In this August 12, 2013, file photo, actor Godfrey Gao arrives at the world premiere of "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones" at the ArcLight Cinerama Dome in Los Angeles. (Photo by Dan Steinberg/Invision/AP)
HONG KONG (AP) --
Taiwanese-Canadian model-actor Godfrey Gao has died after suffering an apparent heart attack while on set in China.
Gao was filming a sports reality show in the eastern Chinese city of Ningbo on Wednesday when he died. His agency, JetStar Entertainment, confirmed his death on its official Facebook page.
The 35-year-old was filming "Chase Me," a Chinese variety series, when he reportedly fell while running. He was rushed to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, according to his agency.
The Taiwan-born Gao initially rose to fame by becoming the first Asian male model for the luxury brand Louis Vuitton. He acted in numerous television dramas and movies, including a role in the Hollywood film "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones."
His body will be transported Wednesday to Taipei, Taiwan's capital.
Ashley Walters, left, and Rosalind Eleazar pose for photographers at a photo call for the television series "Missing You," Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, in London. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
It's Netflix's resolution every new year to give viewers a headscratcher in January.
Since 2020, the streamer has released a U.K. miniseries based on thriller book by Harlan Coben over the holidays. It seems to have paid off: "Fool Me Once," starring Michelle Keegan, Adeel Akhtar and Joanna Lumley, launched this past January and became what Netflix says was one of their most watched shows of the year, amassing 108 million views.
2025's seasonal suspense series is "Missing You," based on Coben's 2014 New York Times bestseller. It stars Rosalind Eleazar ("Slow Horses") as Detective Inspector Kat Donovan, a police officer who specializes in finding missing people — apart from the fiance that vanished 11 years earlier.
"They know Jan. 1 is the sweet spot for them," says actor Richard Armitage, who has appeared in each winter Coben adaptation, which relocates the stories from the books' America to the north of England. "People have ownership over the show now, so like, 'I want my Harlan Coben show on New Year's Day. Give me my Harlan Coben fix.'"
"It's perfect timing for the release, to be honest," says co-star Ashley Walters. "Most people are going to be hung over or, you know, just not have anything to do with the day."
The show opens with the shock of Donovan's ex-fiance (Walters) popping up on a dating app, over a decade after she came home one day to find him gone.
"I've ghosted people before," laughs Armitage. "Just people you don't want to talk to anymore. Not digitally though."
Another star, Jessica Plummer, isn't a fan of those who disappear without saying goodbye, though.
"I'd just feel too guilty," she admits, calling it "cowardly and lazy — sorry Richard!"
