Young sassy star

Born in France, but raised in Beijing, Arman Darbo makes his debut on the big screen in Kung Fu Man. [Photo provided to China Daily]

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.