Mathialagan advocates inclusive storytelling

The Singaporean actor has a role in Hollywood film Monkey Man, the directorial debut of Dev Patel

- Vihanya Rakshika

For Singaporean actor-director Mathialagan, 59, the path to Hollywood began with a single moment on stage.

At the tender age of 11, he found himself thrust into the limelight not by choice, but by fate.

"I was attending religious classes during the weekends," Mathialagan reminisces.

"They had prepared a full-scale drama lasting three hours," he tells The Straits Times in an interview.

Mathialagan was selected as a stand-in actor, but the designated lead actor could not fulfil his duties, leaving a void waiting to be filled. With just a month to go before the day of the stage performance, the 11-year-old rookie actor found himself bearing the weight of a lead character's mantle.

"I was thrown into the deep end, asked to play the main character," he recalls, the memories still vivid.

"I actually cried on stage. Thankfully, my character was depicting a sad scene." But amid the tears, a passion was kindled in the crucible of the stage.

The applause that followed echoed in his ears long after the final curtain fell.

"Everyone thought I acted well and applauded me," he says. "Being young and receiving the praise, I enjoyed it and it caught on to me." That day, Mathialagan's destiny as a performer was sealed. He honed his craft on the local stage, immersing himself in the world of theatre and discovering the transformative power of storytelling.

His talent and dedication soon caught the attention of casting directors, paving the way for a transition into television performances in 1988, starting with a lead role in local Tamil drama series Sandhya.