Godfrey Gao ✝

Godfrey Gao (Chinese: 高以翔; pinyin: Gāo Yǐxiáng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Ko Í-siông; 22 September 1984 – 27 November 2019) was a Taiwanese-Canadian model and actor. Described as Asia's first male supermodel, Gao was the first male Asian model to appear in a campaign for Louis Vuitton. As an actor, he was known for his roles as Magnus Bane in the 2013 film adaptation of The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, and for his leading role in the Chinese television series Remembering Lichuan (遇見王瀝川). Gao was born Tsao Chih-hsiang in Taipei on 22 September 1984. Gao's father is a Taiwanese of Shanghainese descent, and worked as a general manager at Michelin Taiwan; his mother is a Malaysian of Peranakan Chinese descent from George Town who won the Miss Penang beauty pageant in 1970. The youngest of three boys, Gao was moved with his brothers to North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, where his parents raised their boys during his childhood. He attended Queensbury Elementary School and Argyle Secondary School, and later studied at Capilano University where the 6'4" Gao played basketball for the school's team. Gao returned to Taiwan to work as a model in 2004, and was managed by JetStar Entertainment. Gao and fellow male models Sphinx Ting, Victor Chen, and Lan Chun-tien were collectively nicknamed the "Fashion 4" (F4), and jointly released a book in 2009. In 2011, he became the first Asian model for the fashion brand Louis Vuitton.