In 2008, Xu Jiao became a household name at the age of nine when she was selected by Hong Kong comedy superstar Stephen Chow Sing-chi to feature in his Chinese science-fiction comedy CJ7 . Her long tresses shaved to play Chow's son, and starring opposite an alien dog in the film, Xu impressed audiences with her acting skills.
The film, which took US$54 million (S$73 million) at the global box office, catapulted Xu to overnight stardom. She won the best new performer award at the 28th Hong Kong Film Awards for her performance.
Reflecting on that episode of her life, Xu, now 22, tells the Post in an interview that early fame is a double-edged sword for a child star.
"[Famous Chinese novelist] Eileen Chang said fame should come early [for those who seek it]. But fame at a tender age comes with pressure … you lose your own private space. Your every move in public is followed and becomes a topic of [public] discussion. People use a magnifier to see your flaws," she says.
Xu felt stressed by all the attention while she was growing up. "That's one of the reasons why I left for America to study. [By going overseas] I could strike a balance between fame and maintaining my own space, and between work and study," she says.
Xu appears to have done just that since she enrolled in a high school in the US state of Illinois in 2013. Currently a film student at the Art Centre College of Design in California, she appears in films and drama series during study breaks.
PHOTO: South China Morning Post
Her latest work, Miss Forever, is a campus romance film directed by Lu Gengxu. Lu is a singer-songwriter and member of Chinese folk band Shui Mu Nian Hua. In 2001, the band released Miss Forever, a love song that was a big hit, and one which earned Lu numerous best newcomer prizes at awards shows in China.
The film, which is based on the popular song, portrays a campus romance between architecture student Ou Yang (played by Xie Binbin) and Fang Yao (Xu). The film has autobiographical elements; Lu is an architecture graduate from Tsinghua University in Beijing. Xu says she loves the theme song for its catchy tune and touching lyrics.
"I was only four years old when the song came out. I couldn't experience the enthusiasm people felt for campus folk songs then. Portraying a story about love and growing up, the song Miss Forever struck a chord with many people. Lu put his personal experience into the film, infusing the story with sincerity."
Xu sees her character as the muse for the protagonist's songwriting. "Fang Yao's views on love are vague. She is not sure about her feelings for Ou. She clings to the unforgettable [memories] of her first love with her ex-boyfriend … She doesn't know how to handle Ou's sincere courtship. Such feelings will strike a chord with people," says Xu.
She says the most memorable scene in the movie is her kiss with Xie. "It's my first kiss on screen. It was the last shot before we wrapped up the shoot. By that time, I was already very familiar with Xie. We were like brothers.
"We couldn't help but burst out laughing when we faced the camera looking at each other. Lu had to wait for our laughing fit to pass before resuming shooting."
Besides starring in romances, Xu likes to take on challenging roles to polish her acting chops. In horror film The Strange House (2015), she plays a haunted paranoiac who is embroiled in a seance in an old house. For the Chinese-Korean co-production Mr. Go (2013), in which she plays a circus girl who has to train a gorilla to play baseball, she stayed in South Korea for eight months to learn Korean.
Andy Lau Tak-wah is another actor she reveres; Lau plays her father in Future X-Cops (2010). "He is a very protective gentleman. When doing promotion for Future X-Cops, he helped me answer difficult questions [from the media]. When doing road shows at cinemas, if his security [entourage] pushed people, he would stop them instantly."
PHOTO: South China Morning Post
Like Chow, who turned to directing after a long acting career, Xu's dream is to become a director. "I am studying directing at the Art Centre College of Design. … I hope I can have the chance to make a feature-length film in future," she says.
"[I want to make] biographical films, which require lots of research and preparation time. I also want to make realist films like last year's Dying to Survive , which is based on real-life events and reflects actual social problems."
In 2018, Xu helped produce a sci-fi short film, AI-Pocalypse, for a film classmate at Art Centre College of Design. Besides co-writing the script and acting in it, she designed the make-up and wardrobe for the short film.
"He invited me to star in the film he directed. I was intrigued by the script, which merged sci-fi with China's Taoist culture. We then worked on doing research and [refining the script] together. [Later], he ran into finance problems. I decided to subsidise him to finish the movie, as I didn't want to abort such a good project," she says.
PHOTO: South China Morning Post
"I played an AI robot which can foresee the future and gain super powers after entering a four-dimensional space. So as not to destroy the balance in the universe, she eventually chooses to destroy herself. Playing her, I have to observe humankind and ponder humanity from the perspective [of AI]. This is a very special experience."
Of all her roles, playing Chow's son in CJ7 remains her most challenging, she says. "It's not easy for a girl to play a boy," Xu recalls. "I didn't get any professional training in acting [before taking on the role]. Chow's guidance and my instincts were the only things that I could fall back on."
She adds: "When making CJ7, Chow took very good care of me. He pursued perfection for each shot. I am grateful to him for picking me out of [lots of child actors] for the role, putting me on the road to becoming an actor."
This article was first published in South China Morning Post.
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