KUALA LUMPUR: Singapore-based Malaysian actor Lawrence Wong has become a household name, for his role in the Chinese costume drama series Story Of Yanxi Palace.
The 70-episode drama on international online video platform iQIYI has to date garnered a whopping 15 billion views.
Marketed in more than 70 countries, Story Of Yanxi Palace has been Asia's biggest hit drama since 2018, and 32-year-old Wong has also become a household name.
In fact, Wong has seen his followers on Chinese social media network Weibo jump from 600,000 to three million since the hit drama was aired.
Better still, Wong who played the kind-hearted imperial guard Hai Lancha in the series, was named as iQIYI's first international ambassador in August.
"It's an honour to become iQIYI's ambassador. It's the best gift I've had for my birthday which fell on Aug 5," said Wong who is currently filming a new drama series for iQIYI, The Ferryman: Legends Of Nanyang.
Story Of Yanxi Palace became the most viewed Chinese drama series for 40 consecutive days during its run, receiving 700 million daily views. It was also the most searched drama series on Google in 2018.
An original production of iQIYI, it is about the life of Wei Yingluo (Wu Jinyan), a maid who becomes the favourite concubine of Emperor Qianlong (Nie Yuan) of the Qing Dynasty.
Yingluo enters the Forbidden City to investigate and seek revenge for her sister's death.
At first, she works in the embroidery department, but because of her intelligence, she soon becomes the handmaiden of Queen Fuca (Qin Lan).
At the same time, the younger brother of Fuca, Fuheng (Xu Kai) who is also an imperial guard falls in love with Yingluo.
Johor Baru-born Wong has been acting for a decade.
His best known drama series in Malaysia include My Twin Lovers and Tribulations Of Life, while his best known drama series in Singapore include Three Wishes and Zero Calling.
He won Most Promising Actor at the Asian-American TV & Film Festival 2018 and Best Supporting Actor in the Chinese American TV Festival 2018 for his role in Story Of Yanxi Palace.