If movie directors are the chefs, then actors are the spices, Lukman Sardi says.

As just as the spices give flavor to the chefs' cooking, Lukman goes on, actors are responsible for making the directors' movies enjoyable to watch.

In holding this philosophy, Lukman works hard to give flavor to every movie he appears in. The flavor might be spicy, sour, bitter or sweet - just like the characters he has played, encompassing villain to playboy, dramatic to comic.

From the wide range of characters he has portrayed, it's easy to tell that Lukman isn't like most actors who get trapped in repeating the same character from one movie to the next. He has performed as many roles as one man could imagine - and most of them unusual ones, such as a gangster, gay man, gigolo, polygamous husband, contract marriage agent and even bajaj driver.

"Most people think that I choose to act only certain characters," says the 38-year-old son of veteran violist Idris Sardi. "But actually, that's not true. I'm not the kind of actor who's picky in terms of choosing roles or movies.

"The thing is, it happens that I've always got good *role and movie* offers," he adds.

Picky or not, many would agree that Lukman is one of the few artists that totally dedicate themselves to every movie production they're involved in. He's known as someone who will go all out for his roles, and Lukman admits this is so.

"I always tell myself to act my best," says the award-winning actor. "That's because acting for me is also about satisfying others."

As for his wide range of choices, Lukman says, "I agreed to appear in some low-budget movies just because I think the stories are interesting for me and for other people.

"Besides, accepting offers for low-budget movies means I please the filmmakers because they don't have to pay me much, right?" he jokes and laughs.

And as he throws out more jokes during the rest of the interview, Lukman seems to start revealing his real character. For an actor with more than 25 movies under his belt, Lukman is humble and simple. He's also humorous and has almost nothing to hide. This includes sharing stories of his past life before his professional acting career began.

Although Lukman started to act at the tender age of five, starring in seven movies as a child, the young boy had never thought acting would be his future career.

"My ambition was actually to become a soldier," says the stepbrother of singer Shelomita. "But in senior high school, it happened that I entered the A3 *social* class, so I had to forget the ambition," he adds with a smile.

Then came college life. At that time, Lukman thought he would be well suited to studying law, so he enrolled in the law school at Trisakti University in Jakarta. After graduating, however, he thought he would not be well suited to a career in law.

"I ended up working as an insurance agent after I graduated," says Lukman, who married his long-time girlfriend Priscilla in February this year. "At that time, I thought *selling insurance* was something I was able to do."

But given he had already starred in so many movies as a child, it is surprising that he chose to sell insurance rather than jump back into the acting world. The reason, Lukman explains, is that back then, he was just not that into acting.

"Well, maybe that was how it used to be," he says. "Maybe God let me try many other things first before I arrived at the point where I knew what I liked best in life."

Yes, in the end, Lukman continues, he finally found his true love in acting - in 2005 when he made his comeback in the film Gie.

"I can say that just after I had the chance to act in Gie, I got the feeling that acting is my life," he says.

When the Gie producers first called him to audition, Lukman didn't even expect he would get a role.

"But I thought there was no harm in trying, so I just went for it," he says. "And it turned out that I got it easily."

His involvement in Gie then led him to a role in 9 Naga (Nine Dragons). Which then led him to a role in Berbagi Suami (Sharing Husbands). And the offers have been arriving at his door ever since, including Jakarta Undercover, Naga Bonar (Jadi) 2 (Naga Bonar Becoming Two), Quickie Express, Laskar Pelangi (The Rainbow Warriors) and, most recently, Merah Putih (Red and White) and Sang Pemimpi (The Dreamers). Within just five years, Lukman has appeared in 18 movies, a number that might continue to climb during the rest of the year.

As for this remarkable achievement, Lukman laughs and says, "I call myself a lucky bastard!" Why? "Because while most artists struggle so hard for some roles, God has made it easier for me to get my roles.

"When I look back, I think I was very lucky to start with Gie because it was made by top filmmakers Mira Lesmana and Riri Riza," Lukman adds.

"From there, other top filmmakers like Rudi Soedjarwo and Nia Dinata invited me to join their productions and more doors have opened for me ever since."

Now, Lukman stands out as one of Indonesia's top, high-caliber actors. People truly see him as the multitalented Lukman Sardi in his own right, not just as the son of Idris Sardi.

"What I do is only act, but if people like and appreciate my acting then that is a bonus for me," he says. "And I never think of popularity or anything, but for sure, acting sometimes becomes a medium for me to give life to my obsessions."

What obsessions?

"For instance, acting gives me a chance to become a soldier - my childhood ambition," Lukman says of his role in independence-themed film Merah Putih. "For the role, I really got trained in a military camp and had to learn about weapons. So, now I know how it feels to become a soldier," he says, adding that someday he wants to play the role of a woman. So, is that another obsession?

"Of course not!" he laughs.

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