Chris Pang 'had to leave Australia' to get roles

Chris Pang has revealed he "had to leave Australia" to get quality acting roles.

The Crazy Rich Asians actor was unable to find a sense of community in his home country, he told a local outlet.

"The sad thing is I had to leave Australia because there wasn't enough work here," Chris, 41, told Sydney's The Daily Telegraph newspaper.

He went on to explain he had gone largely unnoticed before landing his role in the 2018 romcom, describing his journey to that point as "lonely".

"The weird thing was I didn't really feel too embraced by Australia until I had done Crazy Rich Asians," he recalled. "It was a very lonely sort of solo journey."

Chris said the success of the movie, which featured an almost entirely East Asian cast and grossed more than $239 million (£175 million) globally, changed the industry's perception of ethnic diversity in casting.

"Then you couldn't use the excuse anymore that diverse films didn't sell tickets so suddenly those barriers were gone," he explained.

The actor, who is currently appearing alongside Rachel McAdams in the Sam Raimi-directed horror movie Send Help, said he was happy young people would be able to see a wider range of representation on the big screen than he had grown up with.

"When I was growing up, I never saw people on the screen that I really could identify with and that I saw myself reflected in," he reflected.

"I think the experiences that I felt growing up led me on this journey and it is quite important to me. It is nice to see the change and the needle move a bit."