Becoming Henry Prince Mak

As I work more intently to fix an audio glitch, Henry Prince Mak is tucked away in his Shanghai hotel room (amid bric-a-brac and his guitar), attempting to adjust the resolution of his screen. God! For some bizarre reason, he can’t hear me, although I can. This Zoom error has been bothering us for a while. “Let’s do this anyway,” he says, and I’m like, “Yeah, let’s give it a shot; we’ll figure something out if complications arise.” It turns out that turning off my video allows him to hear me well. That works, as long as the conversation can go through.

Henry is alert, inquisitive, and driven by the desire to connect and respond; hence, my first impression of him is that he’s likable. I see the former JJCC (Jackie Chan Joint Cultures) K-pop idol who is now a rising star in China. But I also see a fundamentally normal guy paying close attention to my questions, exchanging responses candidly, and smiling in between.

We begin with him recounting how it all started. “I believe many people know that I am a full-blood Chinese born in Australia who debuted in Korea with the K-pop band JJCC. My days in Australia were spent as a normal Asian kid, and my parents wanted me to pursue something more professional, like becoming a doctor or an architect. But none of that appealed to me. So I went on the road, chasing my dreams of being a singer or an actor.” That dream has come true and Henry’s career is rapidly evolving, maybe as fast as he moved places. “I left home when I was 17. I’m sure many people dream, but whether or not they take the steps to pursue or chase their dreams is what makes the difference. I didn’t want to look back and feel sorry about it. So, I set out to fulfill my dream and I can say that I am doing my dream job right now. Along the way, I met a lot of good people. My mentor, my teacher, and the person who got me into this industry is Mr. Jackie Chan. I’m thankful for meeting him, and I’m glad that I’m a very lucky guy.”

Luck and labor propelled Henry’s fame and eventually catapulted him to stardom. But stardom isn’t easy, it comes with responsibility. It’s kind of a progressive realization. But to experience that, one must do things correctly. Isn’t it true that humility comes before honor? “I think that’s the most important thing,” says the 32-year-old. “But I also think my biggest responsibility is to make good music, good movies, and make everyone happy. As an entertainer, I hope to entertain people.” I infer that Henry is striving not only to achieve or entertain but also to use his accomplishments as an example for others. “I want to send a message: even a normal person, a normal kid, can do extraordinary things, you know. If you have a dream, just chase it. I was seriously just an ordinary Chinese boy in Australia. I had pretty much nothing to do with no background; I knew nothing about Korea, and I knew nothing about K-pop. I just went there following my dream and did my thing.”

It seems like personality, good looks and eloquent words aside, there are other aspects that make this person appealing. To me, it’s his humbleness and his back story. “If I could turn back time, I would like to go back to my childhood days.” The relatability of the sentiments in this remark strikes a chord. I become more focused on what he says hereafter. “When we are young, we want to grow up faster. But now that I’m grown up, I just want to go back and be a kid. Go back to school. Life was much easier back then. And my parents were younger back then.” Is there a thing he’d like to change if he could? “I’ll probably say I want to spend more time with my parents,” retorts the actor immediately. “I left home very young and didn’t get to spend much time with my family. I went to Korea and later came to China. Each year, I probably don’t get to see my parents for days or weeks.” This particular phase of our exchange gets profoundly poignant. I can’t tell you how much I identify with his sentiments. I, like him, left my family after school. It’s been a journey ever since – following the heart to reach a goal. When the lights go out, however, and I ponder on things, I know what I’m missing. The trouble is, you can’t complain. It’s a choice you’ve made.

For the first time in a long time, I feel a strong connection to an artist, who I’ll now address directly. Everything, or almost everything, you’ve shared thus far Henry, is what I relate to. Although we come from different professional backgrounds, different walks of life, there are various circumstances you’ve been in that I resonate with so much, and that is what makes this interaction so lit. What you recapitulate transports me back to my childhood, my adolescence, my foray into the professional world, the ups and downs, and so much more. In essence, I see a fragment of my life through yours.

And now, for those who are reading this, let me tell you, this star thespian I’m talking about has a lot of depth and a great deal of character. He gives me another meaningful insight even without uttering a word about it, and that is, there is a significant amount of strength in calmness, in serenity. Something about his attitude and his mannerisms emits that aura, and I admire him for that. You’ll get a sense of this from our video interview. For now, take in the remaining part of our edited conversation below.

You have some cool-ass stuff on your YouTube Channel, especially some very engaging and informative videos on what goes on behind the shiny world of K-pop. Did this, as a subject of content, occur to you because K-pop is such a rage at the moment, or is it because you have had your share of experiences when you were a K-pop idol? 

I wouldn’t say it’s a rage or anything; I just like to share my experiences with people and want more people to know about what’s going on back in K-pop. I mean, not just K-pop. But everything in life is not all good. Isn’t there good and bad in everything? And I do know that a lot of people, even around me, a lot of kids, or even my cousins, want to become K-pop stars. I just want to let them know and make them aware of what to watch out for and what to expect, to help them a bit along the way. I think I have a lot of experiences that I can share with people. Some are entertaining, while others are simply informative. But in the end, I just try to inform and help. I also know that I haven’t been uploading much in recent years. It’s just because I’m a bit busy now due to work. So, I haven’t been active on YouTube or Instagram, but I’ll try to get back into it. 

How do you see yourself as an actor? What kind of an actor are you? 

I would say I’m a hard-working actor. I’ve done a lot of action movies, and I’m not someone who’s, you know, been doing kung fu since I was a kid. I only began to develop confidence after meeting Jackie Chan. So, now I’m doing action movies. I believe that 90 percent of the films I make are action ones. And yeah, for me, it’s pretty tough. It’s pretty tough. You know you have to fight; you get hurt and things like that. But it’s very rewarding in the end as well, seeing yourself beat 100 guys on screen. 

Do you consciously choose this genre, do you have a thing for action films, or is it just a matter of chance and coincidence that you got roped into these films? 

I do enjoy doing action films, but it’s not that I only want to do action films. It’s just a coincidence that the very first movie that I did was Operation Red Sea, and it was very big in China. I think it was in 2018. It was the highest-grossing movie at the box office in 2018. And it was also nominated for an Oscar. So, it did really well. And because of that movie, I ended up getting a lot of jobs. But it was pretty much all action-related. And then the next big movie I did was Raging Fire, which also blew up, and then came The Sniper and a lot of other movies I’ve been doing. There is this musical that I’m doing right now. I am playing the lead role, so, yeah, I feel very lucky. In addition, I met a lot of nice people and made a lot of good films. The Sniper, which came out last year, did well too at the box office. 

Tell us more about The Sniper. It is centered on hard-hitting subjects like human and drug trafficking and organ trading. I saw some of the videos; such intense scenes and a boatload of dramatic moments. How was the experience on the whole?  

It was fun. It was also stressful. Because it was my first, it was also my first in the lead role, so the workload was much higher than in previous films. I was filming every day, for almost 20 hours a day. There was training, and then there was filming. And also, in The Sniper, I had a big moustache and beard, so I had to spend two hours every day on make-up. On the whole, it was a good experience, I would say, and it was all worth it in the end.

It is quite mentally taxing, don’t you think, when you do such an intense role onscreen? Does it take a toll on your personal life as well? 

Yeah, it does. You know, my job is not like a nine-to-five job. Sometimes I wake up very early, you know? At 4 or 5 a.m. and go through two hours of makeup, and then the sun comes out, and that’s when we start shooting in the daylight, and sometimes, you know, we just go on and on and on. The longest I’ve shot in a day was 26 hours. That was pretty crazy. Does it affect my personal life? It does, you know, in terms of spending time with family because I’m away from them since my family is in Australia while I’m in China. So, it’s kind of hard, but what can I do? It’s my dream. And yeah, it’s my work now.

So, coming back to your dream, it’s said that your dream should be such that it keeps you awake through the night. Do you have one now?  

I do say this is my dream job, but this wasn’t my ultimate dream job. When I was young, what I really wanted to be was an astronaut. I wanted to go up. I wanted to fly to the moon. I wanted to go to space. I wanted to meet aliens. I liked that stuff. But it’s very hard. It’s even harder to become an astronaut than to become a movie star. So, I would say, being an entertainer is probably my second dream job.

You come across as a very upbeat individual in your videos. Are you like that in general, or do you also have another side?

I don’t feel that I’m that upbeat personally. On-screen, maybe I am. I believe my job requires me to communicate. But if I am by myself, if it’s my time, I do like to, you know, just stay quiet. I do enjoy being alone sometimes. If I have alone time away from work, people and friends, I can read a book. I can watch some dramas or movies. I’m not like Jackson [Got7]. He is pretty upbeat, on-screen and off-screen. I, on the other hand, am upbeat on-screen, but off-screen I am just a very quiet boy.

Tell us about your upcoming projects, projects in the pipeline, something you’re working on, or something very exciting that is coming our way.

Yeah, I’m doing a musical right now. It’s a very, very big musical in China. And we will be touring around China. We’re hoping to do a tour in India and possibly elsewhere. It is my first musical, and it is extremely challenging for me. I haven’t done musicals before; I have no experience at all. But it’s fun. I’ve been doing movies. When I was at JJCC for three years, I was a singer. And then I went solo. I’ve done movies for four years now. And now I just want to experience something different. So, I’m doing this musical. Also, I do have a lot of movies that haven’t been released yet. Yeah, I’ve done over 10 movies already, and I think only like three or four have come out. So, there’s a lot of upcoming stuff. And after the musical, I do also have another movie to shoot, and hopefully next year I can release another solo song.

Henry, you do a lot of things. You play the guitar. You play the drums, you do hip-hop, you dance, you sing, you’re a movie star, and you’re a content creator! Is there a thing you can’t do? What are the perks of being multi-talented? Any disadvantages?

I don’t think I am multi-talented. As I said before, I just think I’m hard-working. I like to learn, and I like to try a lot of new stuff. When I was young, I didn’t want to play the piano. My parents wanted me to learn piano, but I liked the guitar. I wanted to play in a band at my school, but there was already a guitarist; they needed a bassist, so I learned to play bass guitar. I learned a lot of other stuff when I was young, and I also danced a lot. I have some awards for various other things I can do. I’ve got a gold medal for archery, and I love sports.

What is your guilty pleasure?

I would say my guilty pleasure is fried chicken. When I was in Korea, I had a lot of stress. Yeah, I just ate fried chicken, and it helped a lot. It helps even today. Even today, yeah. Fried chicken is the best thing and my guilty pleasure.

How do you cultivate endurance during trying situations? Whenever the going gets tough, how do you maintain a healthy space of mind?

I think you should just stay positive. Just do what you want to do. Eat what you want to eat. Be positive. Love your parents. Stay connected with family. I think I try to be happy in everything I do. When I shoot videos, even if they’re TikTok videos, I tend to add an element of fun, although I’m not a very funny person. But I like to shoot fun videos to make people happy.

Please complete the sentence for me “I’m an artist, and I’m here to show…”

I’m an artist, and I’m here to show that even normal people can achieve what they think is impossible. My parents didn’t believe that I could actually become an actor and even meet Jackie Chan. You know, I told them, “Oh, my teacher is Jackie Chan,” but they didn’t believe it. They thought it was a lie [laughs].

Dreams do come true? They do come true, no?

Oh, yeah. I would say I’m living my dream right now. I’m still hoping I can, you know, step my foot into Hollywood. That’s the next step. It’s like I have dreams, but I also have bigger dreams. So, I’m dreaming. I’m still dreaming.

Have you ever been to India Henry?

I haven’t been to India, but I do hope I can go one day. I did have a lot of Indian friends when I was in Australia for school. I did have a lot of Indian friends in high school because I went to a selective school. I don’t know if you know what a selective school is. It’s a school where you need to do an exam to get in. And everyone in a selective school is, you know, pretty smart. There were a lot of Indians — a lot of Indian students who were pretty smart.

Do you want to give a message to your Indian fans?

Yeah, of course. Hello, all my fans in India, and hello, all the viewers of Rolling Stone India. I’m Henry Prince Mak. And I hope one day I can go to India, whether it’s for work or just a holiday, and I hope I can meet everybody and eat nice food there!