Henry Golding Shares The Life Lessons He Wishes He Knew At 21

Photo: Neil Mockford/FilmMagic

Henry Golding was leading a very different life at 21. “I was a hairstylist in London,” the half-British, half-Malaysian actor tells Elite Daily. “I was fantastic. I had great promise. I just yearned for something more ... so I bought a one-way ticket to Malaysia in the hopes of becoming a television host.”

Looking back, the leap of faith boded well for the A Simple Favor star. “The greatest opportunities I’ve been given have been off the back of diving into the abyss,” he says. Case in point: The year he moved, in 2008, he bagged a hosting gig with ESPN (covering football) and, later on, with BBC World News as host of The Travel Show from 2014 through 2018.

In the process of pursuing a new career, Golding also found something else: a thirst for adventure. “Twenty-one was a big start of a lot of things for me. I traveled the world,” the 38-year-old says. That globetrotting eventually led him to take up residence in Singapore for nearly a decade, the country that became synonymous with his Hollywood break...