Jonathan "Cao Cao" Kos-Read acts in a scene of "Operation Sapphire" miniseries. (Photo : YouTube / Jonathan Kos-Read)
Every non-Chinese living in China has his share of stories, and one of them is American actor Jonathan Kos-Read aka Cao Cao (pronounced Tsau Tsau), a Chinese moniker he uses to honor a Han Dynasty member. The guy is one of the famous celebrities in China and though he speaks fluent Mandarin, he is American by blood. He lives in Oakland, and works in China, which is obviously a long commute.
The go-to actor for any white character in Chinese movies and TV shows had been criticized for enforcing bad stereotypes in his roles, Sfist reported. However, his roles are becoming better.
Kos-Read was raised in Torrance, California and got keen in acting when he attended arts high school. He studied molecular biology and film at New York University where he studied Mandarin and was interested to be an expert of the language.
He moved to Beijing in 1997, lived in a student dorm and forced himself to speak just Mandarin for three months. The American actor married a Chinese national Li Zhi who majored finance in college. They are blessed with two young children.
The 43-year-old actor received a call which offered an appearance in "Ip Man 3," the third part of a biopic series about the martial arts master of Bruce Lee. Soon, negotiations about Kos-Read's participation in the movie was on going and when the script arrived, Kos-Read found another role, which was bigger and better, for a foreign actor, Frank the mobster.
Having appeared in about 100 movies and TV programs since 1999, Cao Cao is famous throughout mainland China. The foreigner who was cast as Frank instead of him appeared to be retired heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, whom Cao Cao met at the filming set in Shanghai and soon became easily closed to, according to The New York Times Magazine.
Their movie "Ip Man 3" then grossed $115 million at China's box office with more than half of that on the opening weekend. In December, Kos-Read appeared in "Mojin - the Lost Legend," an action blockbuster film, that is currently the fifth highest grossing film in China.
The booming film market in China grew almost 50 percent in 2015 and is expected to beat North America in 2017 as the world's largest. Hollywood now usually ponders on how an upcoming movie will fare in China before giving it a go, as they know the rewards are vast. "Furious 7" earned $390 million in the country, more than its earnings in the United States.
Check out Kos-Read in "Operation Sapphire" miniseries.
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