OCHAKS

Mario Maurer was born at the Bangkok Christian Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand. He is of Thai Chinese and German descent.^[2] His father chose an Italian name for him because he had a faible for Italian motorcycles.^[3] Growing up, his father Roland and his mother Waranya owned several gas stations. Later they owned a business in Nakhon Nayok Province for production and export of roll-on deodorants to countries such as France and Germany.^[4] Maurer has an elder brother of five years, who was born in Germany. He attended school at St. Dominic Savio Catholic School in Bangkok and now is studying in Ramkhamhaeng University, majoring in Communication Arts.jasmine mundo

When Maurer was 16 years old, he was approached at Siam Square to try out modeling. From there on, he started doing photo shoots, commercials and music videos.^[5] In 2007, he made his feature film debut in a leading role in The Love of Siam, written and directed by Chukiat Sakweerakul.^[6] The role "Tong" brought him many accolades and instant fame far beyond Thailand's borders. Commenting on his new-found fame, "I didn't want to do it, Acting wasn't on my list to do." He decided to do the movie because he trusted the director "Chukiat" and the movie would give him many opportunities. He'd be making money to help his family. He became famous in this film because of his gay role.^[7]

The film's promotion did not play up its homosexual romance. Nonetheless, most critics have given extremely positive reviews.^[8] When asked about his kissing scenes with Witwisit Hirunwongkul in The Love of Siam, Maurer said, "I was nervous. I've never kissed a man and kissing is not something you do every day."^[9] Maurer has been nominated for an Asian Film Awards in the category of Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Love of Siam, but lost to Sun Hong-Lei for Mongol.^[10] He won the Best Actor award in Southeast Asian film category at the 10th Cinemanila International Film Festival. His performance was described as "Mature acting choices within a wide range of situations. Beneath a calm and placid external demeanor his performance he displayed a rich inner struggle dealing with emotional burdens, with family, friends, his social circle and his romantic and sexual awakening."^[11]

He won the Best Actor award in Starpics Thai Films Awards and also nominated in Bangkok Critics Assembly and Star Entertainment Awards.^[12]

Director Bhandit Rittakol had approached Maurer for Boonchu 9, but he was tied up with other projects.^[13] He has been cast in the 2008 film byChatchai Naksuriya, Friendship. The film is set around 1983. Maurer starring opposite Apinya Sakuljaroensuk,^[14] as 12th grade student. That same year he appeared in a segment of the four-story anthology 4 Romance (segment "Joob" or Kiss) directed by Rashane Limtrakul^[15] Maurer's projects after 2008 include a comedy-horror film written and directed by Yuthlert Sippapak, Rahtree Reborn, scheduled for release in April 2009, in which he starred opposite Chermarn Boonyasak.^[16]

Maurer gained popularity after he starred in the 2010 film First Love (A Little Thing Called Love).

His brother Marco, teamed up in a hip-hop duo "PsyCho & Lil’Mario" with Mario. They have released their debut PsyCho & Lil’Mario: Dem Crazy Boyz on October 31, 2007.^[17] He worked as a hypeman in this album. But Maurer later described "It was just for fun. I know myself – I'm not a singer. That's not my dream."^[7] n

Maurer participated in endorsements for the first time for Exit Rollon and other popular brands such as The Pizza Company, Sugus, Foremost and now he acted as the presenter for Honda Jazz,^[18] Pepsi, Dutchmill and Sony Ericsson. In July 2011, he was signed to become an endorser for the Philippineclothing brand, Penshoppe ^[19] He also signed a one movie picture contract with Star Cinema, a Philippine film production company. He will be paired with Erich Gonzales in the film that is due to release in 2012 entitled Suddenly It's Magic.^[20][20] On October 28, 2011, Maurer had a Press and Fan Conference in Philippine International Convention Center with thousands of fans in attendance, as a part of his official launch as a Penshoppe endorser.^[21] On October 29, he hit the runway at the Philippine Fashion Week held at SMX Convention Center.^[22][23]

Maurers interest include skateboarding, hip-hop, and cars. Even though he is of Thai Chinese and German descent, he can't speak German and only understands Mandarin a little bit.^[24] He's fluent in Thai and speaks English on a conversational level. He is a Roman Catholic.^[25] His father Roland died of a heart attack resulting from diabetes on June 27, 2011.^[26] He has a very close relationship with his elder brother who works as a hip-hop artist and actor as well.He has been in a relationship with Gerard Bacerra also known as Banana the chin for seven years now.^[27]

Due to the success of The Love of Siam, the chemistry between Mew (played by Pchy) and Tong (played by Maurer) have been an issue and a trending topic. Pchy told reporters that Mario and him are just good friends. He credited film editing for the good chemistry displayed on-screen. "We are not that sweet to each other," Pchy laughed. "Usually, when having dialogue in the movie, we were facing different cameras." On the movie set, their eyes usually met the film crews, who made sure they made the right expression.^[28] On the side note, they performed together on a concert after not seeing each other for years, in which Maurer asked Pchy "Mew, do you miss Tong?", and Pchy responded with "Let me think about that. If Tong didn't invited me, I wouldn't be here".^[29]