Deadpool 2's Lewis Tan

The half-Chinese, half-British actor, who plays Shatterstar in the Marvel movie, has a Singapore connection. (Warning: Spoilers ahead!)

- Douglas Tseng

1 He’s known the Deadpool 2 director for a long time.

In Deadpool 2, Lewis Tan, 31, plays Shatterstar, one of the mutants recruited by Ryan Reynolds’ Merc with a Mouth to be in his ragtag supergroup, X-Force. Tan first got wind of the part when stuntman-turned-director David Leitch (John Wick) approached him. “At that time, I didn’t know what the role was and he didn’t tell me what it was,” the Manchester-born, LA-based actor tells us over the phone. “So I just said, ‘Whatever you need, let me come in and see if I’m right for it.” Tan considers Leitch a family friend: it was Tan’s father, Philip Tan, a renowned martial artist and stunt coordinator, who gave Leitch his first job on Orgazmo, the 1997 sex comedy starring Trey Parker and Matt Stone. (Lewis’ British mother was a former model.) “I was raised on set around David and I trained with him off and on,” says the younger Tan.

2 He always knew his role in Deadpool 2 was, er, brief.