Thursday July 2, 2009

Lucky strike

By ALLAN KOAY

Peter Davis knows full well about being in the right place at the right time.

DURING my interview with model-actor Peter Davis, my ancient tape recorder kept making funny noises. I apologised for the noisy interruptions.

“Sounds just like my car,” Davis laughed.

I found out that Davis drives an old Nissan March, and it was because of that very car that he landed his first big-screen role in the musical comedy Sell Out!, which ended its run in our cinemas in late-May. While he was fixing his vehicle in the carpark of his apartment block in Cheras, KL, director Yeo Joon Han happened to walk by, spotted him and immediately invited him for an audition. The next thing Davis knew, he was on set playing the role of Eric Tan, the downtrodden Eurasian employee of FONY Conglomerate – and he not only acted but also sang. (The original soundtrack is available now in music stores.)

It’s not surprising that Yeo picked Davis right on the spot. The British-born 27-year-old has an instantly recognisable face, even though you may not recall where you’ve seen him before. It’s after you have come across an ad, like the one for Uber Men at the Bangsar LRT station, that you realise why he’s so familiar. And now, having had his face plastered on movie posters, he’ll probably get even more stares.

Timely holiday: Peter Davis’s intended six-month holiday in Malaysia has led to a modelling career and, more recently, his foray into acting.

Not bad, really, for a guy who decided to quit his cosy job in Britain and come to Malaysia for a “six-month holiday”.

“A few years ago, I was in the UK happily working an office job in finance, as a business development manager for a subsidiary of Lehman Brothers, called Preferred Mortgages,” said Davis in a thick English accent. “At the time, I thought it was time for a change when they started to do some restructuring. So I got out of that. And a few other personal things were also happening in my life. I thought, why not go over to Asia and see what I can do?”

Friends told him that he should try modelling while “on holiday” in Malaysia. At first he thought nothing of it, but then got himself into a modelling competition for Elite Modelling.

“After that I got spotted by another modelling company, Blitz Productions, which gave me my first catwalk show in Malaysia. This was in late 2006,” said Davis.

His first show was at KL Fashion Week 2006 for local designer Key Ng.

“I was extremely nervous! I didn’t stumble, as far as I can remember,” said Davis. “I had a little bit of training prior to it. But I was pulling some 80s and 90s style moves. (Laughs) I look back at the pictures and I realise I’m a lot more relaxed (on the runway) now.”

Davis said he has no regrets leaving behind a stable job for modelling, and that it’s all “good fun” but also a lot of hard work.

“For shows, you really need to rush to get your outfits on,” he explained. “I don’t think people realise how hard it actually is to do that. And then to walk on the runway very composed straight after the huge rush while you’re still dripping with sweat, is quite something.

“But I liken it to rushing a report for your boss, and then rushing into a meeting and handing it over to your boss while you’re still sweating. So yeah, it can be very stressful but at the same time it’s very fun. And the people you get to work with are usually very cool.”

Even though he was born in Britain, Davis is no stranger to Malaysia; his mother is Malaysian and so the family had their yearly visits to her home country since Davis was five. The story is that many, many years ago, his mother, then a nursing student, went to Britain to further her studies and met his British father, a high-ranking employee of an insurance firm. They met at a club called Top Rank, which was later renamed The Event 2 when Davis used to frequent the place, and is now simply called Oceana.

One of the highlights of Sell Out! is this big musical number, Money, in which Eric Tan (Peter Davis) sings about his financial woes.

His mother was born in Kota Kinabalu, and they have relatives in Miri, Kuching and Brunei. He remembers spending time in his poh-poh’s house in Kuching.

“Going to the toilet in my poh-poh’s house meant you had to walk up a little path to this hole cut in the ground in this little shed thing,” Davis described. “I was doing this sort of thing since I was, like, five, so I kind of got used to it. I think I’m reasonably adaptable. Except for organ soup, which is not what I like to eat! (Laughs)”

Davis is an only child. “It’s just me and my lonesome. And cousins, lots of cousins.”

He grew up in Brighton, land of sunny beaches in the summer and Fatboy Slim. After leaving school, he studied economics, art and computer science in college. But he’s a practical person and loves doing things, so he took a job in the financial sector after college.

I asked him how much he feels Asian and how much is the “Eur” in Eurasian. “I’m pretty much levelling out at 50%. When I’m here, I just feel 50% Asian and 50% English,” he replied.

But he said he gets jokes about being a gwai loh here, while back in England, he gets ribbed a lot for being Asian. “It’s the same thing (in Britain), but it’s the other way around,” he laughed. “But it’s fine.”

What does he like to do when he’s not busy modelling?

“I think I have free time,” he replied. “I can lie down and sleep every now and then! (Laughs) I really like mountain biking. I used to ride with my friends. I also like motorbikes. In Malaysia, I’ve turned to cars. I like my motorsports and fast cars basically.”

He also practises martial arts – a non-traditional, freestyle and pragmatic form called wu ji chuan. He started learning it in Britain when he was 20. His sifu is Malaysian, who, coincidentally, is from Cheras. Davis himself also teaches wu ji chuan in Cheras on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

So everything has been good for Davis, from modelling to taking the first step into something he’d always wanted to do, which is acting. His parents were initially sceptical about him becoming a model in Malaysia.

“My parents weren’t too happy but they were, like, ‘Take a holiday and see what happens. We’ll have your return ticket ready just in case,’” he recalled.

So, how’s his “six-month holiday” so far?

“I thought I would just take a holiday, after which I’d probably have to get back to that nine-to-five routine,” he said. “But so far, I haven’t had to. I feel very lucky and very privileged.”