KUALA LUMPUR, May 1 — Two South-east Asian stars are sharing the screen with Tom Hardy in Netflix’s latest high-octane action thriller, Havoc.
The movie, ranking high among the most-viewed films on Netflix globally, features Malaysian actress Yeo Yann Yann and Singaporean actor Sunny Pang.
Both stars are familiar names in the region, but playing pivotal roles alongside Hardy (star of Venom) and Oscar winner Forest Whitaker makes Havoc their biggest international project to date.
Havoc follows battle-worn detective Patrick Walker (Hardy), tasked by corrupt business mogul Lawrence (Whitaker) to rescue his son Charlie (Justin Cornwell) after a botched drug deal goes wrong.
Chaos ensues after Mother (Yeo), a cold-blooded assassin leading a powerful triad, suspects Charlie and his girlfriend of her son’s murder and seeks revenge. Pang plays Ching, a fellow triad member and Mother’s loyal follower.
“The biggest sign that Mother has power is that she doesn’t have to say anything. All I needed to do was move my finger, or move my eyes. That was all,” the 48-year-old Yeo reportedly told The Straits Times recently.
Singapore-born Sunny Pang helms the role of Ching, a Triad member loyal to Mother. — Picture courtesy of Netflix
Yeo grew up in the small fishing village of Kukup, Johor Baru.
She made her first foray into acting through the Comedy of Mistakes theatre production in the 1990s. She began gaining wider recognition after starring in the film Singapore Dreaming (2006) and various Malaysian television series such as The Iron Lady (2009).
Yeo has also won two Golden Horse Awards — one of the most prestigious accolades in Chinese-language cinema — securing the Best Supporting Actress award for Ilo Ilo (2013) and the Best Leading Actress award for Wet Season (2019).
In 2023, Yeo made her Hollywood debut opposite fellow Malaysian and Oscar winner Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh in the Disney+ fantasy-comedy series American Born Chinese.
She was also nominated for Best Actress at the International Emmy Awards in 2020 for her role in the HBO Asia original series Invisible Stories.
Yeo Yann Yann is a two-time Golden Horse Awards winner and made her Hollywood debut opposite fellow Malaysian actress Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh in the ‘American Born Chinese’ series. — Picture courtesy of Netflix
Pang was also Yeo’s co-star in the series, and it was her performance there that reportedly convinced Havoc’s writer and director Gareth Evans that Yeo was the right fit for the character Mother.
Welsh-born Evans established himself in the region over a decade ago, thanks to action films like Merantau (2009), The Raid (2011), and its 2014 sequel — which prominently featured the Indonesian martial art, pencak silat.
During his time in Indonesia, Evans became friends with the Singapore-born Pang, and he reportedly wrote the character Ching in Havoc specifically with Pang in mind.
Gritty crime thrillers are a familiar genre for the 42-year-old Pang.
A renowned stunt director and martial artist, Pang has carved a niche for himself in the action genre with hits like Headshot (2016), The Night Comes for Us (2018), and Geylang (2022).
Havoc premiered on Netflix on April 25, after spending four years in development.
