CAST
SAHAJAK BOONTHANAKIT
Born in Bangkok, Thailand, lived in Nairobi, Kenya 10+ yrs and New York 20+ yrs. Started acting in Nairobi (stage) for 4 yrs. Returning to Thailand where in 1999 he landed his first movie role in The Beach (1999) with Leonardo DiCaprio, followed by Broke Down Palace (1999) with Claire Danes. He has since been in over 80 productions including, Only God Forgives (2013) with Ryan Gosling and Kristen Scott Thomas, The Lady (2011) with Michelle Yeoh and David Thewlis, No Escape (2015) with Pierce Brosnan and Owen Wilson.
In 2015, he received from The Thailand International Film Destination the Honorary Award for my contribution to foreign films made and shot in Thailand.
Vithaya Pansringarm
Vithaya Pansringarm is a Thai actor best known for appearing in Only God Forgives. He is also known in Thailand as "Pu Vithaya".
Vithaya graduated in Graphic Design from New York Institute of Technology. He holds a 5th Degree Black Belt (5 DAN) in Kendo (a Japanese martial art) and is President of the Thailand Kendo Club.
In June 2014, he won Best Actor at the Shanghai International Film Festival for his role as Chavoret in The Last Executioner, a film based on the true life story of Thailand's last person to carry out executions by gun. The film also won 'Best Picture' and 'Best Screen Play' at the 30th Surasawadi Awards in 2015.
DAVID ASAVANOND
David Asavanond was born on July 17, 1975 in France. He is an actor and director, known for The Protector (2005), Countdown (2012) and Croc (2007).
From David’s website:
A little bit about myself so you have an idea about my background and where I am coming from. I was born in France from a french mother and a half french half thai father, which consequently, makes me 3/4 french and 1/4 thai. I was then raised in Thailand from the age of maybe 3 and a half or 4 until I was 12 years old. At the age of 12 I was sent to study abroad in boarding schools in England until I was 19. For my undergraduate, I studied at Boston University and acquired my degree in Psychology. By the time I was 22, I had spent my life moving between 3-4 countries: Thailand, UK, France and USA. Between 1998 and 2005 I spent those years trying to figure out who I am and what I wanted to do.
It wasn’t until 2006 when I decided to pursue acting as a career and took off for New York to study acting at The Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. I finished my two year training in 2008 and had nothing going for me until 2012. That was the year I left New York and went to Thailand to shoot a movie called “Countdown.” From that movie I went on to receive Best Actor Awards from three of the most prestigious institutions of the country – The Thai National Film Association Award, The Bangkok Critics’ Assembly Award and the Golden Statue Award. The movie “Countdown” itself won Best Editing and Best Original Screenplay at the Thai National Film Association Award. It also made an appearance in Italy, England, USA where Birchtree Entertainment bought the distribution rights for North America. Since then, I have been a working actor.
MICHAEL SHAOWANASAI
Michael Shaowanasai (Thai: ไมเคิล เชาวนาศัย, born in 1964 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a Thai-American artist and actor who lives in Bangkok. His works includes performance art, photography, video, film and installations.
He graduated from School of Law at Chulalongkorn University in 1985, earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at San Francisco Art Institute in 1994 and a Master of Fine Arts from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1996. He is a founding member of Project 304, a Bangkok-based contemporary art group.
His solo shows include MS@OAS, a photography installation at Open Art Space in Bangkok; Thailand, as well as shows at the Fujikawa Gallery in Osaka, Japan, the 4A gallery in Sydney, Australia and Ottawa Art Gallery, Canada.
Among his more provocative works are Welcome to My Land ... Come and Taste the Paradise, an installation and performance by Project 304 in Bangkok and Fresh Young Boys' Semen for Sale, a performance on Patpong in Bangkok.
Among his film and video works is the 2003 feature film, The Adventure of Iron Pussy, which he co-directed with Apichatpong Weerasethakul. A spoof of Thai movie musicals and melodramas of the 1960s and '70s (especially those of Petchara Chaowarat), Michael portrayed the title character, a transvestite Thai secret agent whose alter ego is a gay male 7-Eleven clerk. The film was screened at several festivals, including the Tokyo International Film Festival, the Berlin Film Festival, the Melbourne International Film Festival, as well as a limited commercial run in a Bangkok cinema and a DVD release in Thailand.
Shaowanasai, who is openly gay,[1] had a featured role in the 2006 romantic-comedy Metrosexual and portrays a soccer referee in Lucky Loser.
On 2008, Shaowanasai curated the exhibition 'Lifeboat #2551' as part of the Sydney Biennale Projects, in Gallery 4A, also known as the Asia-Australia Arts Centre. The exhibition screened video and film works by artists Wit Pimkanchanapong, Sakarin Krue-on, Tintin Cooper, [Momokomotion], Manit Sriwanichpoom and Michael Shaowanasai.
On 2012, Shaowanasai starred a role in a Philippine-Thai Film entitled Suddenly It's Magic produced by Star Cinema.