Charmed One

He’s 41 years old, and looks nothing like it.

- Natalie Joy Lee

Leon Jay Williams is your proverbial Prince Charming, blessed with idol good looks and an audience who laps up his drama roles as the debonair rich boy in sleek suits. Not that he minds.

But these days, the only one who’s doing any charming seems to be Harper Ann – Leon’s daughter, who turns three come January. Just like his Instagram feed, our interview is peppered with lively anecdotes of playground dates, growth spurts, and Leon who thinks “family man” is the perfect label for him. iFitness talks to the model-turned actor about Hollywood, fast cars, and why Singapore will always be home.

You are really popular in China right now.

It’s a different world there, there’s no way I can go out alone. If filming takes one month, we’d probably eat out twice. It’s very hard to have people snapping away as I eat, and my team can’t relax since they’re always on the lookout saying, “Let’s take pictures after the meal please”. They’d tell me they’ve booked a room, but, we might as well eat in the hotel right? (laughs). I don’t sightsee – I’ve done that all in my first year there, The Great Wall, Tiananmen Square… when I was less known. I’ve taken only lead roles so we film pretty much daily, time passes intensively.

China’s a large market, but access is notoriously difficult and narrow. How did you manage to break in?