Henry Ewan Golding is a Malaysian-born British actor, model, and television host who has been a presenter on BBC's The Travel Show since 2014. He is known for his film work, playing the role of Nick Young in Crazy Rich Asians, as well as Sean Townsend in the thriller A Simple Favor and Tom in the romantic comedyLast Christmas, the latter two directed by Paul Feig.
Early life
Golding was born in Betong, Sarawak, in East Malaysia. His mother, Margaret Likan Golding, is a Malaysian of indigenous Iban ancestry. His father, Clive Golding, is English. The family lived for almost five years in Terengganu, on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, before moving to Surrey, England, when Henry was eight years old. There he went to The Warwick School, Redhill. He moved to Kuala Lumpur when he was 21 to pursue on-camera roles after working as a hairdresser on Sloane Street in London for a couple of years.
Career
In March 2017, after a global casting call, it was announced that Golding would star in the film Crazy Rich Asians alongside Constance Wu. He was first brought to director Jon M. Chu's attention by accountant Lisa-Kim Ling Kuan, and Golding's charm and personality quickly won him his first acting role. Crazy Rich Asians was released in the United States and Canada on 15 August 2018 by Warner Bros. Pictures and was met with high critical praise, becoming the number one movie in U.S. and Canadian theatres over its opening weekend. A month later, Golding appeared in Paul Feig's thriller A Simple Favor, co-starring Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick, playing Sean, the husband of Lively's character. Following the success of Crazy Rich Asians, and, to a lesser extent, A Simple Favor, Golding was cast opposite Emilia Clarke in the romantic comedy Last Christmas, directed by Feig. Filming commenced on 26 November 2018 and continued until February 2019, and the film was released on 8 November 2019. Additionally, Golding starred alongside Matthew McConaughey, Hugh Grant, and Michelle Dockery in The Gentlemen, a 2019 crime film directed by Guy Ritchie.
Upcoming projects
Golding will next star in Monsoon, a Hong Khaou film, as Kit, a man who travels from London to his birth country of Vietnam to scatter his parents' ashes. On 29 April 2019, CNBC reported that Golding is to reprise his role as Nick Young in the back-to-back filming of two sequels to Crazy Rich Asians set for filming in 2020 which is currently in pre-production. In August 2019, Golding was cast in the title role for Snake Eyes, a spin-off from the G.I. Joemovie franchise, set for an 2021 release. Filming for Snakes-Eyes began in October 2019 in Vancouver and wrapped in February 2020 in Tokyo.
Personal life
Golding met Liv Lo, a Taiwanese television presenter and yoga instructor, on New Year's Day 2011. They became engaged in 2015, and were married in Sarawak, Malaysia, in August 2016. Before his marriage, Golding completed his bejalai—the Iban rite of passage into manhood—in the wilderness of Borneo, filming the experience over two months for the TV showSurviving Borneo on Discovery Channel Asia. His journey ended in him receiving a traditional hand-tapped bejalai tattoo by Ernesto Kalum of Borneoheadhunters tattoo in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. The tattoo on his right thigh is a fig tree that wraps around other trees and takes their form to become the tree itself. When interviewed by Michele Manelis of The New Zealand Herald, Golding said of his surname, "Golding is really darn Jewish, isn't it? My grandfather during the war was in London and as the story goes, he was possibly adopted by a Jewish family by that name. Out of respect he took on their name and it was passed down. So, I'm proud to be an honorary Jew."
