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My tour of Shanghai’s ‘very gay’ art scene with Russell Tovey, Talk Art podcast host

  • While art hopping in Shanghai and curating a David Hockney show, podcaster and LGBTQ icon Russell Tovey promotes dialogue and understanding

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LGBTQ British actor Russell Tovey at the David Hockney exhibition he co-curated at Shanghai’s Modern Art Museum. Photo: MAM

It is June 18 and the start of the monsoon season in Shanghai. I find myself crammed inside a taxi crawling through traffic from the Pudong district to trendy Anfu Road. I glance at my fellow passenger, the British film star and podcast host Russell Tovey. This is not your everyday cab ride.

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I am crackling with excitement as I prepare to whisk him off along with a few friends on a whirlwind art-hopping adventure through Shanghai. It is Tovey’s first time in mainland China (he went to Hong Kong 20 years ago) and I decide to give him a tour of the vibrant local art scene.

The actor, who is gay and out, first came to fame two decades ago as a star in the original cast of both the stage and film versions of Alan Bennett’s The History Boys.

In China he has garnered a loyal following, especially through his portrayal of a werewolf in the BBC series Being Human (2008-12). In Mandarin, he is affectionately known as Xiaolang (Little Wolf).

Writer Cheung Hok-hang (centre) with Russell Tovey (left) and Shanghai art writer Lisa Movius in a taxi tour of Shanghai’s art hotspots. Photo: Cheung Hok-hang
Writer Cheung Hok-hang (centre) with Russell Tovey (left) and Shanghai art writer Lisa Movius in a taxi tour of Shanghai’s art hotspots. Photo: Cheung Hok-hang
Off screen, the 42-year-old art lover is co-host of a popular weekly podcast called Talk Art with gallerist Robert Diament, which features interviews with artists as well as celebrity collectors such as Elton John and the Pet Shop Boys.
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“It’s very clean and futuristic,” he says of his first impression of Pudong, as we are stuck in traffic.

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