Who is Indra Leech?

[Brian Thibodeau]

I'm trying to figure out what this actor (actress?) looks like. According to the Videohound's Asian Dragon, the actor plays the French gambling ace in GOD OF GAMBLERS III: BACK TO SHANGHAI, which is completely wrong, since that character is played by Declan Wong, as anyone who's seen ONCE A THIEF will attest. But this leaves me wondering just WHO this Indra Leech person is. A chinese actor using an English name? A typically bad gwailo actor? An extra? The name rarely appears in the credits of even the films listed in his/her database entry, so I'm wondering if anyone has ever come across a picture of this person to I can at least put to rest yet another small but needless error in the Videohound book.

http://hkmdb.com/db/people/view.mhtml?id=16918&display_set=eng

Any ideas?

[bkasten]

I'm trying to figure out what this actor (actress?) looks like. According to the Videohound's Asian Dragon, the actor plays the French gambling ace in GOD OF GAMBLERS III: BACK TO SHANGHAI, which is completely wrong, since that character is played by Declan Wong, as anyone who's seen ONCE A THIEF will attest. But this leaves me wondering just WHO this Indra Leech person is. A chinese actor using an English name? A typically bad gwailo actor? An extra? The name rarely appears in the credits of even the films listed in his/her database entry, so I'm wondering if anyone has ever come across a picture of this person to I can at least put to rest yet another small but needless error in the Videohound book.
http://hkmdb.com/db/people/view.mhtml?id=16918&display_set=eng
Any ideas?

Check out this very nice French Les Gweilos page (I assume you can read French). I guarantee looking at these faces will bring back nightmares of some of the most absurd hammy amateurism ever seen on the big screen

Anyway, Indra Leech is there along with a pic. He is described as a Steven Chow regular.

http://cine-hk.chez.tiscali.fr/Hkcine/S ... WEILOS.HTM

[Brian Thibodeau]

Wicked site! Wish I'd known about that earlier. Great to have a reference to all these bad gweilo actors.

But now I'm even more confused!

Indra Leech and Declan Wong are BOTH listed in the database entry for GOD OF GAMBLERS III: BACK TO SHANGHAI, with the latter being credited as the French King of Gamblers. Looking at the picture that accompanies the Indra Leech entry, I'm now thinking the Videohound book may in fact be correct after all, since that photo, if I'm not mistaken, is actually FROM GOGIII, and that character IS the French King of Gamblers character!! Now I'm wondering if Declan Wong is actually in the picture at all, or if he plays some small bit part. I definitely have to check out ONCE A THIEF again to see what Wong looks like for comparison. I'm also wondering if Leech and Wong are the same person, since I know they are both of mixed ethnicity and, if I recall correctly, at least look somewhat similar.

The mystery deepens...

[bkasten]

It appears they are different. This site has credits for GOGIII (赌侠II之上海滩赌圣) and lists Declan Wong as "H.K. Police Chief", and Indra Leech as "Prince Of Gamblers".

http://www.mov6.com/title/tt0101783/fullcredits

If this is true, I will update the HKMDB credit in that movie for Declan (Michael) Wong. (Adding a Declan Wong alias for Declan Michael Wong would be nice too).

I'll see if I can get some screenshots from the movie.

[Loulou]

I'm trying to figure out what this actor (actress?) looks like. According to the Videohound's Asian Dragon, the actor plays the French gambling ace in GOD OF GAMBLERS III: BACK TO SHANGHAI, which is completely wrong, since that character is played by Declan Wong, as anyone who's seen ONCE A THIEF will attest. But this leaves me wondering just WHO this Indra Leech person is. A chinese actor using an English name? A typically bad gwailo actor? An extra? The name rarely appears in the credits of even the films listed in his/her database entry, so I'm wondering if anyone has ever come across a picture of this person to I can at least put to rest yet another small but needless error in the Videohound book.
http://hkmdb.com/db/people/view.mhtml?id=16918&display_set=eng
Any ideas?

Check out this very nice French Les Gweilos page (I assume you can read French). I guarantee looking at these faces will bring back nightmares of some of the most absurd hammy amateurism ever seen on the big screen

Anyway, Indra Leech is there along with a pic. He is described as a Steven Chow regular.

http://cine-hk.chez.tiscali.fr/Hkcine/S ... WEILOS.HTM

Thanks for the link, but I precise that the site is not more updated, and the new website is on hkcinemagic.com. (in french and sometimes in english when texts are fortunaly translated (translators people are alas very rare !!!)

The direct link for Indra Leech is here :

http://www.hkcinemagic.com/fr/people.asp?id=2771

[Brian Thibodeau]

Having watched the necessary parts of both ONCE A THIEF and GOD OF GAMBLERS III: BACK TO SHANGHAI over the weekend, I'm now firmly convinced that Declan Wong is both the card-flinging henchman in the former AND the French Gambling King in the latter.

I took screen shots with a digital camera (!!) but forgot to bring the camera with me today. Declan Wong's name appears, IN ENGLISH, at the bottom of the cast list in the closing credits (after all the chinese names) but Indra Leech's name DOES NOT APPEAR in these credits. I believe Leech's name DOES, however, appear in the credits of at least one, if not all, of the following Stephen Chiau films - FORBIDDEN CITY COP, FROM BEIJING WITH LOVE and FIGHT BACK TO SCHOOL II. I've watched all three very recently and do seem to recall this - but the picture on the website linked above is of Declan Wong, as no actor bearing his likeness appears in those three films (gweilos and mixed-ethnicity actors tend to stand out to other gweilos when we watch Hong Kong movies!) In fact, the only reason Wong was likely even cast in these two roles was due to what I've heard are his skills as a magician in real life. Someone, somwhere has combined these two actors into one, and the mistake has been perpetuated in books like Videohound's Asian Dragon.

I will try to see if I can post my screenshots this week, unless you are able to find a source for same in the meantime.