TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — An up-and-coming Taiwanese-American actress has a starring role in Justin Bieber's latest music video, which was released earlier this month.
On March 5, the Canadian crooner released the official music video for his song "Hold On," which debuted that day and will be featured on his upcoming album "Justice." Playing the partner of Bieber's fictional character in the video is Christine Ko (葛曉潔), the daughter of famous Taiwanese singer Frankie Kao (葛元誠).
In the video, Ko's character is diagnosed with cancer, and the couple begins to struggle with the psychological and physical challenges of fighting the disease. Soon, medical bills start to pile up and her condition worsens.
(YouTube, Justin Bieber image)
Out of desperation, Bieber's character spray paints a toy gun and robs a bank. However, police give chase as he flees on a motorcycle. As he tries to make his way back to the hospital, images flash by of both the couple's happy times together as well as hardships once she begins chemotherapy and loses her hair.
At the end of the video, he manages to make it inside the hospital, and police back off when they realize he was rushing to embrace his gravely ill partner.
Elite Daily described Ko's performance as a "brilliant (but heartbreaking) performance" and wrote that "fans were moved to pieces by her acting skills." In Vevo Footnotes, it was revealed there was no rehearsal and that the two met on the set of the video.
"We really had to jump right into being incredibly vulnerable with each other," wrote Ko.
(YouTube, Justin Bieber image)
In order to prepare for the part, Ko wrote that she watched the films "Blue Valentine," "50/50," and "A Walk To Remember." In addition, her father suffered from liver and pancreatic cancer, which he eventually succumbed to in 2014.
It took 2.5 hours to apply makeup and a bald cap to Ko's head, which can be seen in a time-lapse video on her Twitter account. In an Instagram post released March 5, Ko thanked Bieber for "trusting me to tell this story with you."
Ko was born in Chicago but grew up in both Taiwan and Atlanta. She is best known for her roles in the TV shows "The Great Indoors" and "Dave" as well as the film "Tigertail."
(YouTube, Justin Bieber image)
