Max Loong

Max Loong (born March 8, 1980 in Malaysia) is a Swiss actor, host and producer of Chinese (Malaysian) descent.

Max Loong
Born (1980-03-08) March 8, 1980
Malaysia
OccupationActor, host, producer
Websitehttp://www.maxloong.com/

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]

Life

Max was born in Malaysia to a Swiss mother and a Chinese-Malaysian father. His father was a race car driver in the 1970s, and his mother worked for Christie's auction house in Zurich. His grandmother, Rosemarie Volz was an 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 in Los Angeles, where he discovered his passion for acting. His fellow students and teachers cast him in independent movies such as The Intervention or Syndicate:Zeed.

Max resided in the United States until he relocated to Singapore in 2006. He relocated in part to rediscover his Asian roots, and to be closer to his family in Malaysia. As an MTV VJ and an 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" [6] which was broadcast 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,[7] 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, which ran for 13 episodes. He starred in Singapore's Emmy nominated number 1 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
2013 Who Killed Johnny Max Lead Role
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 Supporting 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)
2015 Lion Moms Richard Lee Lead Role (Singapore)

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

References
  1. Schweizer Illustrierte
  2. Elle Magazine
  3. Musicstar
  4. First Class (TV Series)
  5. Kantonsschulen des Kantons Zürich
  6. List of programmes broadcast by MTV in Asia
  7. "The Internet Movie Database, Breakout". Full cast and crew.
  8. "Max Loong". Kosmic Film Entertainment. Archived from the original on 2008-09-13. Retrieved 2008-07-28.
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