‘90s Taiwanese Heartthrob Winston Chao Is Now 63 And He Wants To Take Nude Photos On The Grasslands In Mongolia

’90s Taiwanese actor Winston Chao was one of the biggest heartthrobs of his generation.

The now 63-year-old actor, who’s best known for his performance in Ang Lee’s 1993 film The Wedding Banquet, was literally the “pretty boy” in Asian cinema back in the day.

In a recent interview on Chinese talk show Starface, Winston, who said he now weighs 100kg or “30 kilos heavier” then when he was in The Wedding Banquet, opened up about the pros and cons about being, well, so darn handsome.

“When I was in high school, we all didn’t know one another but we had to choose a monitor and I received the most votes. I was actually the most mischievous kid. I liked to read comics and pass notes in class,” he recalled.

“In the end my teacher couldn’t take it anymore and said: “Winston Chao, you’re the least suitable person to be a monitor. Everyone voted for you because you’re the prettiest!” said the former flight attendant, admitting that he “did enjoy the perks of being good looking”.

The fact that he was gorgeous was further hammered home when he started acting.

He was even assured by Academy Award-winning Hong Kong director Peter Pau that he would have “endless job opportunities” after The Wedding Banquet because his face was “made for the camera”.

But that also meant that the public had really high expectations of him. For starters, people did not want to see him “get fat or grow old”.

“Indeed, they would always say: ‘Oh, how did Winston become like that?’ Initially, I would get angry and irritated. I have my life to live,” he lamented.

“I also want to see changes in myself. I want to look my age when I’m old too. If you want to look at [the skinny and young version of] me, then you can search for pictures but I need to continue moving on,” he said.

“Now I don’t really care. I’ve let myself go,” he added.

Winston went on to share that he’s nowhere near as gentle as the characters he often portrayed on screen.

“I’m not like that at all. I need to disenchant people. That’s my performance. Please give credit to my acting and let me be the person I truly am,” he mused.

That doesn’t mean hurtful comments don’t affect him.

“Actually I’m bothered by how people talk about me. I’m not as unfazed. If what they say is nice, I’ll be happy for really long. If they say nasty things, I’ll snarl really mean things about them in my heart. But once I’m done venting I’ll chuck it aside,” he explained.

Winston is, however, still confident that he still looks “the best he can at every age”.

“When you’re 60, you won’t care that much if you have six-pack abs. I think it’s quite nice to have a small belly. As long as you’re energetic and alert, then you look great!” he said.

He continued: “I once saw a forum asking: “At what age did you realise you’re just an ordinary person”, and I said: “I actually only realised at an old age that I’m not ordinary at all. I’m so unique.”

Yes, so unique that he never passes up any opportunity to look at himself in the mirror.

When the interviewer, Chinese host Tian Chuan called Winston out for constantly admiring his own reflection, the star confidently chuckled: “Oh yeah”.

Tian Chuan then said that Winston, whose fans now call him “The Rock Winston”, reminded her of a Roman sculpture.

“That’s my goal. I want to train till I look like a sculpture,” admitted Winston, who hits the gym three-to-four times a week now.

“I’ve been wanting to go to the huge grasslands in Mongolia to camp and have fun. I also want to take nude photos there. You must remember to prepare some fig leaves for me when I do that so I can replicate the poses of those Greek or Roman sculptures,” he laughed.