WHEN word got out that Malaysian actress Sarah Lian won the Best Supporting Actress award at the Los Angeles Film Awards (LAFA) for her role in the independent film Jasmine recently, the actress experienced a pleasant surprise.
“My phone was buzzing non-stop from morning till night with endless congratulatory messages from friends and family. The chat groups were going crazy with messages as well,” said the excited Taiping-born when contacted recently.
Lian, 33, was in Kuala Lumpur when she was informed of the good news.
“A friend of mine who was travelling at that time posted a link of our win on the official Facebook page for Jasmine, where we made all the announcements. And that’s how I found out,” said the television host and model, who launched her professional acting career in 2007 in Canada, playing the “Hot Asian Girl” in American Pie Presents: Beta House.
“It was such an honour and very unexpected. You never know who you’re up against, so it was a real shock to find out that I had won,” she added.
However, this wasn’t Lian’s first win. In September last year, she won the Best Supporting Actress award at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards.
“I’m grateful for the experience. Everybody put in a lot of effort and time into making Jasmine, and it’s great to be able to share a story that’s so unique,” she said.
The film also snagged six additional awards, including Film Of The Month, Best Editing (Chris Chan Lee), Best Cinematography (Guy Livneh) and Best Director (Dax Phelan).
Jasmine had also opened up many possibilities for Lian, who was later invited to star in Emily Ting’s highly-acclaimed film, Already Tomorrow In Hong Kong.
“Emily saw my performance in Jasmine during a private screening in Phelan’s home and later asked if I could be in her film. Of course I said yes!” she said.
Lian is currently filming a six-part mini-series in conjunction with national day celebrations in August. The series will be helmed by five local directors and will feature four languages (English, Malay, Tamil and Mandarin) and a dialect (Hokkien).
Jasmine, a psychological thriller produced, written and directed by Dax Phelan, also stars Jason Tobin, Byron Mann, Eugenia Yuan and Glen Chin.
Shot entirely in Hong Kong, the film revolves around a man who is determined to find his wife’s killer even after police had long closed the case.
LAFA is a monthly film competition, where filmmakers around the world are invited to submit their work. Every month, its jury awards the best films through private screenings.