Frederick Lee

Frederick Lee Ming-zhong (; born 18 August 1976) is a Malaysian actor based in Malaysia and Taiwan. He worked as an interior designer before making his acting debut in 2006 and pursuing a career in Malaysian television. He gained prominence after winning Best Actor in the 2014 Golden Awards for his role as Fugui in The Descendant. He starred in Malaysian films You Mean the World to Me (2017) and Fly by Night (2018), as well as in television series such as Turning Point (2015), The Missing Menu (2016), and Gifted (2018). Lee made his Taiwanese debut with The Scoundrels (2018), for which he received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor in the 21st Taipei Film Awards, marking the beginning of his multi-national career. He won Best Actor in the 28th Asian Television Awards for the Taiwanese Disney+ series Taiwan Crime Stories (2023).

Early life Lee was born on 18 August 1976 in Malacca, Malaysia. He has an older brother, Christopher Lee, who is five years his senior, and who also pursued a career as an actor, inspiring Lee to follow the same path, along with another brother and a sister. They grew up in a kampung, Lee attended Chinese-language schools for primary education, which enabled him to speak fluent Mandarin, before transferring to public schools for secondary education. From a young age, he was interested in drawing and intended to study advertising design at university, but switched to interior design upon Christopher's advice due to their family's inability to afford the necessary equipment for advertising design and the more stable career prospects it offered. During university, Lee filmed advertisements but was not interested to pursue a modeling career. He became captivated by acting after watching his brother in the television series The Price of Peace in his dormitory, where he was impressed by his brother's "magical buzz". After graduation, Lee worked as an interior designer.

Career Debut and breakout with The Descendant (2006–2014) In 2000, five years after graduating from university, Lee was invited to join Star Search, the Malaysian version of a reality show that originated in Singapore and helped launch his brother's career. Lee did not win the competition and soon learned that his interior designing company had replaced him, leaving him unemployed for six months. He then appeared in the ntv7 Chinese-language series Age of Glory as He Fu-gui and in Age of Glory 2 as Ma Ying-jie, as well as in the drama series The Iron Lady, which were among his earliest roles. at the age of 40, he began his career in Taiwanese cinema, landing his debut role as Freddie, a gangster boss, in the crime film , which premiered in 2018. Following this performance, he developed a career in Taiwan. In 2017, he appeared in the Malaysian mystery thriller series , He also appeared in the Singaporean-Malaysian series Gifted as a narcotics captain, and in the Malaysian series that same year. while Phuong Le of The Guardian noted that the tension between his character and Pinna's was "interestingly explored", while expressing disappointment over the lack of follow-up on his character. He also shared a lead role with Jake Hsu in the Hong Kong-Taiwanese series , playing the older version of Wu Da-tung, a serial murderer on the run. Lee made a cameo appearance in the Disney+ series Women in Taipei in 2022. Lee won Best Actor in the 28th Asian Television Awards and was nominated for Best Male Lead in a Television Series in the 58th Golden Bell Awards for this performance. Besides, he starred in a supporting role as the right-hand man to 's character in the Taiwanese gangster film , and appeared as Antonio Chao, a victim of the White Terror, in Chung Mong-hong's historical drama film The Embers in the same year. Lee married Jess, a Malaysian IT professional, in September 2024 after ten years of dating. He currently resides in Malaysia.

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes/ 2011 Petaling Street Warriors Ma Fuyi (馬福儀) 2017 You Mean the World to Me Sunny 2018 Freddie (小黑哥) Fly by Night Jared 2021 Plurality Detective Wang (王志成) 2023 A Boy and A Girl Boy (男人) 2024 Breaking and Re-entering Uncle Bin (斌叔) Fish Memories Chao Tzu-jie (趙子傑) Chi The Embers Antonio Chao (趙之亮) 2025 96 Minutes Wu Chang-ren (吳常仁)

Television Year Title Role Notes/ 2008 Age of Glory He Fu-gui (何富貴) Recurring role 2009 The Iron Lady Ou Zhen-ming (歐振明) Main role 2010 Age of Glory 2 Ma Ying-jie (馬英傑) Main role 2013–2014 Zheng Xing-feng (鄭勝峰) Main role (season 1–2) 2013 Guan Zhong-heng (關中恆) Main role 2015 The Precedents Michael Lu (陸天佑) Main role Turning Point Cheng You-wei (程有為) Main role 2016 The Missing Menu Chen Jia-quan (陳家全) Main role 2017 Louis Yuan (袁瑞陽) Main role Midnight Diner Li Kai (李凱) Guest role 2018 Gifted Liao Weihao (廖偉豪) Main role Zheng Kang-sheng (鄭康生) Co-starring 2019 Liu Jin-yen (劉謹言) Main role 2020 Li Sha-mo (李沙末) Main role Lo Jia-ke (羅家赫) Main role 2021 Wu Da-tung (胡大東) Main role Lin Chi-chen (林啟辰) Recurring role 2022 Women in Taipei Kevin Cameo 2023 Taiwan Crime Stories Shen Chang-rong (沈昌戎) Main role Night Blindness Uncle Black (黑叔) Main role; television film 2024 Chen Jie-wei (陳哲偉) Main role; segment 7

Awards and nominations Year Award Category Work Result 2014 2014 Golden Awards Best Actor The Descendant 2016 21st Asian Television Awards Best Actor Turning Point 2017 2017 Golden Awards Best Actor The Missing Menu 2019 21st Taipei Film Awards Best Supporting Actor 2023 58th Golden Bell Awards Best Male Lead in a Television SeriesTaiwan Crime Stories 2024 28th Asian Television Awards Best Actor 26th Taipei Film Awards Best Actor A Boy and A Girl Best Supporting Actor Fish Memories 59th Golden Bell Awards Best Leading Actor in a Miniseries or Television FilmNight Blindness 29th Asian Television Awards Best Actor