It’s no secret that Shaun Tam (譚俊彥) is the son of veteran actor, Ti Lung (狄龍), known for acting in a series of Shaw Brothers movies. Since signing with TVB in 2016, he has already starred as the male lead in 6 series. The most successful series for Shaun Tam to date is “Forensic Heroes IV”. Many people would automatically assume Shaun Tam got to where he is today because of his father. However, it hasn’t always been that rosy and smooth in his career.
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Shaun Tam was recently on a radio talk show and revealed his aspirations when was he was younger was to work in advertising. When he graduated from college in Canada and returned to Hong Kong, he said fate had lead him to acting, but he didn’t conceal the fact that it was only because of his father that he got his first acting job in the 2001 movie, “Midnight Fly” (慌心假期), alongside Anita Mui.
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On working with Anita Mui, Shaun Tam revealed she had told him that he needed to know how to choose his friends. She also taught him which places he can go and which ones he shouldn’t, which he still abides by today. Shaun Tam also reveals his father requested him not to do three things: 1) Don’t be gay 2) Don’t do drugs 3) Don’t join a gang. He said he has never been interested in these things, which assured Ti Lung.
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After joining showbiz, Shaun Tam admitted he had a lot of stress due to him getting labeled “second generation celebrity” or “Ti Lung’s son”. Shaun Tam expressed, “It’s because people gave face to my semi-retired father, but he wouldn’t tell others ‘Use my son’. There really is no such thing. He isn’t a head of a movie studio or the president of the Hong Kong Performing Artistes Guild. Why would others give me a chance?” It’s because of these incidents that Shaun Tam had even refused to take pictures with Ti Lung. However, Shaun Tam explained now that he has grown up, he is no longer this persistent and said it was fate being able to work with his father and act as “Justice Bao” from two generations.
Despite being the male lead in all TVB series, Shaun Tam was once labeled by netizens as “Ratings Poison”. He revealed, “It would be a lie if I said I didn’t mind, but this is life. When I filmed ‘Justice Bao’, it was the World Cup. As for ‘Justice Bao’, we ran into incidents with society.”
Shaun Tam also revealed he met his wife, Yann Ren (任祉妍), who was a theatre actor, when he was developing his career in China for over 10 years. Yann Ren rejected Shaun Tam’s love confession at first due to the distance because they were always working in different cities. She was touched when Shaun Tam tried his shot again in Vancouver and suggested to visit her parents in Beijing for the new year. They got married when they found out Yann Ren was pregnant. He decided to return to Hong Kong to develop his career in order to spend more time with his family.
Credit: TOPick, Shaun Tam IG
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