Witwisit Hiranyawongkul

Early life

Witwisit Hiranyawongkul, popularly nicknamed "Phit" (Thai: พิช, also written "Pitch" or "Pchy"), was born and raised in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

He attended a Catholic school Montfort College at an early age and spent 12 years there. A talented singer, Phit was the lead singer in his high school band. Music has always been a big part of his life. Phit enjoys hip hop, R&B, gospel and soul music. He plays the piano and composes music in his free time.

Besides music, Witwisit is also a fan of the Japanese manga series Nodame Cantabile and Lomography. He brought his camera to the set of The Love of Siam.

His favourite quote is "No one is perfect."

Student life

Phit attended Montfort College, a prestigious school in Chiang Mai. He entered the Thai entertainment business at the age of 17 while he was still in grade 12. He was discovered in his hometown by Chukiat Sakweerakul, writer and director of The Love of Siam. Chukiat is an alumnus of Montfort College and met Phit because of their common music interests.

At his 12th grade, Phit decided that he would major in Communications at University. In one interview, he expressed, "I like to write and tell stories, my friends always tell me they enjoy reading what I write." He was admitted to the Faculty of Communications, Chiang Mai University.

He declined the offer because he had already started filming The Love of Siam at that time and knew that if he wanted to continue being in the entertainment business, he would have to move to Bangkok. Later, he was admitted to the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communications, Thammasat University, Bangkok. He started his first year of university around mid 2007 and concentrated on film/screen writing, he graduated in 2011.

Music career

Phit has been involved in music since his early years. His first public work was singing the original soundtrack song for the movie Khao Niew Moo Ping. In The Love of Siam soundtrack, he also contributed several songs. He even composed the music and wrote the lyrics of the song "Roo suek barng mhai" (Do you feel...?). Phit explained that he found inspiration to write the song after his friend consulted him about a love problem.

The on-screen August has also become a real band with Phit as the lead singer. Phit and August started their group career by singing and playing in The Love of Siam's promotional events. Soon organisers wanted the band to play at music festivals and many other events. The audiences were impressed by the young band member's ability to play instruments and their teenage energy. Phit is proven to be excellent singing live and a good stage entertainer. The 13-member band (including Phit) released their first album August*Thanx as a band in February 2008. Their first full album Radiodrome was released in December 2008. On January 10, Phit recorded "Miss", the interlude in film Love on That Day which Mario Maurer be in as the leading role.

The price of fame

The Love of Siam was filmed from December 2006 to early 2007. Phit had to travel back and forth between Chiang Mai and Bangkok for the filming. Between the time the movie was completed and released, Phit completed his high school and moved to Bangkok to attend Thammasat University and live as an ordinary student. After The Love of Siam was released in late November 2007, Phit became famous almost instantly, especially among young Thais. Soon his fans started to search for information, followed him to all the events he attended, taking thousands of photos and posted on the internet. Some went as far as following him to his dormitory. Phit was initially very uncomfortable with the attention. He told a reporter, "I would like to go back and live a normal life." Also, he mentioned that he would prefer working behind the scenes in the future.

Fortunately, Phit seemed to have adjusted to his new life. In one of his interviews, he commented "I appreciate my fans, it's nice to know they are following my work. They had understood me and kept the right distance." Several fanclub websites have been set up and Phit occasionally writes or replies to his fans on the webboard.

Phit and Mario

One of the factors contributing to The Love of Siam's success is the chemistry between Mew and Tong, played by Mario Maurer, now a rising star in Thailand. Phit told reporters 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," Phit laughed. "Usually, when having dialogue in the movie, we were facing different cameras." On the movie set, Phit's eyes usually met the film crews, who made sure he made the right expression.

Acting

In 2008, Phit appeared in Thai R&B singer Nasnan's music video "Hak Tur Mod Rak" (If You Have Lost Your Love), as the singer's love interest. In the video, Phit plays Nasnan's boyfriend whose love starts to wane and who becomes involved with another girl. In one of the scenes, he is slapped in the face by Nasnan.

Phit also starred in a short film Dopamine, which was also directed by Chukiat Sakweerakul. The film explains the meaning of love from a scientific point of view.

Chukiat Sakweerakul announced during an interview in June 2008 that there will be a new movie from Ba-ram-ewe Production (which produced Love of Siam) with Phit and August band members as the main characters. The movie is about teenagers and their love and dreams. The filming is scheduled to start in June–July 2008. The film's name has been released in August 2008 as Fun-Hwan-Ey-Joob meaning "Dream-Sweet-Shy-Kiss" or code name 4 Romance Project. It is composed of 4 short films with names, Fun, Hwan, Ey, Joob respectively. Phit and August Band will act in the Fun (Dream) film. Fellow stars from Love of Siam also act in this project, with Mario Maurer in "Joob" (Kiss) and Kanya Rattanapetch, who played Ying in Love of Siam, will act in "Ey" (Shy). The initiative ceremony of the film was on August 27, 2008, marking formal start of the filming. The movie was released on December 25, 2008.

Phit acted in a Thai series on Channel 3, Thailand. The name of the series is Sai Sueb Delivery (Detective Delivery). It was aired from February to March 2009. Phit played "Taewit" a step nephew of the male lead. The role was challenging for Phit as in the beginning Taewit was a regular cheerful teenager. However, later he was heart-broken by an older girl and he turned into a troubled teenager and even used drug. The series also showed Taewit with a great number of dramatic emotional scenes with his onscreen mother. Although Taewit was a supporting role, it has proven that Phit is a versatile and talented actor.

Music

Phit continues to sing on stage regularly with his band, August.

To create widespread awareness about the campaign, Dove has invited Phit and Chukiat Sakweerakul to compose and sing a very special song titled "Chao Wan Mai" (Better Morning). The song was composed especially for Dove and reflects Dove’s commitment to empowering women, for them to gain more self-confidence, feel good about themselves, and encourage them into making something good for themselves and society every morning. The CD, which is not for sale, will be given to women throughout Bangkok, together with Dove Therapy System with Repairing Serum samples.

August Band also appeared in a TV commercial for Mama instant noodles.

Phit wants to concentrate on his studies: "If the job offered is in conflict with my studies, I won't take it." Chukiat who is also songwriter and producer for August told Lips Magazine that Phit really feels part of August band and he would not take job offers that ask him to go solo. As Thai schools are in summer break between March–early June 2008, August (whose members are all students) has held several mini-concerts in Bangkok. The Band also played an auditorium concert in Chiang Mai on 5–6 April 2008.

Spending most of their weekends practicing music, the August band continues to perform on stage regularly. The band plans to release their second album in October–November 2008. August's new album has been named Radiodrome. The first single Sunshine has been aired on radio starting from August 27, 2008 (on FMMax 94.5) and September 1, 2008 (for all radio stations). The full album Radiodrome was released in December 2008. August held a lot of miniconcerts in Bangkok and also one in Chiang Mai. The Band successfully held their first big concert "August Let's Swing Aha! Aha!" on March 7, 2009 in JJMall.

Phit also sings a theme song for a stage play by his university faculty. The stage play is called Dear Passenger and start showing in September 2008. The theme song is called "Peek" (Wings).

The popularity of Phit/August Band has spread to countries like China, Indonesia, The Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam and United States. Witwisit Hiranyawongkul has been performing with the August Band at numerous countries across Asia.

In November 2010, August Band released their brand new single, Summer. On May, 11th, 2012, Phit appeared in Tian Sheng Yi Dui of Hunan TV to do charity. During the show, he sang 3 Chinese songs, "Qing Fei De Yi", with Zhou Bi Chang, "Gan Lan Shu" with Chen Xiang, and "Shang Hai Tan" himself which left a deep impression to the audience.

Acting

In 2008, Witwisit was nominated in the Best Actor category in the Thailand National Film Association Awards for his breakthrough role in The Love of Siam. He was the youngest nominee in the category. Although he eventually lost to Akara Amarttayakul, he was happy to be nominated. He was also nominated in the Best Actor category in the Critics Assembly Award. Phit received Chalermthai award in the Lead Actor in Thai Film Category. Chalermthai is an award session held by Pantip.com, one of the most popular websites in Thailand. The Chalermthai awards were judged by voting from the website's members across Thailand.

Music

August Band won Popular New Artist Award at Channel V Music Video Awards 2009.

Commercial