William Gao
English actor and musician
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
William Gao (Chinese: 高鑫; pinyin: Gāo Xīn; born 20 February 2003) is an English actor and musician. He is known for his debut role as Tao Xu in the Netflix series Heartstopper (2022–present), for which he was nominated for a Children's and Family Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Performance.[2]
William Gao | |||||||||
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高鑫 | |||||||||
Gao in 2025 | |||||||||
| Born | 20 February 2003[1] | ||||||||
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 2016–present | ||||||||
| Musical career | |||||||||
| Instruments | Piano • keyboard | ||||||||
| Member of | Wasia Project | ||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||
| Chinese | 高鑫 | ||||||||
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Gao and his younger sister Olivia Hardy formed a music duo called Wasia Project in 2019.[3][4]
Early life
Gao was born on 20 February 2003 and is from South Croydon.[5][6] He is the son of an English father and a Chinese mother who emigrated to England in her twenties.[7] He attended Trinity School,[8] where he completed A Levels in Chinese, music and drama in 2022. He took up classical piano at the age of 11[9] and was a member of Trinity Boys Choir.[10][11] He joined the National Youth Theatre in May 2019.[12]
After finding a casting call on his youth theatre's website, Gao auditioned and was cast as the character of Tao Xu in Heartstopper.[13]
Filmography
Film and television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022–present | Heartstopper | Tao Xu | Main role; 24 episodes |
| 2024 | Sunrise | Edward Loi | Film |
| 2025 | Breakwater | Matt | Film |
Theatre
| Year | Title | Role | Venue | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Shakespeare at 400 | Puck | Royal Festival Hall | [14] |
| A Midsummer Night's Dream | Cobweb | Glyndebourne | ||
| 2022 | The Trials | Xander | Donmar Warehouse | [15] |
Music videos
| Year | Title | Other artist | Director(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| As lead artist | ||||
| 2023 | "Petals on the Moon" | Wasia Project | Grace Pickering | |
| "Ur So Pretty" | Quinn Lovero | |||
| "Remember When" | Will Gao and Olivia Hardy | |||
| 2024 | "Takes Me Back" | N/a | ||
| "Somebody Come Through" | Charlie & Charlie | |||
| "To Get Better" | ||||
| Guest appearances | ||||
| 2024 | "Goddess" | Laufey | Celine Song | |
Accolades
| Award | Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Children's and Family Emmy Awards | 2022 | Outstanding Supporting Performance | Heartstopper | Nominated | [16] |
| Gay Times Honours | 2022 | On Screen Trailblazer | Won | [17] | |
