An adventurer at heart

Liao Fan makes the best of whatever role that falls into his lap, nabbing a 'Silver Bear' from Berlin for his eye-catching turn in Black Coal, Thin Ice. He's not going to rest on his laurels. He will continue to take risks, writes Raymond Zhou.

Liao Fan is a risk taker. It is hard to detect a common theme running through the more than 50 roles he has done on screen and stage.

"I never thought about commonality," says the prolific actor. "I took whatever came along. I didn't have much choice then. As long as the role was interesting, I'd take it. Now that I think about it, the leading roles I took tended to be losers who lived on the edge. They are intense and need an outlet, sometimes resorting to extreme means..