September Feature: Clifton Kwan: Behind the Scenes
His rich, deep baritone filled Vancouver’s Fairchild Radio’s airwaves, where he DJed for five years hosting Cantonese and Mandarin pop programs. In 2004, he moved to Hong Kong and became a sought-after host and master of ceremonies. Today, Clifton Kwan Yat Yeung (關逸揚), PeopleStyle’s September celebrity cover model, is also attracting attention and fame as a model and an up-and-coming stage actor.
He has done TV, film and stage performances and in between, did public relations and events management. Add to that his 10-year-and-going-strong career as a makeup artist, model, and recently, head of his own production outfit, he can truly claim that he is a man of many hats.
Creativity runs rampant in the family. Even as a child, Clifton had a flair for performing, perennially singing with his sister in family performances. In college, he wanted to enroll in theater but was dissuaded by his mother for a more “career-friendly” option. Though he enrolled in commerce as a compromise, he dropped it after a year in favor of his blossoming radio career.
Live performance seemed like the next logical step for him. His first solo production, “Singles in Love” just ended its limited six-show run last July with a full house each time. His songs from the show were compiled in his “Singles in Love” EP album and received resounding success.
“I was actually more excited than scared,” he admits. “I think it helped that it was held in a small venue and that made all the shows more intimate, more personal. I also picked the songs myself as each one of them had a special meaning.”
In an era when male makeup artists were rare and few, Clifton decided to take a gamble in becoming one by enrolling at Blanche McDonald Centre’s Makeup Artistry course. As one of the school’s notable graduates, he has worked with MAC and Chanel as makeup director and continues to be in demand as a freelance make-up artist.
Aside from hosting duties, Clifton is also doing modeling work but he is aiming for something bigger these days: becoming an actor.
“Let’s put it this way: I like being in front of the camera, one way or the other,” he says with a laugh. “I thoroughly enjoyed doing Love In A Puff (志明與春嬌) with my idol Miriam Yeung. But I really want to sink my teeth into more stage roles, which I think are more challenging than film since you perform in front of a live audience, and there’s no editing or retakes.”
He points out that there seems to be a slump in the local Hong Kong stage industry but that doesn’t deter him from trying his luck. His upcoming performance “There’s a Kind of Hush” (將時間帶到· 寂寞) at the end of the month promises to not only feature Clifton’s vocal talents, it will also determine his worth as a producer via his Green Splash Concepts production company.
Clearly, Clifton aims to be more than just a triple threat. In addition to his singing, acting and makeup artistry skills, he is also aiming to write his own book. He finds this goal amusing in a way because he admits that he used to hate writing.
Writing for his blogs and his column in Hong Kong’s Lime Magazine has inspired him to try writing his own book. “It’s not going to be anything too fancy,” he confesses. “It’s just going to be short, personal anecdotes and essays. Something that’s easy and pleasant to read and yet will connect with readers.”
Connecting to others is something that does seem to come easily to this 30-year old Vancouver native. He is also a firm believer in doing the right things at the right time. “My life has been a series of coincidences, mixed with a lot of luck, determination, patience and the right connections, and I want to put those to good use,” he points out. “I want to be known as a passionate, devoted performer, and a well-rounded one – stage, film, TV. I don’t need to be making big money; I simply need to do what I want to do.”
Well said.
He has a radio voice and his regular voice. Most people don’t know that he uses his radio voice as his regular speaking voice. “When I listen to tapes of my DJ years back in Vancouver, I cringe”…
With five blogs, two Facebook fan pages (one for his recently-concluded “Singles in Love” show) and the Chinese version of Twitter, there’s no doubt that Clifton knows how to harness the power of the Internet and social networking. Here’s where you can…
Tags: asian men fashion, Clifton Kwan, PeopleStyle September 2010
