Six years into his acting journey, Hun Haqeem has established himself as more than just Malaysia’s favourite heart-throb — he is a magnetic presence on-screen and a genuine, sensitive soul off it.
Hun Haqeem is not your quintessential Gen-Zer. We are three outfits into our cover shoot and he has already sung through a string of ‘90s classics: *NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye”, Britney Spears’ “...Baby One More Time”, and Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way”. There’s a silent, self-contained air about him (typical of an introvert); equal parts confidence and humility (typical of a Capricorn); and, to top it off, a smile far too contagious for his own good.
Later, I will have also learned that Hun grew up watching a lot of Tom Hanks; he’s more of a Warsie than a Trekkie despite Star Trek Into Darkness being a favourite; and the biggest love of his life is his motorcycle. But just as I’m starting to think that he might be more millennial-coded than everybody else in the studio, he exclaims, “Wow, it’s giving!”
The ‘it’ in question is a deep burgundy number from the Gucci Men’s Fall 2024 collection that he’s sporting for our cover shoot. The vibes of the pieces that we’ve hand-picked are, indeed, giving: gorgeous monochromatic ensembles; a series of ties loose and undone; super-chic patent gloves. Sleek, sexy, understated. A bit like a modern-day rock star.
When I bring this up to Hun, he offhandedly tells me he wants to get into singing. “I really enjoy music,” he says. He is in the midst of composing a few songs, and is gearing up to release his first one this year, hopefully. Fingers crossed. “It’s always a passion. And to be honest, I do love rock. I don’t know, personally I’m shy and all that but whenever I sing, I feel like I want to just, ‘Aaaahhh!’ Really express that, you know?”
Passion seems to be a major driving force for a lot of things in Hun’s life. His foray into the acting scene first began as a search for purpose. He had been in the corporate communications department at New Straits Times, quietly pondering a change of scenery. “Back then, I was looking for something that I could do full-heartedly because, you know, it was an early stage of work life,” Hun muses. “And I found acting, so I pursued it, went to a few castings. I got one role and the rest was a domino effect, Alhamdulillah for me.”
Hun is 26, and has been acting for six years now. And while his big break came in the form of the comedy series Kampung People, Hun emerged as a notable and undeniable screen presence around 2020, when he turned up in the drama Angkara Cinta and Chinta Wrong Direction — and most recently established himself as a Malaysian heart-throb with W: Two Worlds, the local adaptation of the popular K-drama of the same name alongside Daiyan Trisha and Mierul Aiman. It is a behemoth of a drama series; a gripping action-thriller-romance manoeuvred by Hun at the very centre of it — troubled, vengeful, disheartened, and rivetingly real — a stunning showcase for the range of emotions he is capable of conveying as an actor.
The camera pulls away briefly during our shoot, and Hun immediately goes from self-assured to skittish. He shrinks a bit with discomfort when we rave about his poses after, and his voice gets gradually smaller when he hurls back his thank-yous. His shyness is chronic; it usually goes hand in hand with being an introvert, but I had assumed that after his shot to stardom, it would’ve been smoothed over. He has gotten much better at shifting that overwhelming feeling to gratitude for his supporters, he says, but his love for peace and quiet is innate. It doesn’t simply go away.
Coming out of the shell and straight into the spotlight
“Movies have always been my getaway,” Hun opens up. “It’s like an escape. Sometimes when I’m stressed, I would just go to the cinema and watch a movie alone, you know? I would forget about my problems for a bit and really dive myself into that world. So I was really excited to give acting a try even though I’m, like, such an introvert. I don’t know why I made this kind of choice.” He laughs as the irony of the situation hits him. “But then when they call action je, everything hilang [disappears]. Just like when I watch a movie, I dive into the world and really berkarya [work at it] in so many ways.”
There has not been a single point in time in Hun’s life when it wasn’t all about movies. Being on the cusp of the millennial and Gen Z cohorts (and the youngest of four), his taste was moulded by what his parents and older siblings watched. Forrest Gump, Cast Away, The Pursuit of Happyness — these are only a handful of his favourites. “Apparently they have great taste,” he says, bursting into another laugh. “So, all the movies they watched, the music they listened to, it’s all really good. I’m really grateful to grow up in that kind of surrounding.”
Hun’s passion for his craft is plain — and rather admirable — to see. When he had gotten the lead role of Aliff Hadi in W: Two Worlds, he’d felt an immense weight on his shoulders before anything else. “There was a lot of pressure from the fans, obviously, because W: Two Worlds is such an amazing series,” he says. “It’s a huge honour to be able to carry that kind of character. And I really wanted to do justice for the character so people would love it the same. So all in all it was very pressurising. But then as we went through the process, I was more confident towards it.”
Hun had to undergo a drastic body transformation for the role — the first he had done for any series — and lost 12 kilograms in one month. Then stunt choreography was another thing altogether. Every day was a fighting day for him. And perhaps in the thrill and the adrenaline of pushing himself, pushing his limits, he sustained a pretty serious ACL injury.
“We had another 23 days left, with just two more fight scenes that I had to do,” he recounts, voice tinged with self-reproach. “And I really tore my ACL completely. But then, seeing everybody really passionate about this, I just wasn’t able to back out, you know? I just wasn’t able to. So we ikat kaki tu [tied a band around the leg] and then proceeded je with the shooting.”
He’s equally fired up when I ask about his upcoming role in Syafiq Yusof’s The Game of Life, set to release next year. The film will chronicle the life of Malaysian gamer and streamer Muhammad Faris Zakaria, aka Soloz (whom Hun is set to play) as he rose to global fame through the online game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. It will be Hun’s first time portraying a real-life person, and naturally, he throws himself into the preparation of it 110%.
“The prepping for this takes a new direction,” he elaborates, “in which I kena jumpa orang tu and spend time with him, really listen to him. I have to learn how he sees things, his perspectives, his point of view towards gaming, really all in all lah. I have to dive into that person’s life and faham his lifestyle. Compared to other series where I’m not acting as an existing person — I wouldn’t say that’s easy, but at least I can create an identity for the character. For this, I have to follow this person and really study him. And I’ve never watched live streaming of games at all before, so to prep for this movie, I’ve been watching a lot of game streaming.”
I ask Hun if he’s ever been a gamer before, if he’s dabbled in any video games growing up.
“Interestingly, I don’t play games,” he exclaims, laughing. Really, at all? I ask aloud. “I wouldn’t say ‘at all’. I did play FIFA, that sort of stuff — simple ones. But I’ve never played Mobile Legends, and now I’m actually very invested. I’ve been pushing my rank sampai Master II now, in less than a month. It’s part of my commitment because we can’t lie [about] the feeling, you know? So nak tak nak [whether I like it or not], I really have to dive into the gaming life. And I’m really starting to understand it. ‘Cause you know, one [Mobile Legends] game takes you about 30 minutes, then suddenly dah enam jam. One day, my brother came home from work and he said to me, Kau memang rupa budak gamer dah [You definitely look like a gamer now]. ‘Cause I’d been sitting down, playing it for six hours straight. It’s really interesting. I’m excited to see how I am going to deliver in this film.”
But underneath it all, a sensitive soul
As we’re shooting his final look, I learn that Hun is going to Japan to film the second season of the Viu drama From Saga with Love. “I’ve been learning and practising Japanese for the trip,” he tells us all proudly. (By now, I am no longer fazed by Hun’s intense methods of preparation.) “I know a few Japanese words already. Like kirei [beautiful]. That’s a good word.” His voice gets small again when he properly registers the number of people around him in the studio. “Ah, you are all kirei. Everyone here is kirei!”
Hun is, unsurprisingly, a nature person. As an introvert, he delights in the company of trees and waterfalls — and the sight of stars. Lombok, Indonesia is his firm answer when I ask about his favourite travel destination. “It’s the best. Lombok is serving. Lombok is giving. And I’m accepting.” He laughs. “I’m just a sucker for stars. In Lombok, I saw, like, 12 shooting stars. I couldn’t believe it. It was crazy. So, I would say Lombok is the best so far.”
With his celebrity status rapidly growing, Hun has learned to cherish the downtime when he gets to unwind with his family and friends. “I really understand the commitment of work, and I know myself as well,” he says. Maintaining good health — both mentally and physically — has been the real challenge. “I’m committed to every kind of work that I do, tapi I believe that we as human beings, we need to find time to put a pause in our life. To reset, and to really rest.”
Hun is initially hesitant to call himself an expressive person. (To which I would like to call his bluff, because I believe passion and expressiveness also go hand in hand.) But he affirms that he does have various outlets through which he expresses himself. Acting is, of course, one of them; photography is another.
“I do try to understand a person’s point of view, though,” Hun says. “And I think that one is very great in terms of acting. ‘Cause it’s kind of like a skill to see your partner and know where their energy level is at. I like to observe people, go to a park and do people-watching. Hence why I love to take pictures as well. Pictures, they’re just like feelings, you know? Kadang-kadang we see someone walking, but he walks with sorrow — and you can kind of feel that.”
His camera is among the essential things he holds dear in his life, something he can’t live without, much like his motorcycle. “I love to take pictures a lot; I hope people kat luar sana who caught me taking pictures don’t find me creepy,” he says, laughing. “But if you guys want the photos, please slide into my DMs and I’ll send it to you guys, okay?”
Hun reveals that he has a secret Instagram account for his photography — unfortunately for his eyes only. But if you scroll through his main account, you’ll be able to catch glimpses of his photos from his many travels. During his downtime from shooting, Hun would often drift around the area and indulge in his photography.
“If I take a lot of pictures, and if I see that the person has time, I’ll edit it cepat-cepat and say to them, ‘Do you want me to AirDrop the picture? I took this picture of you,’” Hun shares. “There was this one time I went to this beautiful masjid dekat Itaewon, in Korea. I just spent time there, and after solat Jumaat, I took a picture of this mother and her daughter. They were having a really beautiful moment. And as introverted as I am, the picture was so good. Because it showed their relationship, it was so strong. I couldn’t help myself, I just went to them like, ‘Hi, Assalamualaikum, I’m so sorry I took a picture of you, but it’s a really nice picture. Do you want the picture?’ And they were like, ‘Yeah, oh my God, such a great photo.’ So I ended up transferring the photos to them and everything. I think that’s, like, a great way jugak for me to deal with my introverted side. At least with a certain drive, I actually can start a conversation with people, you know?”
A deep and enduring appreciation for the arts
From what I gather, Hun — for all of his introverted-ness, and as much as he enjoys his quiet, alone time — he truly values human connection at heart. His dream role right now, as he puts it, is “a role that’s close to life”. “A character that goes through a hard life, or a character yang macam very messed up, but has to take care of a kid, and be better just because of that kid,” he adds. For some reason, Joel Miller from The Last of Us comes to my mind. “I like something that’s human, a relatable kind of thing. “I mean, fighting is great, but you don’t see fights every single day, you know? I want to find something like Tom Hanks, like Will Smith or Timotheé Chalamet has done. Something that’s really close to the society.”
His acting career would not be what it is, he affirms, if it weren’t for whom he refers to as “his circle”. The thing Hun says most often during our time together is that he’s grateful: grateful for the people in his life who are very loving and very supportive and whom he wouldn’t trade for anything, grateful for every single project that he’s received so he can do his best at it, grateful for the honesty that comes with the feedback so he can have the confidence to improve and do even better.
“First things first, to really open your heart and accept criticism,” Hun says, when I ask him exactly how he handles the feedback he gets. “It’s art, right? Whatever that we do now, it’s art. And art is meant to be criticised. So, having that kind of mentality really eases up the rest of it. Plus, there’s never right or wrong in art, it’s just the point of view of people that is different. Some people might like this, some might like that. So, being able to open up your heart and listen to criticism is really important in career-building. Just keep your mind and your heart open, and be teachable. It’s like what a mentor said to me once, ‘Whatever it is, you have to be teachable.’”
editor-in-chief & creative direction MARTIN TEO | interview PUTERI YASMIN SURAYA | styled by ISAAC CHONG | photography EDMUND LEE / ONE3FOUR STUDIO | videography AUN CHUA | makeup SHIYO JOO | hair JUNO KO | wardrobe GUCCI
Find out more about HUN HAQEEM in the latest issue of LSA Digital Cover Vol. 022 HERE.
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Written by
Puteri Yasmin Suraya
Senior Writer, Features and Tech
Hailing from an English Literature & Creative Writing background, Yasmin has a deep love for fiction and poetry. When she’s not reading or café-hopping, she spends most of her time in the comfort of her own room binge-watching period romances, (badly) belting out show tunes, and curating Spotify playlists to match her mood for the week.
