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[title]Let us tell you straight off: if someone in Thailand says they’ve never heard of Arak ‘Pae’ Amornsupasiri, I’d raise an eyebrow. He’s lived through so many chapters – starting out as a guitarist in Slur in the late ’90s, then branching into solo music and acting, and lately daring to helm his own films. His debut The Stone: Phra Tae Kon Ke didn’t just stir the Thai scene – it went international.
We found a fitting place to talk in one go: REC.Bangkok, the sleek Wireless Road bar we’ve taken over for the afternoon. Its dim lights, sharp corners and relaxed energy felt like the perfect backdrop for Pae’s many facets – cool, intense, playful.
Each role, a fresh mountain to climb
Pae isn’t someone you can pin down to one job description. Singer, actor, director – each title could be its own full-time career, yet he insists on doing all three. Not out of some restless inability to choose, but because every role offers him a new kind of friction to wrestle with. And he seems to enjoy the fight.
What links these identities is a stubborn urge to not simply meet expectations but to vault quietly over them. As an actor, he’s always battling that silent question: how do you satisfy the director, the writer or the creative who hired you? Sometimes their request is modest, almost underwhelming. Yet Pae wants to push further, or at the very least match the depth of what they had in mind.
When he switches to music, the challenge shapeshifts. He asks himself: how do you create something you love so much it feels almost private, while still letting listeners enter that space and recognise themselves in it? He’s not composing esoteric art pop designed to alienate. He’s writing songs people can actually feel. The tightrope is balance – his taste versus theirs.
Directing, though, is its own labyrinth. He calls it a stack of overlapping difficulties: crafting a story worth telling, making it viable on screen, leading a crew without burning them out, all while remembering films don’t live on purity alone – eventually, they have to earn money.
Music: the easiest truth
When I ask which role feels most natural, he doesn’t pause.
“Music’s probably the most me. Because it’s easiest to speak directly. The moment I tell something through it, it is me. It comes from inside me. I write, sometimes nearly solo, sometimes with a producer – but all the ideas begin with me.”
Directing may grant authority, but it’s still diluted by committee. Acting, meanwhile, is the act of loaning yourself to somebody else’s vision. Music is different. In music, Pae is the centre of gravity.
A role he hasn’t dared yet
He’s acted in countless films and dramas, and these days performance no longer feels like a test he has to pass. But one frontier remains unexplored.
‘Probably roles around gender… I’ve played characters with hidden queerness, but it’s different from being open about it. In Doy Boy, it was on the serious side. I wonder what it’d feel like to play someone openly queer. But would I do it justice? Someone living that life might do it better. Still, in terms of challenge, that would be the one.’
The hesitation is telling. It’s not fear of the role, but respect for its weight.
The Stone: stepping behind the camera
His leap into directing came from one story he couldn’t shake. The Stone wasn’t a vanity experiment. It was the sum of years observing Thai life, filtered through his own stubborn lens.
‘At first I never aimed that far. I was thinking how to make money in Thailand. I’ve been in films long enough to know that’s the safest route. I didn’t want my first film to flop, so I didn’t look beyond that.’
Yet against expectation, the film found itself abroad. Not the hushed, chin-stroking indie festival circuit, but something rowdier – screenings paired with parties, a setting that suited his personality as much as his directorial style.
“It proved our ideas had something distinct. And its Thai-ness had charm to those overseas.”
He didn’t stumble into this with wide eyes. He’d already been studying the industry, already drafted scripts that never saw daylight. The Stone simply became the one he was ready to stand behind. And more films are on the horizon, even if they’ll arrive alongside albums and acting projects.
Changing modes, growing up
For Pae, these shifts between music, acting and directing aren’t just new costumes. They’re markers of how he’s aged into his work. As a musician, he could move like a mischievous teenager, unbound. Directing forced a different posture.
‘Once you’re the director, you’re adulting. At 40 you can’t slack. I got coaching from the producer (Pawin ‘Golf’ Purījitpanya), helping me become a more mature director. Words carry weight. You can’t act silly or let emotions run wild.’
The transition sounds less like artistic growth and more like becoming the responsible one at the party.
A signature, unapologetically his
Pae insists on dodging trends, almost out of spite.
“I guess I’m good at dodging what existed before. I try not to follow. What they like, I probably won’t. What they dismiss as uncool, I’ll call cool.”
Take amulets. To most young people they’re relics – your aunt’s dusty talisman. Pae decided they were ripe for a rethink.
‘So I thought – why not wear one? Ours are cooler anyway. I brought those elements in. It began from wanting to look cool, but it turned into a deeper storytelling choice.’
It’s a neat example of how his instincts work: frivolity first, then substance sneaks in after.
When it comes to actors, his directing philosophy is compromise.
‘I’ll explain background and intent, but the performance must merge both visions. Sometimes actors bring ideas, we revise. Sometimes they just nail it on the spot.’
It’s a lesson learned from years in front of the camera himself. He knows that sometimes the actor sees the character more vividly than the director ever could. Which is why casting, to him, is the make-or-break.
“If casting’s right, the film carries itself. If wrong, even the best script struggles.”
As for film number two? He grins.
‘I’m working on it. Sometimes it’s not pure will – it’s timing and opportunity. I’m also doing an album and acting. Lucky I have ‘Bee’ Wuttipong helping. I don’t carry the full burden; he handles part too.’
A musician who never quits
Even as directing swallows his schedule, music refuses to fade. He keeps releasing songs, even when he admits they’re not cash cows. Acting income gives him the cushion to make records on his own terms. His label, too, has been patient – loyal even when profits were slim.
“I just make. I do strange stuff. Folk, then rock ’n’ roll, then electronic for a spell, now back to country. Whatever strikes me – music without a leash.”
His latest album, Broken Heart, Addicted, Dog Died, carries his familiar rawness. Inspiration is almost always borrowed from life or people close by.
‘If love fails, your looks don’t cut it, age creeping – why not try money?’ he jokes, talking about the track ‘Sugar Daddy’.
It’s this odd combination – sardonic humour wrapped around genuine feeling – that gives his songs their bite.
From ring to business: Long Nuam Boyz
Many also remember Pae for something else entirely: Muay Thai. What began as a one-off fight on 10 Fight 10 morphed into a fashion label, Long Nuam Boyz, launched with friends. Its motto, ‘Everyone Can Fight’, is less about roundhouse kicks than spirit – a community for people who want to channel that fighter’s grit into everyday life, and clothes you can actually wear.
So, does he see entertainment as a boxing ring?
‘Not brutal, honestly. My nose’s safe. If you’ve fought in a ring, you know that fear’s unique. Our stories don’t draw attention like theirs do, so you can slip sometimes – just not often. If you’re ultra famous you can’t afford slip ups. Sometimes silence is stronger than speaking. So no, it’s way less scary than an actual fight.’
And the song he’d pick for his walk-on? He barely lets me finish the question.
‘‘Don’t Mess With Fire’, my own song. It’s the wildest I’ve ever made. Out of 60-odd songs – why pick another? Or Mai Thong Tum Rok Boon’ – used it in 10 Fight 10. Lost. He laughs.
Nailing down a legacy
In five years, how would you most want to be remembered?
“Wow… ‘the most’ you ask? I want to be known as a director who knocks out three hit films in a row. In five years maybe two more.”
He laughs.
The answer might sound lofty, but it’s consistent with everything else: for Pae, directing feels like the role that points his compass. Music and acting will never vanish – they’re too stitched into him. But directing is where he wants to leave a mark, where income isn’t just survival but proof he’s truly arrived.
From the ring to the studio, from front of stage to behind the camera, each shift has chiselled him into a cooler, stronger version of himself. And he’s still charging forward, dreams intact, momentum unbroken.
Photographer: STYLEdeJATE @styledejate
Art director: PK Vanasirikul @peeekks
Assistant photographer: Eric D’ Geno @erinaerielle
Lighting: Stoppie Pumipat @thananchailoha @advancedphotosystems
Senior designer: Methita Trakulpoonsub @methitaa
Project manager: Sirinart Panyasricharoen @tibabit
Writer: Yokploy Chandrabha @tmyokploy
Translator: Pinghyu
Video: Supathat Thardrak @gunnst__
Video editor: Supathat Thardrak @gunnst__
Photos: STYLEdeJATE @styledejate
Stylist: Mathimon Intharasuwan @chubbyz_gt
Stylist assistant: Nithikorn Moolyongsak @pepetchyy
Hair stylist: Pornwasu Huamrun @Papalapom
Makeup artist: Chatchanok Natengampak @mameaw.everyday @ngampak.makeup
Location: REC. Bangkok
Talent Coordinator: Daniel Van Norden
Concept: Laurie Osborne @laurieosborne