‘Mortal Kombat II’ Star Ludi Lin on Going Beyond the Action Hero: ‘I’m More Complex Than Just a Fighting Machine’

May 7, 2026 6:10am PT ‘Mortal Kombat II’ Star Ludi Lin on Going Beyond the Action Hero: ‘I’m More Complex Than Just a Fighting Machine’

By Naman Ramachandran

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Naman Ramachandran

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Ludi Lin has spent the better part of a decade punching, kicking and fire-bending his way through some of Hollywood’s biggest action franchises. He is very good at it. He would also like to do something else.

Three days before this interview, Lin had been in Indonesia for the premiere of “Mortal Kombat II.” The crowds there, he says, were unlike anything he’d experienced in a Western theater. People stood up. They grabbed their neighbors by the shoulders. When something happened on screen, they reacted out loud and in full.

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