Wondering what the top student film talents in Hong Kong are up to? Our blog series Talent Spotlight introduces you to the very best film work by students aged 18 or under in the city, and provides you with first-hand insight on their creative process.

This month, we are proud to feature the work of actress Isabella Wei, who stars as Ling Yi in the new Netflix series 1899. In our chat with Isabella, she shares her acting journey from being a sophomore at Chinese International School to working on her first major studio production.

When did you first start acting?

I first got interested in acting when I was 16, and I was able to do a project with the Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation (YAF). Just a few days after our final show on that project, I heard about 1899 through the director of YAF.

What was your experience like on a major production?

I felt very nervous, and very out of place in comparison to the other cast members, especially given the scale of the project. Coming from being in high school in Hong Kong, all of a sudden I was thrown into a new world in a new country. But the cast and crew really quickly welcomed me and each other with such open arms that all of my worries, doubts, and anxieties went away very fast.

How did you prepare for your role?

I didn’t necessarily have a method, and that was partly because I was so new and, in a way, inexperienced. But what really worked for me was seeing the script and reading it through the eyes of my character, and not necessarily being too harsh on myself for the specifics, but going on how I felt, and how I thought my character would react in a certain situation.

How did you balance filming with high school?

I definitely struggled in the beginning because it was a big adjustment emotionally for me to adapt to the filming lifestyle. To have school on top of that was definitely difficult. But with the help of my school and the understanding of everyone involved, including the crew and the cast, I got used to it.

What advice would you give to students interested in acting?

The advice that I would give is to never forget that acting is meant to be fun, and it’s supposed to be enjoyable, because even for me on set, you can get really caught up in the standards you have for yourself, or the standards that you think others have for you, and you put a lot of pressure on yourself to produce good quality work, that sometimes it’s easy to forget that acting is an art, and it’s meant to be beautiful, and it’s meant to tell stories, and that’s supposed to be enjoyable for you. All opportunities, you should be enjoying them while doing them, and they shouldn’t be a source of anxiety or a burden.

What’s next for you?

I’m gonna hope that audiences love 1899 as much as we all loved filming it, and we’ll go from there.