Tayme Thapthimthong
Tayme Thapthimthong, also known as Maethi Thapthimthong, is an English-Thai actor. He is best known for his role as Gaitok in the third season of HBO series The White Lotus. Which earned his nomination in Actor Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series in 2026.
Early life and education
Thapthimthong was born in West London, England. His parents were from Thailand and ran a successful restaurant in Kensington. He has a younger brother.At age 13, Thapthimthong joined Combined Cadet Force, a youth training program run by the British Armed Forces. He became interested in joining the military, but his parents wanted him to get a university degree, so he studied dance at Kingston University.
Career
While at university, Thapthimthong worked as a nightclub bouncer. Still determined to join the military as a Royal Marine, he trained with a family friend who had been in the Special Air Service, but did not qualify for medical reasons.After this disappointment, his parents encouraged him to move to Thailand to live with his aunt and uncle. There, Thapthimthong worked briefly for two months as a hotel service manager. He then auditioned and was cast in the reality show and singing contest Academy Fantasia, finishing as runner-up and landing a record deal. Within a month, he landed his first acting role as Nung in the film Skin Trade.
After five years of minor roles in productions such as Farang and the Netflix series Thai Cave Rescue, Thapthimthong reevaluated his career choices. Around the same time, he received his Thai military conscription papers, and decided to join the Royal Thai Army. He served for six months as a conscript, being assigned to the Counter Terrorist Operations Center, before joining as an officer. He worked for the army's counter-terrorism team and spent time with the Armed Forces Security Centre, the Thai counterpart of MI6 or the CIA.
Three years later, Thapthimthong left the military for more lucrative work at private security companies., he did security for Thai-American hip-hop group Thaitanium.
Thapthimthong was still working security when he was cast as Gaitok in season three of the HBO series The White Lotus, which is set in Thailand. He credits castmate Lisa with helping him improve his Thai accent.
Thapthimthong had a small role as Anant, a security guard, in Alien: Earth, which was filmed in Thailand. According to series showrunner Noah Hawley, Thapthimthong filmed most of his scenes before the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike shut down production, and by the time be returned to finish filming, he had been cast in The White Lotus in a much bigger role — with a different hairstyle — requiring him to wear a helmet for his remaining Alien: Earth scenes to maintain continuity.