In this week's FRONTPAGE, we talk art, arancini and 'Industry' with actor Ken Leung .

Ken Leung insists he is nothing like Eric Tao, the domineering financier he plays on HBO’s Industry. Leung’s soft-spoken demeanor is certainly a disarming contrast from his onscreen persona, an alpha salesman who prowls the trading floor with a baseball bat. Still, the 55-year-old actor is wary of how often he remarks upon their differences. 

When we meet over coffee and arancini, weeks after Industry’s third season finale, Leung exudes an intensity that is both unlike and uncannily reminiscent of Eric’s simmering volatility. “There may be a lot to Eric that’s very much like me,” Leung admits. “Maybe I’m refusing to see it.” His instinct to differentiate himself may be a mark of having so faithfully embodied Eric that Leung, like many great character actors, has become inseparable from his onscreen persona. Lately, the actor has been approached by a fair number of young men in finance, who talk to him as if they share an existing camaraderie.