Lim Kay Siu gets second wind with Netflix hit

The Singaporean actor stars in his most high-profile role yet in the live-action remake

- Alison de Souza

LOS ANGELES - At age 68, Singaporean actor Lim Kay Siu is getting a big second wind in his career and a second stab at Hollywood.

He plays the monk Gyatso in the fantasy series Avatar: The Last Airbender, which became the most-watched English-language show on Netflix globally shortly after it premiered on Feb 22.

Gyatso is a mentor to the main character, Aang (Gordon Cormier), a boy whose ability to manipulate the elements makes him the last hope for peace in a war-torn world.

Lim's role in the live-action remake of the acclaimed 2005 to 2008 animated series of the same name is his most high-profile one yet. He was previously best known for the local sitcoms Happy Belly (1996) and Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd (1997 to 2007).

The actor's last Hollywood projects were the fantasy miniseries The Monkey King (2001), starring Thomas Gibson and Bai Ling; and the biographical film Anna And The King (1999), with Jodie Foster and Chow Yun Fat.

But he did no other work in the United States for two decades, and in a Zoom chat with The Straits Times, Lim explains why.