Actor Tseng Jing-hua goes all out to immerse himself in his roles

Tseng Jing-hua was 21 when he first stepped into a gay bar. But he was not there for a good time.

“I went only because I wanted to research about the gay lifestyle and community for my role in Your Name Engraved Herein,” he says in an interview over Zoom.

Sitting in his manager’s office in Taipei and dressed casually in an off-white T-shirt and a white cap worn backwards, the Taiwanese actor, 25, spoke about how he prepared for his breakout role in the highest-grossing LGBTQ+ motion picture in Taiwan’s history, which is available on Netflix.

Set in the 1980s, after Taiwan was liberated from the oppressive regime of martial law, the film follows the relationship between Tseng’s character, Birdy, and his classmate A-han (played by Edward Chen Hao-sen), which develops from platonic friendship to bittersweet romance.

Tseng admits that he struggled to relate to his character.

Growing up in the rural township of Dongshan in Yilan, he spent most of his childhood helping out at his parents’ breakfast eatery, exposed to little else outside of his periphery. But he was determined to portray his character realistically, and felt it was necessary to understand what made him tick.

He says: “I had no clue how to play this role. For someone who had grown up in the countryside, it was quite unimaginable.

“It was only my second film, and there were many experiences and emotions that I had not encountered and could not have understood at that point.

“The people I met at the bars defied the stereotypes I had in my mind. They were warm and welcoming, and chatting with them was so effortless.”

Tseng brings the same earnestness to his latest work, comedy series Oh No! Here Comes Trouble, which he describes as “a light-hearted comedy that highlights the follies of human nature”.

He plays high-school student Pu Yi-yong, who gains supernatural powers after surviving a near-fatal car accident and is able to communicate with spirits through calligraphy.

He embarks on a fantastical crime-solving journey with a rookie policewoman played by Vivian Sung.

To portray Pu’s calligraphy skills convincingly, Tseng studied with a master calligrapher for almost half a year.

“I needed to not only write talismans accurately, but also beautifully,” he says.

As he elaborates on the lengths he goes to in order to immerse himself in his roles, it begs the question if he considers himself a method actor.

“No one can fully become their characters, except maybe Heath Ledger, when he played The Joker in The Dark Knight (2008),” Tseng says, firmly rejecting this notion.

“But I do prepare for my roles by reading the script over and over again to familiarise myself with the characters. I also feel that it’s necessary to keep a part of the real me while acting. After all, when a director chooses you for the role, it means he or she sees parts of the character in you, even if you can’t see it yourself.”

It has been four years since he made his acting debut as one of the leads in the supernatural flick Detention.

Tseng, who originally wanted to pursue a swimming career, changed his major to film when his high-school academic results did not meet the criteria.

Music was the other option. He played the saxophone and was encouraged by his father and music teacher to take it further. But he never considered music seriously as a career, though he enjoyed being part of the band in high school.

Instead, the self-professed film buff chose to do his bachelor’s degree in film and television at I-Shou University in Kaohsiung.

While learning about the ins and outs of film production, Tseng participated in a student drama production which led to him auditioning for one of the lead roles in Detention. The 2019 psychological horror film is based on the popular video game of the same name developed by Taiwan’s Red Candle Games.

He says: “The game was all the rage back then. My friends were very excited when they heard about the audition. While I knew my chances were slim, I thought I would give it a go.”

To his surprise, he got the role. When Tseng met director John Hsu, he asked: “Why did you choose someone like me who is young, naive, with no acting experience?”

Hsu replied that these were exactly the qualities he was looking for in an actor for his debut film.

The director’s eye for talent proved to be on the money. Tseng received a Best New Performer nomination at the 2019 Golden Horse Awards.

Tseng certainly has a knack for choosing plum roles, even though he claims he does not have his career plan all mapped out.

“I believe in working on the present and keeping myself happy today,” he says.

“I don’t overthink what will happen tomorrow. Rather, I give my best to my current jobs and enjoy my personal time to the fullest,” says the actor, who is working on two projects, one of which is a comedy centred on kinship, slated for release in August.

Personal time is a luxury at the moment.

“After working for more than 12 hours at a stretch, all I want to do is shower and sleep,” he says with a laugh.

When he does have pockets of free time, he prefers to spend it with his old mates.

“I still hang out with my high-school friends. We meet, chat about life and, sometimes, I cook danbing (egg pancakes). For my next break, I hope to travel somewhere I have never been before and experience different cultures.”

Singapore is definitely on that list.

“I hope to visit Singapore as a tourist and not for work,” he says. “I would really like to explore Marina Bay Sands and try some pandan cake.”

• This article first appeared in Harper’s Bazaar Singapore, the leading fashion glossy on the best of style, beauty, design, travel and the arts. Go to harpersbazaar.com.sg and follow @harpersbazaarsg on Instagram; harpersbazaarsingapore on Facebook. The June 2023 issue is out on newsstands now.