Leon Ung

Some Lesser Known Facts About Leon Ung

• Leon Ung is a British actor, stunt performer, model, dancer, and gymnast. He is a top-level national break dancer in the UK. He is known for winning triple UK Street Dance Championships in 2022.

  

• His father is a Cambodian, and his mother is an Indian. His oldest brother, Kyan Ung, is an actor, who worked in the 2019 American film The Lion King. His middle brother, Aareon Ung, is a professional gymnast, ranked ninth in the UK. Once, in a media interview, Leon Ung shared that there were not enough roles in the film industry for people like him, who had mixed origins. He said,
  

  But often, (film) makers are looking for half-black and half-white (actors). If they want an Indian (performer), I again don’t fit in as I look ‘not Indian enough’. When it’s for Asian or Chinese characters, they find me ‘not Asian enough’. That’s why it’s really hard. It also shows there is still a problem of actual and fair representation.”

• In the 1970s, during the Khmer Rouge-led genocide in Cambodia, his grandmother’s entire family who stayed there was murdered. His grandfather then met a smuggler who offered to take them out of Cambodia to Vietnam. However, his family soon realized that the smuggler was a human trafficker. In an attempt to escape, they boarded a crowded fishing boat bound for Hong Kong. According to Leon Ung, his family’s journey was scary. The boats were very crowded with less oxygen, insufficient food, and dehydration. Then, somehow, they managed to send an SOS signal, and a British cargo ship, the Sibonga, came to their rescue. Reportedly, among numerous boats, only two survived, carrying around a thousand survivors.

  

• According to Leon Ung, upon reaching the UK, his family spent two years in a refugee camp in the New Forest, near Christchurch, called Sopley. Most other families in the camp were Vietnamese. His father lived in the refugee camp in the New Forest from the age of two to four.

  

• In 2018, Leon Ung was featured as a break dancer in Sainsbury’s Christmas Commercial, which was directed by Michael Gracey. He is a prominent breakdancer in the UK, who achieved a Triple Champ Winner title at the U.K StreetDance Championships in 2022, winning first place in all the Breaking categories: 12U, 16U, and Adults.

  

• In 2020, Leon Ung appeared as “Nas” in the OSCAR-winning short film, The Long Goodbye, which was directed by Riz Ahmed and Aneil Karia. In 2022, the film won the ‘Best Live Action Short’ award.

  

• Leon Ung frequently works as a model, content creator, and scriptwriter for various clothing brands.

• In 2022, he appeared in Roald Dahl’s film ‘Matilda the Musical,’ which was released on Netflix.

  

• Thereafter, Leon Ung choreographed and performed as a ‘Metahuman’ in an A. I. music video for an Artificial Intelligence Tech company, showcased at the Global A. I. Generative Conference.

• Apart from being a dancer and model, Leon Ung is also a professional drummer.

  

• In 2022, he played the role of Spider-Man and performed the stunts for Black Panther for a Marvel toy commercial.

• Leon Ung is trained in martial arts. He is a fitness enthusiast and often shares pictures of his workout sessions on social media.

  

• He worked as a YouTube presenter for artist Lubaina Himid at the Tate Gallery exhibition in 2022.

• Leon Ung then collaborated with the Refugee Council charity organisation for campaign support and presented a film at the Glastonbury Festival in 2023.

• In December 2023, Leon Ung appeared as Young Bobby Deol in the film ‘Animal.’

  

• He was featured in a Heinz Baked Beans commercial as a Drummer in 2019.

  

• Leon Ung has a strong interest in basketball, football, martial arts (Kung-Fu & Jiu Jitsu), and weapon training. He holds a Grade 3 in drums and is proficient in playing the piano.