SEA Games 2025: Thai-American actor and baseballer Joe Daru eyes Hollywood ending in Bangkok
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Thailand's Joe Daru in action during a 6-4 win over Singapore in a SEA Games match on Dec 9.
ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO
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- Joe Daru, a Thai-American Hollywood actor, is playing baseball for Thailand at the SEA Games, aiming for gold after previous silver and bronze medals.
- He balances his acting career with his passion for baseball, proudly representing Thailand and inspiring fans, as seen by the cheers in the stadium.
- His baseball journey started in childhood, leading to NCAA Division 1, before transitioning to acting. He is now seeking a Games gold to complete his set.
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BANGKOK – Hollywood actor Joe Daru is used to supporting roles in hit television series like The Brothers Sun alongside Michelle Yeoh, Long Bright River with Amanda Seyfried and in blockbuster films such as Guardians Of The Galaxy.
At the 2025 SEA Games, the Thai-American is taking on a support role of a different kind, not as an on-screen talent but on the pitch as an outfielder for Thailand’s baseball team.
The 33-year-old and his teammates are chasing Thailand’s second SEA Games baseball crown, aiming to repeat the 2007 gold-medal triumph on home soil.
Silver medallists in 2005 and 2019 and third-placed finishers in 2011, Thailand’s latest campaign sees them in the final against the Philippines on Dec 12. Singapore take on Indonesia in the bronze-medal game on the same day.
All matches are played at the Queen Sirikit 60th Anniversary Baseball Stadium in Pathum Thani. On Dec 9, in a 6-4 preliminary-round triumph over Singapore, Daru’s widespread popularity among Thai supporters was evident as “Daru, Daru, Daru” echoed around the stadium.
This is his third Games appearance after competing in 2011 and 2019 – the last time the sport featured at the biennial event.
Daru said: “Firstly, I love Thailand. So any chance I get to come back and represent Thailand, I try to do it. I am so happy to be here.”
Thailand’s Joe Daru in action against Singapore in a SEA Games baseball match on Dec 9.
ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO
Born in Bangkok, Daru travelled the world at a young age.
His mother, Nongluck, a Thailand native, and father Terry, an American diplomat, moved often due to Terry’s work and the family has lived in Laos, Barbados, Hawaii, California, Florida and Washington.
But it was in Fort Lauderdale, where he found his passion for baseball at eight.
“We happened to move to a neighbourhood that had 15 kids who all loved baseball,” Daru recalled.
“I’m sure if they loved soccer, maybe I would be playing soccer right now, but they loved baseball.”
He and his neighbourhood friends would have after-school games and make regular trips to watch the Miami Marlins.
He did return to Thailand when he was in his early teens, when he went to an international school in Bangkok. At this time, his older brother Jack also started training with the Thai national team.
Daru said: “I would play games and help out when they needed an extra player and so that’s how the relationship with the Thai team started.”
But the pursuit of wanting to play in the major leagues led him to IMG Academy, a prestigious sports boarding school in Florida, where he developed his craft further.
He then spent four years of playing National Collegiate Athletic Association Division 1 baseball at the New York Institute of Technology.
But at 24, after a trial at the American professional baseball outfit Arizona Diamondbacks yielded no offers, he faced reality that time was running out.
“My goal was to play in the Major Leagues. I didn’t want to just play as long as I could, anywhere,” he explained. “So once I saw that window start to close, I really thought, what do I want to do next?”
He then decided to pursue his second passion – entertainment. He got into acting, with his parents supporting his decision to move to Los Angeles, the heart of the American film industry.
Joe Daru and Michelle Yeoh on set of The Brothers Sun, a TV show that is on Netflix.
PHOTO: IMDB
Drawing parallels between his sport and the grind behind his journey of becoming an actor, Daru said: “In baseball, you don’t get everything back with one swing. You chip away, you take what you can get. You work hard, and then before you know it, you present yourself for a big opportunity.
“In my first two years at LA, I did background – so you’d watch a movie and one of the blurry people in the back, that was me. I did it just so I could be around the environment. And then I started to think, what skill sets do I have? I’m athletic. I thought maybe I should do stunts, because stunts may give me acting opportunities.
“And then once stunt coordinators trusted me, they would allow me to audition to say one line in a TV show and then before you know it, now you have a credit.”
Those credits led to him getting an acting agent, who has opened doors to bigger roles. Daru’s biggest break came in 2025 with a six-episode arc on Long Bright River with the popular Seyfried.
Joe Daru and Amanda Seyfried in Episode 8 of Long Bright River, a American crime drama mini-series.
PHOTO: IMDB
The challenge today is balancing two careers separated by half a world. And while missing potential acting opportunities to compete is not easy, Daru wants to make the most of a “limited amount of time in your life to play baseball”.
His parents, now in their 60s and 70s, were in the stands watching their son and it is an experience he is grateful for. But he wants the Hollywood ending in Bangkok, saying: “I’ve got a bronze and a silver, so why not a complete set earned here in Thailand.”
