THE GULF STREAM

An actor, model and most recently rapper, the multi-talented Thai star Gulf Kanawut talks about his rise in fashion and entertainment-and what turned his head from football to film

- Zabrina Lo

Characterised by his superior sartorial sense, effortless charm and endearing onscreen presence, Kanawut Traipipattanapong, better known as Gulf Kanawut, is one of the most sought-after Thai stars in the fashion, film and music industries today. In March this year, the 26-year-old made history as the first male Thai model to be named an ambassador to Italian fashion house Gucci.

In the same month, Devaphrom: Laorchan (Duangjai Devaphrom: Laorchan), a Thai romantic melodrama series in which he plays a lead role, was released to popular acclaim.

Kanawut’s meteoric rise to success might make it seem like he had a long-term plan, but he had no aspirations of becoming a star as a child. “When I was small, I was into sports. I like playing football, snooker and running around,” he recalls with a chuckle; adding that Chelsea is his favourite football team. He attended Suankularb Wittayalai School, an all-boys secondary school in Bangkok, before majoring in communications at King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi in the same city.

His teenage years weren’t exactly devoid of exposure to the entertainment industry: in 2015, the then 15-yearold made his onscreen debut as a younger version of famous Thai actor Tik Jesdaporn’s character in mafia series Dragon Blood; he also modelled occasionally. But it wasn’t until starting university that he had the opportunity to work in post-production as a sports news intern. He fell in love with the business. “Having had a bit of experience working in the industry, I felt that fully committing to it would be fun,” he says.

Four years later, he landed a lead role in the BL (boys’ love) TV show TharnType: The Series that catapulted him to fame. The series was so popular that the production company made a sequel in 2020 and two spin-off series in 2019 and 2020, all of which starred Kanawut.