Lewis Tan is a half Chinese half English, film, television and theatre actor. He played as the series regular Gaius Chau on season three of AMC’s “Into The Badlands” ; Lu Xin Lee on Netflix’s first Asian American original series “Wu Assassins” and many films including the record breaking Marvel film “Deadpool 2” and most recently will play the lead role in James Wans Warner Bros reboot of “Mortal Kombat”
Born in Manchester, England to a fashion model Joanne Cassidy and national champion martial artists Philip Tan. Lewis moved to Los Angeles at a young age as his father was making a mark on action cinema as a stuntman and fight choreographer working on legendary films like “Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom”, “Batman” and “Tango and Cash”. Lewis began learning martial arts from his father while at the same time attending theatre school. Lewis had multiple honors in school as well as winning many amateur fights in kickboxing and Muay Thai.
After graduating Lewis began his professional career guest starring in TV shows from “CSI:NY”, “CSI:Miami”, “Hawaii 5-0” to his first major films including “Pirates of the Caribbean 3”, and “Den of Thieves”.
At the same time Lewis gained notable fame as a fashion model. He signed with Wilhelmina modeling agency and secured a contract as the face of Nivea in Asia for a few years doing numerous campaigns and commercials. He did many editorial ads including Diesel, Dolce and Gabanna, Puma and Levi’s.
Lewis was then picked by Forest Whitaker to play the lead in the indie drama “Sacrifice”, this was the start of his film career. The film won awards at many film festivals, it was then Lewis received world wide attention for his guest role in Marvels “Iron Fist” where he played the drunken master “Zhou Cheng”, the scene was top ten most paused Netflix moments of the year and the scene received a viral campaign with fans asking for more prominent role.
Lewis is known for performing his own action scenes and got the attention of the show runners Al Gough and Miles Milar of AMC’s “Into the Badlands”, securing him a lead role in season 3 of the show, led by famous choreographer from “Kill Bill” and “The Matrix” Master Dee Dee. His role on the show and his action ability gained him more critical acclaim.
In 2018 Lewis began filming a lead role in Netflix’s Asian American action series “Wu Assassins” along side Kathryn Winnick and Iko Uwais. He plays the flamboyant gangster Lu Xin Lee, the show premiered to great reviews both with fans and critics.
Lewis continues to be a strong voice in the Asian American media as an advocate for diversity and original story telling. He is writing and producing his own series along with producer Tucker Tooley.
In 2019 Lewis was cast as the lead role in James Wan’s reboot of “Mortal Kombat” for Warner Brothers and New Line. It will be released in 2021.