Joseph Chang Hsiau-Chuen 張孝全
Joseph Chang began appearing in commercials as a teenager and, after completing his military service, planned to leave the profession. He returned for Eternal Summer, won a Taipei Film Festival award for Girlfriend, Boyfriend, and went on to work in both film and television. Discussing his later roles, Chang recalls what pushed him to change his approach on set: a director's remark, an unexpected pause, or lines he had to learn to deliver all over again.
Joseph Chang was seventeen when someone approached him in the Taipei metro about appearing in a commercial. At the time, he wanted to earn his own money for the things he liked. When his mother took out a loan to buy a car, that was one more reason to take work while it was being offered. Chang had no idea yet that he would become an actor for life. Among his first notable roles was Crystal Boys, a Taiwanese series based on a novel about young people struggling to find their place in the city. Then Chang left to serve in the army and thought he would never act again.
He came back for Leste Chen's Eternal Summer. Joseph played Shane, a high-school basketball player. His friend Jonathan, played by Bryant Chang, understands what he feels but is not ready to say it out loud, while Shane long takes their closeness as something that goes without saying. For both actors, it was important to show how much already binds the boys together and why they are reluctant to put that at risk with an honest conversation. The role earned Joseph a Golden Horse nomination in two categories at once. Chang kept acting and a few years later appeared again in a story about love between friends. In Yang Ya-Che's Girlfriend, Boyfriend, his co-star was Kwai Lun-Mei. The characters come of age against the backdrop of a changing Taiwan and keep seeing each other even when it becomes clear that their youthful dreams cannot come true for all three. For the lead role, Chang won a Taipei Film Festival award. The jury especially noted how much he conveyed in silence.
He also appeared in the melodrama The Stolen Years, in the Taiwanese Soul, and in the Hong Kong action film Wild City. Over time, Chang was increasingly cast as characters who have to make sense of other people's actions. In The Victims' Game he played a forensic examiner. To prepare for the role, Chang studied case materials and learned how a morgue operates. What he remembered most from the shoot was the smell. In The Post-Truth World he played a TV anchor taken hostage by an escaped convict. Chang watched how anchors carry themselves on air: his character had to speak quickly and convincingly even without knowing what would happen a minute later. The role brought him another Golden Horse nomination.
By then, Chang had had a family for several years. He married in 2018, and that same year his son was born. Chang tried not to appear in public with his wife and child. He described what had changed simply: before, you could plan your day the way that suited you alone, but after a child is born you also have to think about how to spend time at home. He kept acting, but in interviews he spoke more and more willingly about how, on set too, you should not cling at any cost to what you originally had in mind.
In Yen Yi-Wen's Dog Man he played a former singer. At first Chang was pleased with his performance. Yen wrote to him that take after take he kept repeating the same device. Chang reread the script and began playing the role differently. In a 2026 interview he declined to reveal which device she had meant. Around the same time, he spoke about working on Shen Ko-Shang's Deep Quiet Room. The director might leave the camera running for another ten, twenty or thirty seconds after a line. Chang, whose gift for silence a festival jury had once singled out, found that he had to relearn how to hold a pause the way the director intended.
