Wu Kang-Ren(吳慷仁), the laureate of Golden-Horse Award(金馬獎) in 2023. One of most well-known Taiwanese actors in Mandarin-speaking countries.

吳慷仁(Wu Kang-Ren) was born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan on November 24th, 1982. He lived with his mother after the divorce of his parents, and began working at 15, after graduating from junior high school, to support his family. He worked in restaurants, stalls, and supermarkets, up to 40 different jobs. He also tried being an on-site construction welder despite his lack of skill, receiving burns in the eyes as a consequence. After assuming the military service, he began working in a bar as a bartender for some years. It was during this time that he was scounted by Li Qiyuan(李啟源), a director who made him enter the entertainment industry.

Since 2007, Wu Kang Ren has been active in many fields, including TV dramas, movies, music videos, advertisements, and micromovies. One of his special experiences is that he does not hire any entertainment broker but negotiate any business opportunity by himself. Even TV journalists can reach him by using the FB messenger software.

He has won Golden Horse Award(金馬獎) in 2023 due to the leading actor in Abang Adik(富都青年) and Golden Bell Awards (金鐘獎) twice in 2015 and 2019 due to the leading actors in A Touch of Green(一把青) and The World Between Us(我們與惡的距離).

Let’s see roles that We Kang Ren has played in dramas and movies over the past years.

Seqalu: Formosa 1867 (斯卡羅Sī kǎ luó)
2021 ‧ Drama

Wu Kang Ren plays 水仔(Shuiˇ Zaiˇ) in Seqalu: Formosa 1867

水仔(Shuiˇ Zaiˇ) in this drama is “Sheliao(社寮)”, who is composed of “native children” born from intermarriages between Han people and Taiwanese aborigines. They are neither Han nor aboriginal, so they can only survive between the Hokkien groups, Hakka groups and aborigines.

Among them, Shui Zai is the local leader. In order to survive, he is willing to act like a dog wagging his tail and crawling all over the ground, which represents how humble and despicable people’s lives were at that time. He greedily tries to please everyone, struggling between humanity and kindness, just to let the tribe continue to live, even if he won’t hesitate to sacrifice himself.”

In order to match the background of the character, Wu Kang Ren not only studied Paiwan aborigine languages, Hakka lanugage, and Taiwanese languages diligently, mastering the characteristics and key points of the language from every detail, but also got tanned and became so skinny. During the filming period, he did not relax much, maintaining hunger and loneliness every day, fully immersing himself in the role, turning his whole body and mind into the Shui Zai’s state; with his hunched figure and suspicious and uneasy eyes, he seems to be actually living in that era.

Light the Night (華燈初上 Huá dēng chū shàng)

2021-2022 Wu Kang Ren plays Baoˇ Baoˇ Mama San(寶寶媽媽桑) in Light the Night

“Baoˇ Baoˇ Mama San” played by Wu Kang Ren perfectly interprets the coquettishness and confidence of Drag Queen from his appearance, tone, and movements!

Whether it was going to the “Light(光)” Japanese-style wine bar to chat with Rose Mama or the wonderful opening show at “Sugar” wine bar, there was no overly exaggerated image, but it made everyone feel that Wu Kang Ren completely devoted himself to this role.

“Baoˇ Baoˇ has a lot of fun… but for him(her), in that conservative era(1988), when we couldn’t see anything other than Light the Night… it may have been a bit hard… There is always a kind of beauty mixed with sadness behind. Baobao’s smile…and her cry…maybe they are all shouting out for his own identity…I sincerely hope that he can find his own happiness…I sincerely hope that the current world will look at people like Baobao less differently and have more empathy. I hope more people like Baobao is walking on the street with more beautiful smiles~” Wu Kang Ren posted in his Facebook page.

More interesting details of Light the Night (華燈初上) can be found here.

Mom, Don’t Do That! (媽，別鬧了！)
2022 ‧ Drama ‧ 1 season

Wu Kang Ren plays Luo Xiangyu(羅襄育) in Mom, Don’t Do That!

The senior, Luo Xiangyu, played by Wu Kangren is full of self-portraits and giant-sized salon photos, which makes Rurong, played by Alyssa Chia unbearable and said, “This is extreme narcissism. Generally, if you see this type of person, you really don’t want to get close to him.” . Feeling so scary, Rurong however like this type.

Wu Kangren’s performance as Baoˇ Baoˇ in “Light the Night” impressed the audience, and he also impressed the audience in “Mom, Don’t Do That! “, he transforms into a senior with a “narcissistic personality” and will have a vigorous love affair with Rurong.

More interesting details of Mom, Don’t Do That! (媽，別鬧了！) can be found here.

EP7 The Promised Karuizawa of
At the moment 此時此刻 Cǐ shí cǐ kè
2023

Wu Kang Ren plays Zhào tíng yǔ(趙霆宇)

The title of the drama “The Promised Karuizawa” describes a pity that things went counterproductive. The plot begins with Zhang Weixi played Elephant Dee(小S) and Zhào tíng yǔ played by Wu Kang Ren meeting in a hotel, and their purpose is to expose a broken marriage. Therefore, two people with the same life experiences came together, had love and passion, and finally decided to solve the unbearable situation in reality and start a new life. The more details about this episode of the drama can be found here.

Abang Adik 富都青年(Fù dōu qīngnián)
2023

Wu Kang-ren as Chen Ah-bang (aka. Abang) in Abang Adik

The movie tells the story of a pair of undocumented and stateless orphans in Malaysia, Abang (Wu Kang-ren), a deaf mute person and his younger brother Adik (Jack Tan) who struggle in a poverty-stricken and crime-ridden environment. These two brothers are not eligible for the general national welfare, cannot apply for a passport, and cannot even open a bank account. The elder brother, Abang, is a hearing-impaired person who works hard and accepts his fate, only seeking a stable life. The younger brother, Adi, is unwilling to bow to fate and illegally sells fake documents. He only wants to make money and take his brother away from this unprivileged place.

Abang Adik received critical acclaim upon the release. For example, this movie won the box office success in Taiwan, earning more than 3.5 million US dollars, and this ranks the first place in terms of box office performance among all Malaysian movies.

The film went on to receive multiple award nominations, including seven Golden Horse Award(金馬獎) nominations, with Wu Kang-ren winning Best Actor.

The below are screenshots of advertisements and music videos that We Kang Ren has acted for.

Wu Kang Ren is the leading actor of A Touch of Green(一把青) and the music video of theme song took some drama footages as well.

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