EKIN CHENG IS EVERYBODY

Hong Kong actor, singer and recovering major celebrity, Ekin Cheng, is the Man of Many Silly Names. He was Noodle Cheng. He was Dior Cheng. Now he is Ekin. Most famous for his role as Chan Ho-nam, the stylishly coifed and smooth-chested leader of Hong Kong's hippest gang of violent criminals in the YOUNG AND DANGEROUS movie series (which ended in 2000 right before it had to be retitled OLD AND CROTCHETY) there was a time when Ekin was synonymous with Mr. Cool. He even starred in a movie called GOODBYE MR. COOL in 2001 and that's the crux of Ekin's problem. He was a transitional celebrity, helping to bridge the gap between the celeb-deficient mid-90's and the mid-00's when everyone's a star. 1996 - 2001: Ekin Cheng, RIP.

But there's a problem: Ekin won't stay buried. Eternally just slightly over the hill, veins flowing with embalming fluid, he's now attempting to become everyone on the planet, starting with Jet Li in FEARLESS. He's shooting a remake of the Huo Yuanjia story, which spawned a 1983 TV series and 2006's movie FEARLESS, where he plays Huo with his YOUNG AND DANGEROUS sidekick, Jordan Chan, returning to sidekick duty.

Then Ekin is playing Ultraman Elite in a new 52 episode Ultraman TV series, PROJECT ULTRAMAN. The show introduces a couple of new Ultramen and is embroiled in a legal quagmire thanks to an intellectual property scandal involving the Ultraman creators, Japan's Tsuburaya Productions, and a Thai company called Chaiyo that claims they have the rights to Ultraman outside Japan. The case is long and complicated but kind of thrilling with its swarms of angry fans, forged documents, shoddy production values, chain-of-title evidence based on a single snapshot, and endless hearings that have taken place in Japan, Thailand and now China, prompting the Chinese to launch a superpowered "Ultraman Copyright Study Group."

Chaiyo looks like they're sparing every expense to produce the show and, despite playing one of the main characters, Ekin says he only shot for two weeks since he's replaced by another actor once he turns into Ultraman.

See, Ekin is everybody. And everybody is Ekin.