First impressions count

Michael Stephen Kai Sui has become an overnight celebrity after posting his one-man show online.

American Michael Stephen Kai Sui has become a Chinese Internet phenomenon by releasing videos of himself imitating people from around the world. Xu Lin reports in Beijing.

Michael Stephen Kai Sui, 27, never expected he would become an overnight celebrity after posting his one-man show online. In the nine-minute video, he depicts 12 characters from countries and regions including China, the United States, Japan and Russia, while vividly imitating their accents. Sui, known as Mike Sui online, first posted his videos on April 27 and they have attracted nearly 5.17 million hits. He also has 480,000 fans on Sina Weibo, a popular Twitter-like micro-blogging service.

"I'm glad that people like it. I just want to show my sense of humor and talent - I can do different accents," says Sui, who has a Chinese father and an American mother.

Sui doesn't have a fixed job. He teaches English, hosts events and has made a couple of film appearances, earning about 10,000 yuan ($1,560) a month when he has a job.

He says he has a feel for what Chinese audiences like because he has lived in Beijing for a long time and has many Chinese friends.

The Chinese character in the video is Li Lei, who talks about his girlfriend Han Meimei in Chinglish. The two are well-known names because they are characters from China's English textbooks for middle school students.

In the video's introduction, he refers to himself as a laowai diaosi - a foreigner because he looks white, while diaosi is a new Internet buzzword meaning "loser".

He says he lives with his mom because he has no money to rent a place.

"But I don't really identify with diaosi. I made up the sensational name because I want people to remember Mike Sui," he says.

"I have a sense for what is popular and learn buzzwords quickly."

In the video, there are several popular jokes. For example, one character mentions Momo, a mobile location-based service to make friends with strangers, calling it a magical tool to land a one-night stand.

"My friends tell me they use this to get one-night stands. It's not a commercial for the app - just a joke," he says.

It took Sui and his friend and photographer Dong Jianxiong two weeks to finish the video.

"He's humorous and talkative. His facial expressions are very funny," says Dong, 24.

Sui says: "It's easy for me to do the videos. All the inspiration comes from life."

Sui says sometimes he overhears Japanese speaking English on the street and mimics them. He speaks Japanese, French and Spanish.

"It's important to be brave. Don't be afraid of losing face. Just practice more," he says.

Sui was born in the United States and came to Beijing at the age of 7 and learned Chinese from scratch. When he was 15, he returned to the US to continue his education.

He was vacationing in the capital in the summer of 2005 when he was invited to be a print model and a guest on TV shows. So he chose to stay to develop his career in the entertainment industry and gave up the opportunity to study in the US.

"If I went to college, I wouldn't learn anything," he says.

In 2006, he participated in My Show, by Shanghai-based Dragon TV, a reality show similar to American Idol, on which he performed Chinese songs.

"I was too young. I didn't know many songs, and I even forgot the lyrics on stage. But I'm a better person now. I have positive energy," he says.

The show didn't bring Sui any job offers, but the videos have. "I sit in a cafe for half a day and about 50 people recognize me. They can do what they want, like take a picture. If they feel happy, I'm happy," he says.

"About 40 TV shows are looking for me. It's good to promote myself, but I don't want to go. I have to calm down and choose my next step very carefully," he continues.

"I have a standard. I won't do product placement in my videos. My characters are very pure and innocent."