'The Whale' star Hong Chau said Brendan Fraser surprised her with a baby gift the 1st time they met

• "The Whale" star Hong Chau recalled meeting her costar Brendan Fraser.
• Chau previously spoke to Vanity Fair about Fraser giving her a gift during their first meeting.

Brendan Fraser and Hong Chau play close friends in the critically-acclaimed drama "The Whale," and their off-screen bond is just as meaningful, Chau recently told Insider.

The "Menu" actress had previously spoken to Vanity Fair about Fraser giving her a gift for her newborn baby during their first meeting. And when asked by Insider about the sweet gift in question, Chau revealed that Fraser had gotten her daughter a "little bear."

"We named him Brendan Fraser Bear," the "Watchmen" star said of the stuffed animal. "My daughter's first little toy, and we have many, many pictures of her with him."

Chau went on to praise the human Fraser for the "sweet and thoughtful" gesture.

"It's just indicative of the type of person he is," she told Insider.

The actress also said that having an emotional connection with her costar helped inform their onscreen work together. In "The Whale," Chau plays Liz, a nurse and close friend of Charlie (Fraser), a dying English teacher living with severe obesity.

"It was really important to show those moments of playfulness and levity between Liz and Charlie, because we have to let the audience have little glimpses of who he was prior to us jumping into a heavy week in his life," Chau explained, adding: "It was so easy to just fall in love with Brendan, both as a human being and as an actor. He was so committed and just so professional, and is just a complete class act in terms of how he is on set."

According to Chau, despite the intense physical toll of wearing dozens of pounds of prosthetics for his role as Charlie, Fraser remained pleasant and professional to everyone on set.

"It's easy to make allowances when somebody's going through a difficult day, like, 'It's fine if like they were a little bit of a jerk' or whatever, but Brendan never did that," the actress said. "He was just so sweet and so kind with all of the crew and everyone who had to buzz around him. And I don't know how he did that because it was really a lot."

Sadie Sink, Samantha Morton, and Ty Simpkins also star in the Darren Aronofsky film, which is based on the play by Samuel D. Hunter (who also wrote the screenplay).

"The Whale" premieres December 9 in theaters. You can watch the trailer below.