Vancouver-raised model and Asian film star Godfrey Gao dead at 35
Credit to Author: Scott Brown| Date: Wed, 27 Nov 2019 07:19:11 +0000
Godfrey Gao, the North Vancouver-raised supermodel and star of Chinese cinema, has died after suffering an apparent heart attack while filming a reality TV show.
Gao collapsed Tuesday on the set of Chase Me, a competitive sports reality show for China’s Zhejiang Television, in the Chinese city of Ningbo.
Taiwan News, citing Chinese news outlets, reported that an audience member heard Gao shout, “I can’t carry on,” before he fell to the ground.
“Cameramen swarmed around him and kept filming, apparently believing that his actions were part of the show,” Taiwan News reported.
The Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily reported that CPR was applied at the scene before the 35-year-old Gao was sent to hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
Jetsta, Gao’s management team, said in a statement that Godfrey died “following three hours of medical rescue efforts.”
“We are very shocked and saddened and even until now find it impossible to accept,” the statement said. “Thank you media friends and every fan of Godfrey’s for their concern. His management and team were present and his family were urgently rushed to the location.”
Gao was born in Taipei, in 1984, to a Taiwanese father and a Malaysian mother but grew up in North Vancouver. He went to Queensbury elementary, Argyle secondary and studied at Capilano University before heading to Taipei in 2004 to start his acting career appearing in Taiwanese television dramas.
“I wanted to make a name first here (in Asia) before trying to go for Hollywood,” Gao told the Vancouver Sun in 2013. “Now I hope to get more work in North America, but I’d like to keep playing (the two markets) off each other.”
Actor Godfrey Gao died Tuesday.
In 2011, he became the first Asian model to be signed by Louis Vuitton.
Chinese official media Zhejiang News confirmed Gao’s death and said his body would be transported back to Taipei on Wednesday.
With Postmedia files