- Max Loong
-
Max Loong 
Born March 8, 1980
SwitzerlandWebsite http://www.maxloong.com/ Max Loong (born March 8, 1980 in Malaysia) is an actor, host and producer of Swiss and Chinese (Malaysian) descent.
Swiss entertainment magazine Schweizer Illustrierte [1] ranked him as one of the top 100 most important and influential Swiss personalities in 2007.
In the same year, Elle Magazine [2] Singapore awarded him the ‘Breakout Star of the year’ award. Among some of his most recognisable works, he has been the host of MusicStar,[3] the Swiss equivalent of American Idol, and also filled a role as the lead character (Michael Wong) of Singapore’s Emmy nominated comedy First Class.[4]
Contents
Life
Max was born in Malaysia to a Swiss mother and a Chinese-Malaysian father. His father was a race car driver in the 70's and his mother worked for Christie’s auction house in Zurich. His grandmother, Rosemarie Volz was a Opera singer in Switzerland in the 1940s and 1950s. When he was three, Max moved to Switzerland. Shortly after graduating Kantonsschule Hottingen [5] with a degree in economics in 2000, he got in contact with VIVA Schweiz, at this time Switzerland's top ranking music channel. This was eventually where he landed his first on-screen job as a TV host. In 2004 he trained at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute [6] in Los Angeles, where he discovered his passion for acting. His fellow students and teachers casted him in independent movies such as The Intervention or Syndicate:Zeed. Max took a short break from life in the states and headed to Singapore in 2006, in part to rediscover his Asian roots and be closer to his family in Malaysia. As an MTV VJ and actor, he went on to become a popular television personality in South East Asia.
TV career
At the age of 20, he beat more than 400 other competitors to become the host for the first Swiss music channel, VIVA Schweiz. This was his first foray into hosting. Shows he has hosted in Europe include Fanta Fiesta (teleprompter), McMusic (requestshow), FreaX (gameshow), Popschau (newsshow), Sunrise (latenightshow) and his own produced hit show Interaktiv (liveshow) where he has interviewed famous artistes such as Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Usher, 50 Cent, Alicia Keys, Robert Downey Jr. and Pierce Brosnan to name a few. Traveling and trying things at least once was a philosophy well rewarded when he landed a job in Asia in 2006 as MTV Southeast Asia’s new VJ. He hosted the award-winning multimedia show "MTV Mobbed" [7] which was broadcasted all over the Asia Pacific Region. He also kept his other interests alive during his tenure by hosting Gamepad (gameshow), Pop 10 (chartshow), Pop Inc. (life-style show) and red carpet coverage of the MTV Asia Awards 2006 in Bangkok (Thailand). In 2007, Max was chosen as the Musicstar host, which is the Swiss equivalent of American Idol. In 2008 and 2009, Max Loong also hosted reality- and entertainment shows such as the S-Factor and Mitsubishi Challenge. He has also been involved in numerous productions for one of South-East Asias largest networks Mediacorp Singapore. In 2009, he signed on for the 4th season of MusicStar in Switzerland.
Film career
In 2003 he has acted in leading roles on the big screen in Swiss movies such as in “Piff Paff Puff”, a movie about gangsters with different racial backgrounds, playing the role of a drug addict. While in Snow White, a film about the high society party scene of Zurich, being a DJ, and in his controversial hit movie Breakout,[8] a movie about violent kids locked up in a Swiss youth jail, he took up the role as a rapist, playing his most challenging character so far. He also had a television drama series named after him, Adventure Max. He appeared in the first two seasons of the French television series Deja Vu and other television shows. Loong landed a starring role in the Asian dramedy series After hours[9] which ran for 13 episodes. He starred in Singapore’s Emmy nominated number 1[clarification needed] comedy series First Class (season 1&2) as a young teacher at a dysfunctional school and the 2010 drama “Perfect Deception”.
Filmography
Actor
Year Title Role Notes 2010 Perfect Deception Lucas Supporting Role (Asia) 2009 First Class 2 Michael Wong Lead Role (Asia) 2009 Déjà Vu 2 Ming Supporting Role (France) 2008 Maggie & Me Rich Supporiting Role (Singapore) 2008 First Class 1 Michael Wong Lead Role (Asia) 2008 Déjà Vu 1 Ming Supporting Role (France) 2007 Lifestory Lionel De Souza Lead Role (Singapore) 2007 After Hours Danny Mereles Lead Role (Asia) 2007 Breakout Blade Supporting Role (Europe) 2006 Syndicate:Zeed Zeed Lead Role (USA) 2006 The Intervention Gay Supporting Role (USA) 2005 Snowwhite DJ Supporting Role (Europe) 2004 Piff Paff Puff Ming Supporting Role (Switzerland) Host
Year Title Role Notes 2009 MusicStar Host SF1 Swiss National TV 2009 S-Factor Host Mediacorp Channel 5 Singapore 2008 Sport Of Kings Host Mediacorp Channel 5 Singapore 2008 Mitsubishi Challenge Host Mediacorp Channel 5 Singapore 2007 MusicStar Host SF1 Swiss National TV 2007 New Year’s Eve Countdown Co-Host Mediacorp Channel 5 Singapore 2006 MTV Mobbed Host MTV Asia 2006 MTV Pop Inc. Co-Host MTV Asia 2006 MTV Gamepad Co-Host MTV Asia 2006 MTV Asia Awards Red Carpet Host MTV Asia 2004 VIVA Interaktiv Host VIVA Music Channel Switzerland 2004 VIVA Comet Awards Host VIVA Music Channel Switzerland 2003 VIVA Popschau Co-Host VIVA Music Channel Switzerland 2003 VIVA FreaX Host VIVA Music Channel Switzerland 2002 VIVA McMusic Host VIVA Music Channel Switzerland 2001 VIVA Sunrise Late Night Co-Host VIVA Music Channel Switzerland 2001 VIVA Abenteuer Max Lead VIVA Music Channel Switzerland 2000 VIVA Fanta Fiesta Host VIVA Music Channel Switzerland Awards
- Elle Breakout Star of The Year 2007[10]
References
- ^ Schweizer Illustrierte
- ^ Elle Magazine
- ^ Musicstar
- ^ First Class (TV Series)
- ^ Kantonsschulen des Kantons Zürich
- ^ Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute
- ^ List of programmes broadcast by MTV in Asia
- ^ "The Internet Movie Database, Breakout". Full cast and crew.
- ^ After hours, cast
- ^ "Max Loong". Kosmic Film Entertainment. http://www.kosmicfilm.com.sg/max.html. Retrieved 2008-07-28.
External links
Categories:- 1980 births
- Living people
- Swiss actors
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