Yoson An (Chinese: 安柚鑫; born June 23, 1992) is a Chinese-born New Zealand actor and filmmaker.
Early life
An was born in China and grew up learning English at an international school in Macau. His parents left China for more economic opportunities abroad, moving to New Zealand. The family settled in Auckland when An was seven years old. He has three younger sisters, one of whom named Avena was born in Auckland.
Despite not being educated in a Chinese system, An speaks Cantonese and Mandarin fluently. However, he cannot read or write Chinese. He has learned to recognize some Han characters, though. He had an ex-girlfriend from Taiwan who helped polish up his Mandarin.[2]
An began acting on screen in 2012 in small projects before getting his first big break with Ghost Bride.[3] He eventually decided to move to Australia to pursue more opportunities. "I feel like Australia has more opportunities for non-white actors to break into the film industry than we do in New Zealand...I also believe Australia has a lot more actors in general than we do in New Zealand.... [SBS is] known for having accurate multicultural representation of Australia on screen." An was cast in Dead Lucky which he considers a big opportunity for him as it is a major leading role with Rachel Griffiths.[4] He made the leap to American cinema with the Walt Disney Pictures live-action film adaptation of Mulan,[5] which reunited him with Dead Lucky co-star Xana Tang.[6]
