YAO

Yao, formerly credited as Thomas Pang, is a Malaysian-Filipino actor whose work spans theatre and film. Born in Australia, he spent his childhood moving between several countries; he later described a school performance of a Julius Caesar monologue as an early spark for acting.

After time spent pursuing work in Kuala Lumpur, he trained at LASALLE College of the Arts in Singapore. He appeared in the theatre production Tribes and went on to build a screen career in Singapore.

His performance in Ken Kwek’s LookAtMe earned him a Best Performance award at the 2022 New York Asian Film Festival. The experience came before a self-taped audition opened the door to Ryan Coogler’s Sinners.

In Sinners he plays Bo Chow, who runs a grocery store with his wife Grace, played by Li Jun Li. The film places the couple within the many communities of the 1930s Mississippi Delta; Yao also discussed contributing an idea for a figure in its musical sequence.

The titles shown below are those available on FLM.RED, rather than his complete filmography.