"New customers are like razor-toothed gree-worms. They can be succulent, but sometimes they bite back. 203rd Rule of Acquisition "

Mr. June: Michael Teh

Posted by Superheidi | Thu, June 03 2010

Ex-business-guy-turned-actor Michael Teh is one of those multicultural hotties we so rarely get to feast our eyes upon in horror and sci-fi movies like Megashark vs. Giant Octopus. This versatile and sexy Australian-born actor has been everyone from Jesus to a sexy Native American fighting off hordes of angry ghosts in the sci-fi/horror Wraiths of Roanoke to a member of a medieval Mongol horde. Michael gets to action-your-socks-off in his new movie White Wall - a futuristic thriller in which he displays tons of leather and ass-kicking. Hopefully a drop-kick or two. Maybe a shirtless scene? Michael joins us as Mr. June in our growing pantheon of Scary Studs. I hope you enjoy him as much as we do...

The 'sexy' brooding look

You can play Native American, Jesus, and Asian...but what is your real cultural heritage?

In Western iconography Jesus has always been portrayed as a white man, when in reality he was an inspiring Jewish, Native American Zen master also proficient in carpentry. I’m from the same stock. Actually I think I’ve played virtually every ethnicity except black, but after Robert Downey Jr’s performance in Tropic Thunder, I’m inspired to give that a crack too. I mostly play Caucasian and mixed race roles, and occasionally Hispanic and other random ones, and it’s great fun!

My real heritage is a bit of a mystery. I know have some Scottish(Highlander?), English and Chinese heritage, but my mother’s mother was adopted so we don’t know for sure. But given I’ve played Native American five times, I’m going with that, and a little Dutch to explain my height.

By 'height' he means 6'1".

Your new sci-fi film White Wall features you as the 'bad guy' Jude - how bad do you get, and is there a nice guy behind the tough exterior?

Jude’s pretty bad. Life is cheap in his world, so he can afford to take a lot of them. I actually shot this movie over three years ago and it’s just come out and haven’t seen it yet. So, to be honest, I can’t remember if Jude reveals a hint of a "nice" side. I think he had most of that beaten out of him as a kid. As an actor, I’ve since learned that the best villains are the ones you feel for, empathize with or at least understand. I hope I managed to do that a little (before I was explicitly taught that)!

I kind of feel like this was taken when he still worked as a businessman.

So, if they don't actually drink Fosters or call a barbecue a 'barby' in Australia, what DO they drink and what do they call a barbecue?

‘Tis true, Fosters only has 1% market share in Australia. Years ago when I lived there, the beer people drank varied by state: Victorians drank Carlton, New South Welshmen drank Tooheys and VB, Queenslanders drank XXXX, etc. But now some of these brands are pretty popular nationally. Aussies also drink a lot of imported beer, and a ton of wine and spirits. We’re good at it.

And we DO call a barbecue a 'barby' (or is barbie?), but we DON’T call them 'shrimp'...when they’re big enough to barbecue they’re called 'prawns'! Down under, only the tiny, shrimpy ones are called shrimp.

Making a 'mean' face (which for some reason, women find sexier than a 'nice' fice. Women!)

You played a Native American in the spooky and fun Wraiths of Roanoke with Adrian Paul. Adrian Paul was in Highlander: The TV series. The Highlander film starred:

a) Christopher Lambert
b) Adrian Paul
c) Sean Connery
d) Dolph Lundgren
e) a and c only

Too easy! My friend (and landlord here in LA) Greg Widen wrote the original Highlander... E.

As 'Jude' in the film White Wall

You have a law degree. Please write a 5 sentence legal brief defending Jude, in White Wall, from charges of first degree murder and attempt to get his sentence reduced to manslaughter and time served. Go:

If I did that I might ruin the film’s story for people, so all I’ll say is: 'one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter'.

From the 'sexy Injun' series (actually, from 'Wraiths of Roanoke')

What are your turn-ons?

I used to like open-minded, tall girls with ponytails (is that weird?) Now I like short ones too. I especially seem to like girls who aren’t interested me. International travel, great wine and food qualify as well.

Michael as some kind of Mongolian 'Khan' running amok in the steppes, or something!

Turn-offs?

Mediocrity, arrogance, ignorance, stupidity, whining, racism, snobbishness, gold-diggers, name-dropping, negativity, close-mindedness, fundamentalism of any type...am I boring you?

Looking really awesome as a rock star in his new film Groupie in which he's a hot rock star all the groupies love

Why did you change your life path so drastically from a corporate job to full-time acting?

That’s a long, long story, but let me summarize in bullet form.

- I used to work 80-120 hours week in my full-on corporate careers(management consulting, investment banking and dot.com start-up exec)

– was often stressed and had little life outside work- Despite liking many of my colleagues, I disliked 95% of what I actually had to do in the office

- The dot.com crash occurred

- My dad died

- I was diagnosed with melanoma

- I did a 'self-development' course

These latter things made me realize: I was collecting prestigious degrees and career titles and working my ass off just to make my Dad happy; and yet he was dead and I was mortal. So Carpe Diem! (Dead Poet’s Society is my favorite film of all time). And besides, acting is way more fun than corporate life, and the girls are cuter.

Michael with his spiritual advisor Eric Roberts

Does being really, really good-looking help or hurt one's acting career?

I wouldn’t know about that, but what scares me is that most successful, working actors develop their careers by being typecast...and yet here I am playing Jesus, Native Americans, white and ethnic corporate dudes, Asian martial artists, Hispanic drunks, English and French charmers, dandy vampires, detectives, robbers, hit men, an Aztec, an Australian rock star, a doctor and a Japanese oil rig worker.

As Jesus in the History Channel special documentary Was Jesus Hot?

What is the sexiest thing a woman's ever done for you?

I don’t like to kiss and tell, but I am open to suggestions.

Michael likes to use this expensive telescope to spy on his neighbors

Extra Credit: Could a REAL Megashark actually snap the golden gate bridge in half with its jaws?

Negative. The real and extremely rare mega-mouth sharks are filter feeders only interested in plankton and jellyfish. For the record, I still haven’t seen Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus either (am saving it for a night with abundant friends and alcohol), and yet it’s my most famous trailer.

Watch the trailer for White Wall to see how cool Michael is: