A still from Lost, Indulgence, involving Tan Jianci and Karen Mok

Tan was so immersed in the character the director would adopt some of his natural expressions and responses, the one when he showed his rebelliousness by sitting with Mok in a comfortable position and refusing to acknowledge his mom's arrival.

Asked what Xiao Chuan would do after the movie ends, Tan says he has it mapped out: Xiao Chuan would give up his dream for college, take up a job as a courier (not a taxi driver) and get married. His wife would be of his own age.

"He has outgrown calf love and falling for the elder sister type," Tan reasons.

There's another reason Tan regards Xiao Chuan as a failure: almost every other character in the movie beat him up. And as the actor playing the part, Tan got bruises, too.

"I thought movie fighting was fake but I was taken to the hospital when shooting the scene where my head was banged on the cement by my buddy," he recalls.

Still, the acting bug got to him: "I want to act," he enthuses. "It is such a fantastic job. It gives me the chance to get into someone else's body and live like that person for a while."

The kind of movie that most attracts him would feature pop idols who sing and dance. At the tender age of 4, Tan saw a clip of Michael Jackson doing the moonwalk, surrounded by tens of thousands of screaming fans. The boy collected every disc of the "King of Pop" in concert. By age 7, he was having dance lessons and at 13 enrolled at the Beijing Dance Academy.

Nowadays the adolescent is taking part in a training program organized by the entertainment company Taihe Rye Music. His daily routine includes six hours of dance lessons, one vocal lesson and an acting lesson every Saturday. He feels he is natural at acting.

He is good at doing impressions and demonstrated his skill by imitating co-stars Mok and Tsang. He also showed his ingenuity by developing a one-sentence direction from his acting coach into a mini-play, which portrayed the life of an old man, continuing with his after-life and even what happened after his reincarnation.

"I'm shy by nature. I'll never participate in one of those (reality) television contests where I'm judged by those around me and face being kicked out every minute," he revealed. "I wanna be a superstar, either doing hip-hop or winning awards like Tony Leung."

Will the lightning of good luck strike again? With more maturity and better preparation, Tan feels anything is possible. He believes in the saying: "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity and boy meets acting world."

(China Daily November 20, 2008)