Born in France, but raised in Beijing, Arman Darbo makes his debut on the big screen in Kung Fu Man. Photos Provided to China Daily

Darbo says acting's biggest challenge is crying on cue.

Discovered in a Beijing shopping mall, Arman Darbo is now the main star in a Sino-US kung fu movie produced by Hollywood star Keanu Reeves. Meng Jing reports.

When most movie stars attend a premier, it's all about red carpets and screaming fans. But for Arman Darbo it was more like a family outing, with even his nanny sitting down to watch the film with him.

But then Arman, the co-star alongside rising Hong Kong actor Tiger Chen in this summer's kung fu flick, is just 11 years old.

Born in France, but raised in Beijing, Arman stars in Kung Fu Man, a Sino-US co-production produced by Keanu Reeves.

Arman plays a kidnapped American boy who is rescued by a simple Chinese-man-turned superhero, played by Tiger Chen. Chen is best known for his stunt work in The Matrix and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

For Arman, making the movie, which was shot from November 2009 to March 2010, was a great adventure that involved running across rooftops and being suspended from cranes on wires as he and Chen fled from his kidnappers.

"He had to wear the wires because sometimes they would throw him from here to there," says his father Igor Darbo.

Far from being scared by the experience, Arman enjoyed everything about it.

"Through acting you can experience a life, you may never have in your real life," says the boy, who appears shy, but becomes talkative on the topic of acting.

Kung Fu Man was not his first taste of acting.

Arman had previously made a few television appearances in advertisements and shows but Kung Fu Man is his debut on the big screen.

But the youngster already sounds like a professional. The secret to acting is to "feel the emotions for real. It is better than faking", he says.

For Arman, the hardest part of acting is not the action, but crying.

His biggest challenge during the making of Kung Fu Man came on the second day of shooting among the mountains of Yunnan province.

It was an extremely emotional scene to film and Arman says, "It was very difficult because I had to cry on cue."

The directors told the young actor he should think about experiences that could elicit true emotions. Arman succeeded in crying on his second attempt, but he won't say what he thought about to bring tears to his eyes.

He seems like a natural actor, and comes from a family of movie lovers - his mother is a scriptwriter and his father set up a film production company in 2012 - but his own acting career began by accident.

He was just 6 years old when a casting agent approached the boy's parents during a family shopping trip in Beijing.

"The man asked if he wanted to do some commercials as a model for some clothes and we thought that was OK. Then the word spread. A TV series wanted him to appear in one episode and then a small documentary asked for him as well. Then Kung Fu Man called for an audition," says his father.

"It is a very good exercise in building self confidence. He is very much into daydreaming and thinking with a creative type of mind. Acting fits well with his personality."

And he now has a new role to take on as the son of a US architect who comes to Beijing to build the world's tallest tower in The Dragon Angel, which hasn't yet begun shooting.

Although he is now a movie star, it hasn't affected his life. Few classmates know he is an actor and Arman doesn't brag about it.

His friends may have noticed his new hobby though - Shaolin kung fu - which he began practicing after the making of Kung Fu Man.

However, it is another passion that is now tempting Arman in a different direction from acting - football. Asked whether he would like to make a career from acting he says: "How about I act in football movies? That's the best."

Contact the writer at mengjing@chinadaily.com.cn.

(China Daily 08/04/2013 page4)