| Jonathan Kos-Read | |
| Birth Place: | Torrance, California, U.S. |
| Occupation: | Actor |
Jonathan Kos-Read (born 1973), also known as Cao Cao, is an American film and television actor who has worked mostly in China. While well known in China, his work is little-known in the United States. Kos-Read uses the stage name Cao Cao, which is also the name of the penultimate chancellor of the Eastern Han dynasty, a historical figure well-known to most Chinese people.[1]
Kos-Read was born in Torrance, California, in 1973. He attended the film and acting schools of New York University, but completed his university career there studying molecular biology.[2] Kos-Read began studying Mandarin Chinese at New York University, and re-located to China in 1997. His first acting role was in 1999.
Kos-Read's roles have included: Kevin White in Princess Der Ling (2006), a cameo in Fit Lover (2008, also starring Nie Bing), Babi in My Fair Gentleman (2009, co-starring Kelly Lin and Sun Honglei), Pastor Landdeck in Empire of Silver (2009, also starring Aaron Kwok and Jennifer Tilly), Mark in (2015) and Alexander Cunningham in Xuanzang (2016). Kos-Read has also been featured on Here Comes Cao Cao, a reality program about his life broadcast on Beijing Television.[3] [4] The title of the show was a reference to the Chinese proverb "Speak of Cao Cao, and Cao Cao will be there" ("说曹操曹操就到"), roughly equivalent to the English saying, "Speak of the devil."[5] He has starred in more than 75 productions. As a Caucasian who is fully fluent in Mandarin Chinese, Kos-Read frequently appears as the foreign love interest or villain, in roles that sometimes present stereotypical images of non-Chinese people. In 2009, he also appeared on stage with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra in a Mandarin-language version of the orchestra's multi-media concert piece "The Galileo Project: Music of the Spheres," in performances in Kuala Lumpur and Beijing.[6] At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Kos-Read was one of those chosen to carry the Olympic torch on its way to the Olympic Stadium.[7]
Kos-Read had a successful career as a male model.
In 2021, Kos-Read published his first novel, The Eunuch, a mystery set in Imperial China.[8]
Kos-Read is married to a Chinese citizen, Li Zhiyin, with whom he has two daughters, Roxanne and Persephone.[9] While continuing to work in the Chinese film industry, he has relocated to Barcelona, Spain with his family.[8]