Until now, popular model Vivian Dawson's only claim to fame wasbeing Taiwanese popstar Jolin Tsai's boyfriend for the last two years.

Now, he can finally add "actor" to his resume, after making his big-screen debut in Double Trouble.

Dawson, 28, told The New Paper in a phone interview from Taiwan: "I remember when I was in Singapore two years ago (before moving to Taiwan), and I had to use the free Internet at the McDonald's near my grandmother's house.

"Then, after McDonald's, I would move on to Starbucks to use the free Internet.

"I never ordered a single thing."

Villain

In Double Trouble, he plays the main villain.

"It was very interesting playing a bad guy as I'm the total opposite in real life.

"I have never smoked, drunk alcohol or done drugs.

"In the movie, I even got to shoot someone - that was fun."

Most of his lines were in English with a smattering of Mandarin.

Dawson-whose father is New Zealander and whose mother is Chinese Singaporean - revealed that the toughest task for him was learning his Mandarin lines as he is not familiar with the language, having been born and raised in New Zealand.

What made it worse was that he would receive his script only when he arrived on set.

He said: "I couldn't string a sentence together (in Mandarin).

"The most I could say was 'where's the toilet?' and 'eat?'

"But it feels really good to act in my first movie. In fact, I've been signed to do another one soon."

While Dawson remained tight-lipped about Tsai - he would say only that he's "very happy with all aspects of my love life now" - reports from the Taiwanese media had speculated that Dawson and local ex-actress Fiona Xie were dating when the pair were spotted out in Taiwan a few months ago.

Clarified Dawson: "I met Fiona in Singapore years ago at some VIP club.

"So we met up for dinner when she visited Taiwan.

"We are definitely just friends."