Vachirawit Chivaaree

Vachirawit Chivaaree
วชิรวิชญ์ ชีวอารี
Born	Kunlatorn Chivaaree[1] (1997-12-27) 27 December 1997 (age 24) Nakhon Pathom, Thailand
Other names	Bright
Education	Suankularb Wittayalai School, Triam Udom Suksa School
Alma mater	Bangkok University
Occupation	Actor host model singer
Years active	2013–present
Known for	Sarawat in 2gether: The Series and Still 2gether
Height	183 cm (6 ft 0 in)[2]
Musical career
Instruments	Vocals, guitar
Years active	2018–present
Labels	GMM Grammy
Associated acts	F.HERO
Musical artist
Website	gmm-tv.com/artists/view/122/

Vachirawit Chivaaree (Thai: วชิรวิชญ์ ชีวอารี; born 27 December 1997^[3]), known professionally as Bright Vachirawit or simply Bright (Thai: ไบร์ท), is a Thai actor, singer, host, and model of Thai, American and Chinese descent. He is best known for his leading role as Sarawat in 2gether: The Series and Still 2gether, both in 2020.

In 2021, he is set to star in F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers, the Thai series adaptation of the Japanese manga Boys Over Flowers. He will be playing the role of Thyme (Dōmyōji Tsukasa), the main character and leader of F4.

Early life and education[]

Vachirawit was born on 27 December 1997 in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand as Kunlatorn Chivaaree to a father of Thai and white American descent and a mother of Thai and Chinese descent.^[1] As a child, his parents got divorced and he grew up in Thailand with his maternal relatives, and was raised with his cousins. He came from a family of musicians, with his uncle owning a music school. At the age of 10, Vachirawit started learning several musical instruments, including the guitar, bass, and drums.^[4]

Vachirawit completed his lower secondary education at Suankularb Wittayalai School and upper secondary education at Triam Udom Suksa School. He initially took up the Thammasat English Program of Engineering (TEPE) under the Faculty of Engineering of Thammasat University but decided to pursue instead a bachelor's degree in marketing (international program) at Bangkok University.^[5][6][7][8]

Career[]

Vachirawit debuted as one of the 6th generation of Strawberry Krub Cake variety show on Ch3 in 2013 and he also had his acting debut in a Strawberry Krub Cake's short drama titled "The Beginning - Run Lovers Run" produced by Duang Malee Maneejan & Nadao Bangkok. After that, he had several works in the industry including TV dramas, films & music videos.

In 2018, Vachirawit auditioned in GMM25 New Face 2018 project and got signed as a GMMTV actor/artist. He received mostly support roles in several series until he won an audition for the young Dr.Peng in Nadao Bangkok's My Ambulance in 2019, which gave him spotlights. In the same year, he joined in as one of the host of GMM25's "Toe Laew" ever since Episode 135.

In 2020, Vachirawit earned his breakthrough^[9] after receiving one of the two lead roles as Sarawat in 2gether The Series with Metawin Opas-iamkajorn. 2gether The Series became No.1 most viewed series on LINE TV Thailand in the first half of 2020^[10] and it gained fans internationally.^[11][12][13] From the success of 2gether The Series, he later reprised the role as Sarawat again in Still 2gether The Series, the sequel released later in the same year.^[14][15]

Vachirawit has been cast as Thyme (the same role as Domyoji Tsukasa), starring opposite debut actress Tontawan Tantivejakul, who has been cast as Gorya (the same role as Makino Tsukushi) in F4 Thailand : Boys Over Flowers, a Thai adaptation of famous Japanese manga, Hana Yori Dango. It had been planned for August 2021 broadcast but was postponed due to pandemic situation in Thailand and finally started airing on December 18, 2021.^[16]

Controversy[]

In early April 2020, Vachirawit was embroiled in a controversy after he liked a tweet on Twitter from a Thai photographer containing four cityscape images with the caption that unintentionally referred to Hong Kong as a country.^[17][18] After a Chinese internet user shared a screenshot of the retweet on Weibo, a torrent of criticism slammed him for disrespecting China's national sovereignty. Bright issued an apology on Twitter over the apparent slip^[19][20] "I'm feel so sorry about my thoughtless retweet too, I only saw the pictures and did not read the caption clearly. Next time there will be no mistake like this again" on 10 April 2020. The photographer also replaced the original tweet with a new version that swapped out "country" for "place" while apologizing in both Thai and English. While it temporarily quelled the issue, he was brought back into the spotlight after Chinese netizens called out the online posts from his then girlfriend.^[21] The actor's then girlfriend, who goes by the name New retweeted a popular COVID-19 conspiracy theory that China invented the virus in a lab in Wuhan, where the outbreak originated. The post shared by New also accused China of shifting blame for the emergence of the disease to the U.S., and hiding information regarding the outbreak by denying entry to foreign journalists. Meanwhile, some dug out an old Instagram exchange between Bright and New, where the actor complimented a photo of his girlfriend in Taiwan, saying that she looked like a "cute Chinese girl." New replied, "This is Taiwanese girl style." This supposed recognition of a separate Taiwan from China was taken as another piece of evidence against them.^[22][23] Soon Chinese citizens made their way to Twitter and demanded a public apology from New, They made use of the hashtag #Nnevvy –which was New's Twitter handle – The hashtag along with its variations generated more than two million tweets and trended globally. Reuters reports the Twitter hashtag has generated more than 2 million tweets, while Global Times reports it has drawn 4.6 billion views from over 1.4 million posts on Weibo. A Facebook page compiling #nnevvy memes has already picked up more than 75,000 likes.^[24] On 12 April, Global Times posted a new article about the Thai drama "2gether: the series" stating that the show "is experiencing a backlash in China" over the incident. The article mentioned that Bright's follower count on Sina Weibo has taken a hit, while the show's rating on Douban has dropped from 9.3 to 9.0. Then, two days later, the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok published a lengthy statement on Facebook to address the controversy, saying in part: "The recent online noises only reflect bias and ignorance of its maker, which does not in any way represent the standing stance of the Thai government nor the mainstream public opinion of the Thai People."^[25]

On 25 June 2020, GMM Grammy, the parent company of GMMTV where he is a talent, dispatched lawyers to the Technology Crime Suppression Division to file lawsuits against social media users accused of propagating malicious posts about him.^[26]

Personal life[]

With his newfound fame and the conclusion of 2gether: The Series, Vachirawit launched his first merchandise shop under the brand name "Astrostuffs" in late May 2020^[27] where proceeds of the sale go to the Seub Nakhasathien Foundation to support its works in conservation of wildlife and forest land in Thailand.^[28]

Vachirawit has expressed his support for the LGBT community. He has also shown support for the legalization of same-sex marriage in Thailand.^[29]

Filmography[]

Film[]

Television[]

Music video appearances[]

Discography[]

Awards and nominations[]

References[]