# Shih Ming-shuai

Shih Ming-shuai (Chinese: 施名帥; born 23 August 1982) is a Taiwanese actor and television host. He appeared in the films The Bold, the Corrupt, and the Beautiful (2017), The Scoundrels (2018), and Nina Wu (2019), before landing leading roles in the film Classmates Minus and the FTV series Animal Whisper (both 2020), for which he received a nomination for Best Male Lead in the 56th Golden Bell Awards. He also co-hosted the variety program Three Piglets from 2021 to 2022 and won Best Host in a Reality Show in the 57th Golden Bell Awards. In 2024, he won Best Supporting Actor in the 61st Golden Horse Awards for his performance in GATAO: Like Father Like Son.

## Early life and education

Shih was born on 23 August 1982 in Taiwan. He grew up in a single-parent family, primarily raised by his grandparents, while his mother worked as a nurse at Keelung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital. He described his family's financial situation as poor and began working part-time as early as elementary school. Shih attended Hwa Kang Arts School [zh] for high school, where he later reflected on his years as lacking motivation, repeating his freshman year three times and even being suspended for a semester due to fighting. After watching Legacy, a dance performance choreographed by Lin Hwai-min, Shih developed an interest in performing and worked hard to gain admission to Taipei National University of the Arts. He initially studied at the School of Dance in his freshman year but transferred to the School of Theater Arts in his second year. He explained that he transferred because of a knee injury sustained from frequent dance practices, and he chose to pursue acting instead to ensure a longer performing career. He was a classmate of fellow actor Huang Di-yang. He spent a total of six years at TNUA before graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. During his university years, Shih began filming advertisements, including one alongside Gwei Lun-mei, and also performed as a stage actor for Shakespeare's Wild Sisters Group [zh] and Move Theater.

## Career
### Early roles (2011–2019)

In 2011, Shih began his on-screen career after completing his mandatory military service at the age of 29. In his early acting career, he could not afford rent, so he worked as an editing assistant at a friend's production studio, where he also slept. He made his debut in the drama film Coconut, which earned him nominations for Best Actor and Best New Talent in the 13th Taipei Film Festival. Following these nominations, Shih began receiving offers for television roles, including a recurring part as Axe in the 2012 Hakka TV series Jump！ Cheerleader [zh]. In 2014, he appeared in a supporting role as the brother of Austin Lin's character in the drama film Anywhere Somewhere Nowhere [zh], followed by leading roles in the Hakka TV series Brave Forward [zh] and the television film The Free Man, for which he received a nomination for Best Leading Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film in the 49th Golden Bell Awards. In 2015, Shih starred in the drama film The Laundryman [zh], and took on recurring roles in An Adopted Daughter [zh] and A Touch of Green. He also made cameo appearances as a film director in the drama Another Woman, and as a special agent from the 1980s alongside Mo Tzu-yi in the period drama The Best of Youth [zh]. Shih continued to appear in supporting roles, portraying a gangster in the 2016 drama Fighting Meiling [zh] and an assassin named Duan Yi in the 2017 crime film The Bold, the Corrupt, and the Beautiful. He also appeared in the family drama We are All Family [zh] and Wake Up 2 that same year.
In 2018, Shih played Wu Tzu-jie, one half of a good-cop-bad-cop duo alongside Jack Kao in the crime film The Scoundrels [zh], for which Elizabeth Kerr of The Hollywood Reporter praised their performances, stating they "elevated The Scoundrels into respectability". He also had a leading role in the Chinese period drama The Bittersweet Taiwan [zh], alongside seven other Taiwanese actors in the ensemble. In 2019, Shih portrayed The Director, the filmmaker in the film-within-a-film Spy Romance, in the drama Nina Wu directed by Midi Z, with C.J. Sheu of The News Lens describing his performance as creating "an atmosphere of fear on set". He appeared as the right-hand man of a police chief played by Joan Chen the crime film Sheep Without a Shepherd, and as a psychiatrist in the drama series The World Between Us.

### Lead roles and critical recognition (2020–present)

In 2020, Shih landed his first male lead role as Tom, a struggling film director, in the drama film Classmates Minus, and made a guest appearance in the romance film A Leg, which Estella Huang of Mirror Media described as "enriching" the film. He also starred in another leading role in the pet-themed FTV series Animal Whisper [zh], which earned him a nomination for Best Male Lead in a Television Series in the 56th Golden Bell Awards. In 2021, Shih joined the variety program Three Piglets [zh] in the second season, and returned to host the third season alongside Yang Kuei-mei, Austin Lin, and Wen Chen-ling in 2022, for which they won Best Host in a Reality or Game Show in the 57th Golden Bell Awards. Shih also took on main roles in the drama series No Regrets In Life [zh] and the anthology series On Marriage [zh] that same year.
In 2023, Shih secured leading roles in the drama film Day Off [zh] and the crime series Taiwan Crime Stories. He also made a cameo appearance as a frozen corpse in the horror-comedy series What The Hell Is Love [zh], which was well-received among audience. In 2024, Shih starred as a table tennis coach in the sports film Doubles Match [zh]. Lee Kuang-chueh, writing for Yahoo! Lifestyle, called Shih's interactions with his character's daughter (played by Yeh Yi-jun) "very interesting" and praised his character arc. He then appeared as a captive during the Pacific War in the period drama Three Tears in Borneo, followed by a lead role as Mang, a high-ranking gangster, in the film GATAO: Like Father Like Son [zh], for which he won Best Supporting Actor in the 61st Golden Horse Awards.

## Personal life

Shih married fellow actress Zhu Zhi-ying [zh] on 20 May 2023 after a seven-year relationship, and they publicly announced their marriage in August 2024. They were classmates at Taipei National University of the Arts and have known each other for 17 years, but they only began their relationship in 2017.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2011 | Coconut | Coconut (椰子) | |
| 2014 | Anywhere Somewhere Nowhere [zh] | Li Nien (李念) | |
| 2014 | Paradise in Service | Bully | |
| 2014 | The Rice Bomber [zh] | Senior | |
| 2015 | The Laundryman [zh] | Bo (小寶) | |
| 2015 | Another Woman | Head of Theatrical Group | Cameo |
| 2017 | The Bold, the Corrupt, and the Beautiful | Duan Yi (段義) | |
| 2018 | The Scoundrels [zh] | Wu Tzu-jie (吳子杰) | |
| 2018 | Cities of Last Things | Ho (小何) | Cameo |
| 2019 | Nina Wu | The Director (導演) | |
| 2019 | Deep Evil [zh] | Chen Dao (陳到) | |
| 2019 | A Sun | Garage owner | Cameo |
| 2019 | Sheep Without a Shepherd | Sang Kun (桑坤) | |
| 2020 | Classmates Minus | Tom (吳銘添) | |
| 2020 | A Leg | Mr. Chen (陳先生) | |
| 2023 | Day Off [zh] | Chou Jie-nan (周佳男) | |
| 2023 | Trouble Girl [zh] | Hsiao's father | |
| 2024 | Doubles Match [zh] | The Coach | |
| 2024 | GATAO: Like Father Like Son [zh] | Mang (阿猛) | |
| 2024 | A Place Called Silence [zh] | Wu Wang (吳望) | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2012 | Jump！ Cheerleader [zh] | Axe (斧頭) | Recurring role |
| 2014 | Brave Forward [zh] | Lo Ching-hsien (羅清賢) | Main role |
| 2014 | The Free Man | Jie (阿傑) | Main role; television film |
| 2015 | Haru | Liu Ming-de (劉明德) | Guest role |
| 2015 | An Adopted Daughter [zh] | Lai Tzu-chong (賴子松) | Recurring role |
| 2015 | A Touch of Green | Wang Gang (王剛) | Recurring role |
| 2015 | The Best of Youth [zh] | 1980s special agent | Cameo |
| 2016 | Fighting Meiling [zh] | Lo Ping-an (羅平安) | Recurring role |
| 2017 | We are All Family [zh] | Yang Wen-lian (楊文煉) | Main role |
| 2017 | Wake Up 2 | Qiu Chun (邱淳) | Recurring role |
| 2017 | Days We Stared at the Sun II [zh] | Ben | Cameo |
| 2018 | The Bittersweet Taiwan [zh] | Chou Hsiao-tang (周紹堂) | Main role |
| 2019 | The World Between Us | Lin Yi-chun (林一駿) | Co-starring |
| 2020 | Animal Whisper [zh] | Lo Chun (羅鈞) | Main role |
| 2021 | The Making of an Ordinary Woman 2 [zh] | Apartment-touring husband | Cameo |
| 2022 | No Regrets In Life [zh] | Chang Kai-hsin (張凱新) | Main role |
| 2022 | On Marriage [zh] | Cho Yu-men (曹昱門) | Main role |
| 2023 | What The Hell Is Love [zh] | Dr. Tseng Shi-fan (曾士凡) | Cameo |
| 2023 | Taiwan Crime Stories | Zhao Yan-jie (趙彥傑) | Main role |
| 2024 | Three Tears in Borneo | Lo Chin-fu (羅進福) | Main role |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
| 2011 | 13th Taipei Film Festival | Best Actor | Coconut | Nominated |
| 2011 | 13th Taipei Film Festival | Best New Talent | Coconut | Nominated |
| 2014 | 49th Golden Bell Awards | Best Leading Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film | The Free Man | Nominated |
| 2021 | 56th Golden Bell Awards | Best Male Lead in a Television Series | Animal Whisper [zh] | Nominated |
| 2022 | 57th Golden Bell Awards | Best Host in a Reality or Game Show | Three Piglets [zh] | Won |
| 2024 | 61st Golden Horse Awards | Best Supporting Actor | GATAO: Like Father Like Son [zh] | Won |