Class act: Susan Lankester on ageism and agency for women in film: “Being a woman in this industry does not make you weaker”

As she basks in the glow of her recent Best Actress win at the Asian Academy Creative Awards 2024 for her riveting performance in Tunku Mona Riza’s heart-warming 2024 drama Raintown, Lankester is proof that talent and tenacity never expire.

The honour, which she proudly calls “the Asian Emmys,” was no small feat. Competing against nominees from 12 countries, she represented Malaysia and emerged victorious, an achievement she describes as both exhilarating and exhausting.

“I’m so glad I had the balls to enter myself into the competition,” she says with characteristic candour. “I rolled up my sleeves, got busy with the online submissions, paid the USD entrance fees, and spent months nervous as hell, praying that the jury liked what they saw.” Her anxiety proved worth it when she clinched the award, though the victory left her drained and exhausted.

“When I won that night, I could actually allow myself to wind down and relax. I fell ill for over a month. My body just crashed due to extreme exhaustion,” she recalls.

It is, of course, far from her first accolade. Lankester has long been a household name in Malaysia, first breaking through in the 1983 film Mekanik and later charming audiences in the sitcom 2+1, which earned her the title of Comedienne of the Year in 1993.

A string of notable performances followed, from theatre to television and film, with highlights including Redha, Take Me to Dinner, and Raintown, where she brought to life Aileen Choo—a mother navigating tense relationships between her husband and her grown-up children when a devastating breast cancer diagnosis threatens to add more turmoil to their strained family dynamics.

The role was deeply personal, shaped by memories of her late mother. “Aileen was my mum,” shares Lankester, who had to refine her Cantonese skills for the bilingual role. “I was very close to her and watched her go through life, almost documenting moments in my brain so I could hold onto her soul forever. I channelled her joy, her sadness, her pain. I even remember her scent.”

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For Lankester, storytelling transcends age, and therein lies her frustration with the industry’s reluctance to embrace mature female leads.

“We have lived our lives, we have stories in us, so give us the chance to show our craft off,” she declares. “We are vessels, filled to the brim, ready to spill out and entertain.” Yet, the reality is that older women still struggle for space on the screen. “It’s always comments about wrinkles and grey hair,” she says. “A makeup artist once prodded my cheekbones to check if they were real. I was too shocked to respond.”

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By definition, this unapologetic embrace of ageing didn’t happen overnight. For a long time, Lankester never considered herself to be good-looking or beautiful by conventional standards. Today, she has no desire to erase time’s traces on her face. “This is what we look like, and this is how you will look one day too,” she says. 

“If women want to reverse the clock, I say go for it. We all have insecurities and this industry makes you feel highly insecure. But I’m one of the few who is quite comfortable with the way I’m ageing, and I’m grateful that I am the way I am.”

Her battle against industry biases extends beyond ageism. Sexism, too, has reared its ugly head in her career, from the entrenched patriarchy on film sets to casting experiences that tested her boundaries. “I had a nasty experience that could have scarred me for life,” she says, recalling an instance of a man who grabbed her hand during a casting opportunity.

“There’s something that goes off in your head, and in that moment, you just say, stop. I was petrified on the inside, as one would be. Instinct made me say, ‘If you touch me one more time, I will break your balls.’ It just came out, and that shocked him. He let go, and I left the room.”

That moment, she says, still haunts her. “Being a woman in this industry does not make you weaker. Don’t be afraid to say no. Those of us who are longer in the teeth do our own thing, and we don’t get bothered. They don’t dare touch us anymore because we have no qualms and just put them in their space.”

Yet, Lankester’s resilience is unwavering. She remains committed to advocating for more nuanced, complex roles for women of all ages. Her dream roles? A serial killer, a character of a different gender, or a real-life historical heroine inspired by unsung heroes in our history.

“We have so many heroines in our history books—like Blossom Wong, a former Special Branch Officer and Malaysia’s first female spy, or Emily Koshy, Malaysia’s first female police inspector. I’m sure women like that have loads of stories to tell, and to play one of them would be an absolute honour.”

Lankester’s versatility has long been a hallmark of her career. Fluent in English, Bahasa Malaysia, and Cantonese, she moves seamlessly between cultural narratives, something she attributes to her multicultural upbringing.

“Being myself half-Chinese and half-English, I was encouraged by my mum to learn languages by listening and making friends of all races,” she says. “Being able to bluff my way in languages has added more dimension to my roles, exhibiting the multi-culturalism of our country.”

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One wonders, if her life and career were a movie genre, what would it be? Drama? Thriller? Comedy? “All of the above,” she says. “I’ve led a very colourful life. Still do, in fact.”

For now, her focus remains firmly on acting and producing, with a dream to produce her own feature film someday. While her role in Shanjhey Kumar Perumal’s upcoming film Macai is subtle and small, she believes “no role is insignificant.”

Beyond her own work, she admires those who have broken barriers, name-checking Yasmin Ahmad, Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh, Tilda Swinton, and Helen Mirren. And while she acknowledges the industry’s cutthroat nature, she has learned invaluable lessons along the way: “You need to be strong to say ‘No’ and stand by it. Being kind is always important. Treat the crew well, and they will look after you. Don’t try to steal the limelight—if you are good, the light will find you.”

At 62, isn’t just still standing—she’s soaring. And as far as she’s concerned, the best roles are yet to come. “Acting is not just for the young,” she insists. “I hope to do more challenging roles to keep the belief alive, that those over 60 can still knock it out of the park with their talent.”

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