training in theatre as a young teen, leading many plays. He studied performing arts with coach John Kirby.
Career
Tan studies under acting coach John Kirby, performing plays from Tennessee Williams to John Patrick Shanley. Tan performs his own stunts, using multiple styles including Muay Thai, Kung Fu, Ju-Jitsu and Japanese katana swordplay. Tan appeared in small supporting roles in other major pictures such as Hangover 3 and Olympus Has Fallen. He began working on major television shows such as ', ', , Hawaii 5-0, 24, Rush Hour and Mortal Kombat X: Generations. In 2016, Tan was cast in a recurring role in the first season of the Netflixtelevision seriesIron Fist. He starred in the role of Zhou Cheng. In the same year, Tan was cast in the action filmDen of Thieves starring Gerard Butler. Tan starred as Gaius Chau in the third season of the AMC television series Into the Badlands. In 2018, Tan starred as Shatterstar in the superhero filmDeadpool 2. In the same year, it was announced that Tan was cast in the series regular role of Lu Xin Lee on the Netflix crime drama series, Wu Assassins. In August 2019, Tan was cast in the Mortal Kombat reboot in an undisclosed lead role.
