You're not into Thai dramas. Or any dramas, for that matter. So maybe you haven't heard of Jirawat Sutivanichsak. Or perhaps you have heard of the man better known to many as Dew. You've been following his ascent from model to actor, when he finally made his prominent debut on F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers. You might just be one of his seven million Instagram followers.
There is always a margin for error, but it's unlikely for anyone else to fall outside these two camps. It's a phenomenon—if we can even call it that—common to an industry that churns out stars and turns them into a commodity of celebrity. It's likely also temptingly easy for these personalities to play into the persona when fans are already playing along.
Under an hour with Dew, it's evident that these aren't things the 25-year-old concerns himself with. Sure, there are jobs to be done, this interview being one, and he does them with presence and sincerity, but there is a sense that there's nothing more he requires himself to do.
Nobody to impress, no name to uphold, nor expectation to live up to. It's closer to an inner stability, as opposed to brash nonchalance. He hardly carries the mannerisms of one standing at 1.9m as he settles into the armchair. Especially when barefaced, he can naturally pass off as being in his late teens.
Like most of the archetypes in his vein of TV, Dew is very fair-skinned. Which is funny, because up until high school, the Thai-born of Chinese descent had been very tanned. One of the reasons he regarded himself as unattractive in his adolescence. Thick glasses, dark skin (a counter-culture of typical beauty standards in Asia), and introversion were a formula that equated to "not handsome", he divulges in broken English.
Or as he bluntly describes, "No girl look[ed] at me." Here's the picture: Afterschool tuition is a prevalent culture in Thailand, like a centralised institution for all students. So despite attending a boys-only school, the mixed-gender tuition cohort made no difference in the attention Dew received from the opposite sex. The weekends told the same story. While peers visited malls to mingle, Dew never participated in the social norm.
That all changed in college, mostly thanks to corrective eye surgery, he deadpans. This characteristic reveals a pattern in our conversation; the penchant for stating facts with no hints of intended humour, yet the responses in themselves convey a sort of wit. As open doors paved the way to his current career, the learning curve was expectedly steep.
Like many of us, self-doubt became the largest obstacle to overcome. In the case of his breakthrough role, castmates were either already sensations from their prior work or, at the bare minimum, had prior on-screen experience. The stress from the challenge was constant for the rookie.
He recounts a distinct memory amid the harder scenes. In one particular tear-jerker, it was one phrase from the director that ultimately unlocked him. "I didn't know this sentence [would] touch my heart," he explains. After several directing notes to help Dew cry as the scene called for, attempts that failed because he could not empathise with them, the killer line was simply, "I trust you, you can do it".
It was almost a moment of epiphany that did not just make sense to the task at hand, but also helped overcome this private hurdle. It made him realise that he never truly believed in himself. Yes, he may have had a vision of himself achieving, but nothing was able to absolutely quell his deepest qualm until then.
How he finds strength in difficult times parallels this. Telling himself that he can do it is not as strong as the motivation to make his loved ones proud. It is much more significant to have them find pride in him than for him to find pride in his own capabilities. As for his parents, he knows they are absolutely supportive of him, even if they don't always verbalise it.
Not even a feeling, he articulates in Thai, it's an exact sentence I would think to myself. The choice and significance of words are very important to him, as a small variation can change the entire meaning. Well, no pressure on me penning his story from 80 per cent translation then.
This may be my observation, but Dew is far more detail-oriented than he lets on. Influenced by his father, who was fluent in multiple forms of art from oil painting to Chinese calligraphy, digital illustration and more, the young man picked up an affiliated pastime from childhood. Other families bonded through sports or shopping; his engaged with drawing.
He is particularly keen on faces, and not only those belonging to humans. It's the first thing he notices over physiques. It possibly stems from the level of specification needed, which is hard, especially in the digital medium, where one millimetre of error completely alters the resemblance.
When it comes to acting, a face-dominant venture, Dew likes to read the energy of his fellow colleagues and react accordingly rather than initiate his own cues. The vocation is still the area he has learnt from and wants to improve the most. He witnessed the evolution not limited to his skills, but also his attitude and work ethic at large.
What was previously a narrower focus of everything in relation to himself, his perspective has since expanded to encompass the bigger picture of the other individuals involved. Dew believes that as long as he keeps himself accountable for his actions, admitting to and apologising for any misdoing, there are no circumstances to feel disappointed by.
The greatest milestone by his measure is telling. If you track his credits list and understand how the Thai TV industry works, you will see that Dew beat the odds with a somewhat unconventional route comprising a rare chance of success. In terms of personal success, though, it's financial freedom.
The ability to buy without looking at prices at his age sounds like a haughty statement, but his native language brings out a more accurate sentiment: "My mother does not need to work for the rest of her life." Don't be mistaken. As those who are well-acquainted with him will attest, Dew is not the type to splurge. There is a great deal of deliberation before each buy, and he doesn't make extravagant purchases. Which leads to the question—what does he spend on?
"Er, food delivery," he answers without trying to be funny, but evokes laughs around the table. For the homebody, that's precisely the point of not making big spends: so he can make small essential payments without a care. Cutting on the unnecessary flashies allows him not to have to worry about jobs and frees him from the pressure of debt, a misstep he has seen others take.
In furtive glances and sporadic eye contact, Dew communicates without entertaining. There is no performative aspect to his demeanour despite the profession he is in. So when he says he never really feels like fans don't know him because he is himself around others as much as he can, it's convincing.
Dew views himself as a culmination of the love and effort that has been poured into him over the years, and pretending to be anything other than himself will feel like he's leaving those who did behind. A media-mediated image of him may exist, but he stays true to himself in physical interactions because, honestly, he doesn't care what people think.
While many of us may wrestle with facets of ourselves we do not like, there's nothing that Dew desires to change about himself. He loves who he is, and without conceit. Only I can genuinely know myself, he expresses in his mother tongue. There is no singular trait he appreciates best, but his character as a composite whole is what he deems entirely unique.
It's raw but respectable. Unabashed to laugh at silly inside jokes, blithe in the most neutral way. Leaving you, without design or effort, with the lesson that there is no one to impress but ourselves.
Photography: Beng
Styling: Asri Jasman
Hair: Akkarapong Punkaew
Makeup: Witsarut Jullasorn
Photography Assistants: Michelle Low and Xie Feng Mao
Styling Assistant: Erica Zheng
