After years in front of the camera, Mike Angelo is taking more control, following curiosity wherever it leads him next.

Mike Angelo started working before most teenagers had figured&nbsp;out what they wanted to do. He broke into entertainment as&nbsp;a teenager, tagging along with his elder brother Golf Pichaya&nbsp;in the pop duo Golf &amp; Mike. Music gave him an early crash&nbsp;course in performing, touring, and living under a spotlight.&nbsp;Acting followed soon after, and before long he was looking at&nbsp;opportunities well beyond from Thailand. “I started working a lot overseas when I was about 16,” he&nbsp;says. Since then he’s moved between Thailand, China, and&nbsp;international productions, resetting each time for different&nbsp;cultures, languages, and ways of working. That experience&nbsp;changed how he thinks about his career. Every country&nbsp;demanded something different, from learning how a new set&nbsp;operated to finding his footing in places where he knew no one. Looking back, those experiences shaped him most. “Every&nbsp;new country pushed me to&nbsp;become more adaptable and&nbsp;more confident,” he says. The&nbsp;moments that intimidated&nbsp;him at the time turned out to&nbsp;be the ones that taught him&nbsp;the most.

That restlessness is pulling&nbsp;him behind the camera now.&nbsp;After years of acting, Mike&nbsp;has jumped into production — a move so fresh that when&nbsp;you ask when it started, he just&nbsp;says, “Right now.”&nbsp;The project’s been in&nbsp;development since the&nbsp;beginning of the year, and&nbsp;filming’s already underway. It feels less like a reinvention than&nbsp;the latest extension of a career built on curiosity, adaptation and&nbsp;a willingness to try something before he feels entirely ready.&nbsp; Here, Mike shares with us how adaptability builds confidence&nbsp;and what he’s figuring out now that he’s helping shape stories&nbsp;from the producer’s side.

L’OFFICIEL HOMMES: How has being a producer changed the way you&nbsp;look at your work as an actor? MIKE ANGELO: Well, as an actor, you only care about your&nbsp;performance. However, as a producer, you are responsible for&nbsp;the entire production. It made me aware of the significant&nbsp;amount of behind-the-scenes work involved. It has given me a&nbsp;much deeper appreciation for everyone involved. And, indeed, I&nbsp;recently wondered, why am I putting myself in this role? Being&nbsp;a producer is quite difficult, especially for me as a producer. You&nbsp;take care of everything. My personality is such that I cannot&nbsp;just say yes to anything that is not flawless. So sometimes, even&nbsp;small details, which some people might dismiss as minor, are&nbsp;important to me. And I’m like, no, we can’t.&nbsp; It is challenging, but I also have to adapt to it. I must learn&nbsp;to make compromises, as it is not always about my personal&nbsp;preferences. I need to take into account cost and time. I have&nbsp;noticed that I tend to prefer doing everything myself, including&nbsp;scripts, costumes, and lighting.&nbsp; For example, sometimes I’d be running yelling, Where is my&nbsp;glove? Where is my jacket? And, like, where’s the light? Bring&nbsp;me this brightness. Where is the smoke? And I would end up&nbsp;taking up the light and putting it in place myself. LOH: Would you say you find it hard to delegate? MA: I just feel like I prefer to manage things myself. I understand&nbsp;that a team may accomplish&nbsp;these tasks, but I still feel that&nbsp;it would be quicker for me to&nbsp;pick them up and place them&nbsp;where I want. I had all these&nbsp;visions in my mind, and it&nbsp;would be more efficient and&nbsp;faster if I simply picked up the items and placed them myself.

LOH: After spending so many&nbsp;years in the industry, what&nbsp;makes a project feel worth saying&nbsp;yes to now? MA: What makes me agree&nbsp;to a project? Wow, this is a&nbsp;difficult question. It can also&nbsp;be about relationships, such&nbsp;as friendships. Like, if a friend&nbsp;asked me to participate in a project that I found fascinating, I&nbsp;might think, “Who knows what could happen?” So sometimes&nbsp;I do it because I know it’s not only good but the process is going&nbsp;to be fun. At this stage, I just want to do something that makes&nbsp;me happy. If I’m not happy, I won’t do anything. I’ve had a lot&nbsp;of unpleasant experiences, so I would know. [Laughs] Most of the time, it’s about the character and the script. I have&nbsp;to be able to imagine what I will be like in this role. And I have&nbsp;to ask myself, if I want to bring this character to life, what can&nbsp;I provide to the part and the audience.&nbsp; One of the reasons I chose to pursue a career in producing&nbsp;is that I wanted to play a character I had envisioned. This&nbsp;decision is because I wanted to play the role that I could see&nbsp;myself doing. I have not yet been able to accomplish my goal,&nbsp;and this approach allows me to create and perform the role&nbsp;that I truly desire.

"Everything deserves my energy. I mean, if it’s work, it deserves my effort. It’s my love to accomplish all ofnthese, including producing and directing." - Mike Angelo

LOH: What is your definition of success&nbsp;— and do you think you have&nbsp;achieved it? MA: People would look at me and say, “Oh, you’re so successful,”&nbsp;etcetera. But sometimes I feel as if I hadn’t really started. I’m&nbsp;still at the first rung all the time. I do not know, but that’s&nbsp;exactly how I feel. They’d say, “You go from Thailand to China&nbsp;and you even starred in The Misfits alongside Pierce Brosnan,&nbsp;which is huge." But, I still don't feel I have achieved success yet.&nbsp;I mean, I’m constantly setting new goals, and perhaps that’s&nbsp;why I just feel like I’m never going to be successful, but I believe&nbsp;when I get there, I’ll know it. LOH: As an actor today, you’re expected to do everything from acting,&nbsp;creating content. How do you decide what deserves your energy? MA: Everything deserves my energy. I mean, if it’s work, it&nbsp;deserves my effort. It’s my love to accomplish all of these,&nbsp;including producing and directing. I enjoy what I do. I can&nbsp;concentrate on it without tapping my phone. I can work in&nbsp;front of my computer for about 14 hours without touching my&nbsp;phone. And everyone is like, “Where have you gone? As if you&nbsp;had disappeared”&nbsp;— when I’d just been in front of my computer, doing my work and editing it.

LOH: Do you consider yourself a risk taker?&nbsp; MA: Yeah, I’m definitely a risk taker. LOH: And would it be right to say that everything has turned out fine? MA: Life is short. Just do whatever you want, and I mean, I left&nbsp;everything behind and flew from Thailand to China without&nbsp;knowing the language and started working there.&nbsp;Everything was so new to me. It was basically like starting from&nbsp;scratch, but that's how I got further. Then there's the ability to&nbsp;accept challenges and understand that you'll have to start over. LOH: How would you describe your personal fashion style? MA: All black. It’s a joke among my friends. If I wear bright&nbsp;colours, they'll be like, “Oh my God, it’s going to rain today.”&nbsp;They don’t even have to guess what colour clothes I’m going to&nbsp;wear because they know it’s going to be black. [Laughs] LOH: Are you currently working on anything exciting that you can&nbsp;share with us? MA: I’m filming a series that I’m producing, directing, and acting&nbsp;in; I’m doing everything.&nbsp;The releasing date is yet to be confirmed. I want my fans to stay&nbsp;tuned because I haven’t done a series in quite some time. I want&nbsp;all my fans to watch it because it’s more than just a series; it shows&nbsp;it’s more than just a series and that it represents my dedication and passion. I do this because I want to make a change.

Photography CHEE WEI Creative Direction &amp; Styling COLIN SIM Words JOHN NG Makeup NATTAGORN RATTANAPONG Hair Styling PUNYAWEE CHANTHON Production GREY CHIN Fashion Coordinator SHAHIRA BAHARIN Production Assistant PENNY PANITHAN PRASONGSANTI Photography Assistants&nbsp;THANAKIT MEECHAROEN &amp; THANAKORN KANTAPONTHANAT

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October 2026 Cover: Inside Mike Angelo's creative mind

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