Wu Pong-fong

Wu Pong-fong (Chinese: 吳朋奉; 2 November 1964 – 25 May 2020) was a Taiwanese actor and choreographer.

Wu was born on 2 November 1964.[1] His father was from Zhao'an County in Fujian.[1][2] His parents married in 1950 and divorced when Wu was eight years old.[1][2] He lived with his father in Sanchong District.[1][2] Wu's father was supportive of the Kuomintang, and his uncle led the Kuomintang-affiliated Second Section of Personnel Office.[3] Despite censorship of Taiwanese Hokkien at the time, Wu heard the dialect at a young age, as many of his classmates spoke it.[3] In time, Wu began identifying as Taiwanese, and not as a Mainlander.[3] Wu worked as a supervisor in a printing factory, but lost his job after a superior discovered that he was communicating to colleagues the number of vacation days allowed per year under the provisions of the Labor Standards Act.[2][3]

Wu's first acting experience came when he joined a troupe led by Chou Yi-chang.[3] Wu later became a member of Golden Bough Theatre,[4] and also worked as a choreographer for Flux Waves Dance Theater.[5] He performed leading roles in Golden Bough Theatre's She is So Lovely (2002) and All in One (2005).[6][7]

Wu was twice awarded the Golden Bell Award for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film, in 2008 for Imprints Of Ceiba Flowers and 2019 for The Roar.[1][8] He was named the best actor at the 2011 Taipei Film Awards for Ranger.[1][8] Wu's performance in the film Seven Days in Heaven resulted in a Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2010.[9] He worked with director Wang Yu-lin a second time in the 2012 film Flying Dragon, Dancing Phoenix.[10] Wu was cast as Peng Feng in Lin Fu-ching's debut feature film Jumping Boy, released later that year.[11] In 2016, Wu appeared in We Are Family directed by Jim Wang.[12]

Wu's relatives found him unresponsive at home in Banqiao District on 24 May 2020.[13] After a forensic medical examination had been performed, Wu's agent confirmed that Wu had died, aged 55, of a stroke in the early morning of 25 May 2020.[14][15]