Shandong tough guy
In the year he turned 47, Tao discovered by pure chance that he had a talent for the theater, a revelation that has changed his life and become a source of great happiness.
At the time, Tao's partner Ying Hsiao-ping was involved in a group of businessmen's wives who were planning to perform a play. Lacking actors, a number of company presidents were forced by their wives into the roles of guest performers. Most were perpetually busy either in meetings and social engagements or playing golf. They were really not interested in the play and were often absent from rehearsals. Except Tao, who took great interest. In fact, even when there was important company business to deal with, he would ask the buyer to wait.
In his first play for the Performance Workshop, Chatting in the Traffic Circle, he played a tough guy from Shandong, and was highly praised by director Stan Lai. This play opened the door to a new life in professional theater. He has now made over 300 performances, in plays including Comedy in the Kitchen, Red Sky, Whose Wife is in the Wrong Bed?
In 1999, he tried his hand at television drama. With director Teng An-ning, Running Away portrayed Tao's real life story--an accidental journey from chairman to actor. Tao played himself and for that role was nominated for best actor in the Golden Bell Awards.
In the more than ten years since he discovered the theater, he has played emperors, company presidents, priests, and even alcoholics and a user of prostitutes. Two years ago, in another TV drama A Man at Fifty, he played a middle-aged man who, looking for his lost youth, has sex with a high-school girl. He was again nominated for the Golden Bell best actor award.
"Unless you've actually played a role on stage or on television, it's very difficult to imagine or communicate the joy of the experience," Tao says. A play from rehearsal to performance takes over six months. It's like entering another world.
Michael Tao has thrown himself into photography in recent years. Apart from including his own photos in his company calendar, he has also founded Tao Yeh magazine, in whose pages he shares his life in music, theater and photography.