Top Talents showcase spotlights nine Taiwanese actors to watch in 2024

Following the successful launch of the inaugural Top Talents showcase last year, Taipei Film Festival has again teamed with Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA) to spotlight a second group of nine Taiwanese actors on the inter­national stage.

Several of the talents are set to make an appearance at Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) to meet with international media, industry practitioners and audiences. Alice Ko will serve as a jury member of the Asia Contents Awards & Global OTT Awards; Austin Lin and Vivian Sung are invited to present at the awards ceremony on October 6; and Moon Lee is a nominee for best supporting actress for season two of The Victims’ Game. Kai Ko, one of the Top Talents in 2023, is also a best supporting actor nominee for Imperfect Us.

The Top Talents showcase underlines TAICCA’s continued efforts in promoting Taiwanese actors on the global stage, reinforcing their international presence and building worldwide recognition.

This year, the initiative partners with TaiwanPlus, the first Taiwanese publicly funded English media platform, to premiere the English-language promotional videos for the talents.

Fu Meng-po

Every new character is a fresh start full of unknowns for Fu, who studied theatre arts at Taipei National University of the Arts. He enjoys the process of exploring and keeps a playful spirit while continuing to improve his acting skills. His accolades include winning the best male lead in a miniseries or a television film at the Golden Bell Awards in 2017 for The Last Verse and best supporting actor at the Taipei Film Awards in 2023 for Day Off.

Next up is Netflix series The Resurrected in which he plays the despicable kingpin of a scam network, a departure from his previous image. “This character is the most outrageous and chilling yet vividly fleshed-out role I’ve played so far,” he says. “The shooting process was extremely challenging and I’m very eager to share it with you all.” 

Hsieh Ying-xuan

Hsieh is known for having the star power to sell out theatre shows in seconds. When she moved to the big screen with 2018’s Dear Ex, her performance led to best actress prizes at the Taipei Film Awards and the Golden Horse Awards. “It was a significant turning point in my life,” she recalls.

Hsieh has also embraced drama series, taking on a wide range of roles, including a psychiatrist alienated from her mother in Heaven On The 4th Floor, which earned her best female lead at the Golden Bell Awards in 2022, and an LGBTQ+ woman working on a presidential election campaign in Netflix series Wave Makers. Her latest work is Netflix series Born For The Spotlight, in which she plays an actress who faces behind-the-scenes life challenges. It will premiere in BIFF’s On Screen section before streaming from November 7.

Alice Ko

Ko was discovered by a talent scout who was casting a music video for the ‘King of Mandopop’ Jay Chou in 2005. She has since portrayed several complex characters on film, including a timid sex worker in Monga and a mysterious victim in Who Killed Cock Robin.

Ko is equally impressive in drama series, having twice won best leading actress in a TV series at the Golden Bell Awards for playing a calculating career woman in Marry Me, Or Not? in 2016 and as two characters of very different ages in Someday Or One Day in 2020.

“Every character I’ve encountered so far has brought me different insights and personal growth,” says Ko. “I cherish every one of them.” In 2021, she published her first collection of essays, Hello, Goodbye, for which she was nominated as a promising new writer by Eslite Bookstore.

Moon Lee

Lee is viewed as one of the most promising young actresses in Taiwan. Following her Golden Bell best newcomer win for 2020 Net­flix series The Victims’ Game, she is now nominated for best supporting actress at the Asia Contents Awards & Global OTT Awards with its second season. “The most fearsome weapon and the most healing remedy are both found in love,” says Lee, commenting on her character as a rebellious daughter in the series.

She is also a rising star on the big screen, with her latest youth romance film I Am The Secret In Your Heartbeing screened in BIFF’s special programme Teen Spirit, Teen Movie. She was previously nominated as best performer at the Golden Horse Awards in 2021 for Terrorizers and best new talent at the Taipei Film Awards in 2022 for My Best Friend’s Breakfast.

Patty Lee

Lee spent her childhood in New Zealand and is bilingual in Chinese and English. “I’m eager to take part in more international co-productions,” she says, following her English-speaking performance in France-Taiwan co-production Mechanical Souls, a VR film that played at Sundance in 2019.

She won praise for her first starring role in 2020’s My Missing Valentine, which earned her best actress nominations at the Golden Horse Awards and Taipei Film Awards. She has also made a strong start in drama series with Taiwan Crime Stories — Dark Currents and Shards Of Her as well as upcoming series You Are My Sister and Million-­Follower Detective. Acting aside, she is a two-time Golden Bell-winning lifestyle programme host and a singer/songwriter with indie pop band So-So Heroes.

Austin Lin

Lin was named best supporting actor at the 2016 Golden Horse Awards for playing a rebellious but tender teenager in At Cafe 6. Since then he has continued to expand his range with two best actor nominations at the Golden Horse Awards: one for playing a man suffering from severe obsessive compulsive disorder in 2020’s I Weirdo, and the other a loving gay ghost in last year’s megahit Marry My Dead Body. Lin is also a 2022 Golden Bell award-winning host for season three of reality show Three Piglets.

Adding another string to his bow, Lin is taking on the role of executive producer for the first time on Fu Tien-yu’s Be With You. The feature reunites the duo after Fu’s 2009 directing debut Somewhere I Have Never Travelled, which also marked Lin’s acting debut.

Vivian Sung

Sung is one of Taiwan’s most recognisable screen icons, thanks to her portrayal of romantic heroines in blockbuster films such as 2015’s Our Times, which landed her a Golden Horse best actress nomination, and 2021’s Till We Meet Again.

The fluent English speaker has taken part in international collaborations, including France-Taiwan co-production For My Country, which premiered at Venice in 2022, and 2023’s My Heavenly City, which shot in New York. She will star in upcoming Korean film The Secret House, marking her first Korean-speaking role, and further recent credits include TV series The Cleaner, set around a company that cleans up death scenes.

Wang Po-chieh

Wang made his film debut in Tom Lin’s Winds Of September, which won him the best new talent prize at Taipei Film Awards in 2008. He returned in 2023 to take the best actor crown for SARS medical drama Eye Of The Storm.

Wang remained busy in the intervening years, appearing in a string of films and series including as Ang Lee’s Oscar winner Life Of Pi in 2012 and Peter Chan’s 2009 feature Bodyguards And Assassins as well as Netflix series Nowhere Man and Light The Night, and Disney+ series Taiwan Crime Stories — A Matter Of Life And Death.

Wang will next be seen in 96 Minutes, a bomb-disposal thriller feature set on a high-speed train.

Yao Chun-yao

Yao developed a solid training in drama at Taipei National University of the Arts, where he studied theatre arts. He made a name in Arvin Chen’s 2010 romantic comedy Au Revoir Taipei, which premiered at the Berlinale, and went on to host travel show Stories In Taiwan for several years, for which he won a Golden Bell Award in 2016.

Yao quickly regained momentum after the hiatus from acting. He won the Golden Bell best male lead award in a TV series for The Mirror in 2020 and landed a second nomination in the same category for last year’s Net­flix series Copycat Killer, in which he played a newscaster. Yao was also in buzzy TV drama The Amazing Grace Of Σ.