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| Got talent? Ben Ross on the 'Superstar' variety show in China, where foreign 'talent' is popular. Courtesy of Ben Ross |
In China, fame comes easier with a foreign face
In China, Westerners are plucked from the streets for television and movie roles.
from the July 18, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
Amateur actors also learn that an amusing accent here is sometimes better than absolute fluency. "They told me: start speaking Chinese, but then start messing up and ask if you can speak in English," says Ross. "It's pretty funny to see foreigners with an accent."
Television producers offer between 400 and 1,000 RMB ($50 to $125) per episode, but money is not the only motivation for some Western actors. "A lot of these shows I would have done for free, just to have fun," says Wily Boyle, a Canadian who appeared on some of the same shows as Ross.
For a select group of foreign professionals, however, Chinese television is serious business.
The pioneer in this field was Canadian Mark Rowswell – better known as Da Shan, or Big Mountain – whose pitch-perfect Mandarin and comedic skill catapulted him to national celebrity in the late 1980s.
Since then, several successors have emerged on the talk show circuit. Frenchman Julien Gaudefroy, whose unaccented Chinese got him his first gig in an instructional language video, now hosts several talk shows across China.
Mr. Gaudefroy's programs, which include "Foreigners' Viewpoints" and "Foreigners Watching China," feature guests opining on topics ranging from China's one-child policy to the relative merits of traditional Tang Dynasty clothing.
Richard Doran, a professional radio host in China and an occasional guest on Gaudefroy's programs, remains skeptical that such shows are actually improving mutual understanding.
"They still ask if we know how to use chopsticks," he says. "Can you imagine a European television station putting a Pakistani immigrant family on television and asking if they'd learned to use a knife and fork yet?"
Regardless of the content, a host's foreignness can be enough of a draw in itself.
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