Our Rainbow Prince: Hero Tai

With his pretty boy looks and sporty physique, Malaysian-born Hero Tai had a head start in modeling back in his home country.

- Casper Heng

The winner of Mister Malaysia International 2006 was soon acting in commercials, music videos, television dramas, and movies. He also had a stint hosting a Taiwanese travelogue, iWalker, for which he was one of the rotating roster of hosts. That soon caught the attention of the Taiwanese public, and producers of influential variety talk show Mr Con & Ms Csi (now defunct) soon helped escalate his popularity in a short span of time.

“I’m glad this show made me more popular and gave me such a title (the Taiwanese audience polled him as “Gay Men’s Most Desired Hunk” and the title has stuck with him since), but those who don’t watch the show might think I think too highly of myself by giving myself this title. I’d like to say that while I’m very thankful for the show, I feel that I’m not worthy of the title, because ‘gay’ refers to a huge population and those polled on the show reflects a very small sample of the population. So of course there are some people who like me and some who don’t. I don’t think it’s good to put me in a position where everyone seemingly likes me. That’s too much pressure for me, seriously.”

Since then, media critics have said that he seems to be pandering to and courting the gay audience. To this, he adds, “I just want to say this again through Element that I am just a normal person and I’m willing to do something for communities that are being treated unfairly. I feel I need to do that with what little ability I have.”

Proving his point, he did not shy away from voicing support for marriage equality, switching his profile picture on his Facebook page to one with a rainbow overlay and applauding America for moving forward with equal rights.