Mario Maurer

Mario Maurer (born December 4, 1988) is a Thai-German model and actor. Starting off a career as a model at age 16, he later became best known for his lead role in the 2007 film, The Love of Siam and the 2010 sleeper hit, First Love (A Little Thing Called Love). He also the lead star of Thailand's highest grossing film of all time, Pee Mak Phra Khanong. He is also part of a group called 4+1 Channel 3 Superstar with Nadech Kugimiya, Prin Suparat, Pakorn Chatborirak, and Phupoom Phongpanu. --- Mario Maurer was born at the Bangkok Christian Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand. He is of Chinese and German descent. His father chose an Italian name for him because he had a faible for Italian motorcycles. Growing up, his father Roland and his mother Waranya owned several gas stations. Later they owned a business in Nakhon Nayok Province for production and export of roll-on deodorants to countries such as France and Germany. Maurer has an elder brother five years older than him, who was born in Germany. He attended school at St. Dominic Savio Catholic School in Bangkok and now is studying at Ramkhamhaeng University, majoring in Communication Arts. When Maurer was 16 years old, he was approached at Siam Square to try out modeling. From there on, he started doing photo shoots, commercials and music videos. In 2007, he made his feature film debut in a leading role in The Love of Siam, written and directed by Chukiat Sakweerakul. The role "Tong" brought him many accolades and instant fame far beyond Thailand's borders. Commenting on his new-found fame, "I didn't want to do it, Acting wasn't on my to-do list." He decided to do the movie because he trusted the director "Chukiat" and the movie would give him many opportunities. He'd be making money to help his family. He became famous in this film because of his gay role. The film's promotion did not play up its homosexual romance. Nonetheless, most critics have given extremely positive reviews. When asked about his kissing scenes with Witwisit Hirunwongkul in The Love of Siam, Maurer said, "I was nervous. I've never kissed a man and kissing is not something you do every day." Maurer has been nominated for an Asian Film Awards in the category of Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Love of Siam, but lost to Sun Hong-Lei for Mongol. He won the Best Actor award in Southeast Asian film category at the 10th Cinemanila International Film Festival. His performance was described as "Mature acting choices within a wide range of situations. Beneath a calm and placid external demeanor his performance he displayed a rich inner struggle dealing with emotional burdens, with family, friends, his social circle and his romantic and sexual awakening." He won the Best Actor award in Starpics Thai Films Awards and also nominated in Bangkok Critics Assembly and Star Entertainment Awards. --- In July 2011, he was signed to become an endorser for the Philippine clothing brand, Penshoppe  He also signed a one movie picture contract with Star Cinema, a Philippine film production company. He will be paired with Erich Gonzales in the film that is due to release in 2012 entitled Suddenly It's Magic. On October 28, 2011, Maurer had a Press and Fan Conference in Philippine International Convention Center with thousands of fans in attendance, as a part of his official launch as a Penshoppe endorser. On October 29, he hit the runway at the Philippine Fashion Week held at SMX Convention Center. On August 3, 2013, Maurer return to the Philippines for promoting his movie Pee Mak Phra Khanong and had a fan conference in two venues, SM North EDSA and SM Mall of Asia the following day together with Baifern Pimchanok, as part of Baifern's official Penshoppe endorser. As expected, thousands of fans in attendance for continuing support for both stars of the 2010 hit movie Crazy Little Thing Call Love. --- Maurer has been in a relationship with Sumontip Leuangthai also known as Gubgib for 9 years now. But the couple broke up on January 2013. His interest include skateboarding, hip-hop, and cars. Even though he is of Thai Chinese and German descent, he cannot speak German and only understands some Mandarin. He is Thai native speaker and is also fluent in English. He is a Roman Catholic. His father Roland died of a heart attack resulting from diabetes on June 27, 2011. He has a very close relationship with his elder brother who works as a hip-hop artist and actor as well.