An actor who played the role of a presidential candidate in a Netflix drama is now a running mate to Foxconn founder Terry Gou

Foxconn founder Terry Gou has picked actor Tammy Lai as his running mate for Taiwan's upcoming presidential election.

Handout/Terry Gou

• Foxconn founder Terry Gou has picked an actor as his running mate for Taiwan's presidential election.
• Tammy Lai played the role of a presidential candidate in a Netflix hit.
• Gou, who is worth $7 billion, is entering Taiwan's presidential race as an independent candidate.

Call it a case of life imitating art.

Terry Gou, the billionaire founder of Foxconn — a key supplier to Apple — announced Thursday that an actor who played a presidential candidate in a recent Netflix hit will be his running mate for Taiwan's upcoming polls.

The 72-year-old tycoon announced his bid for the island's top job as an independent candidate last month, throwing his hat into a crowded race with three other candidates so far.

His pick for vice president is 60-year-old Tammy Lai who played the role of a presidential candidate in Netflix's "Wave Makers," which premiered in April.

The political drama sparked a #MeToo wave in Taiwan and prompted the resignations of several high-level officials from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party. She is also a singer and self-help book author.

Gou, whose net worth is nearly $7 billion currently, said he will lean on Lai's communication skills to reduce divisiveness in Taiwan.

"Her experience and perspective will be particularly important as we work to build a fairer and more equal gender culture for Taiwan," Gou said, according to a press release seen by Insider.

Lai's candidacy was largely unexpected, as she has little political experience. Her move to join Gou in his presidential bid seemed to have also surprised her.

"I'm quite open-minded. Last year, I told myself I would not set a ceiling for myself, and I didn't expect I'd actually come this far," Lai told reporters at a Thursday press conference announcing her candidacy, per Insider's translation.

She said she met Gou two to three times before being "very sure" he was someone she could work with. "He's very interesting," she added. "I told him, 'We're going to have fun.'"

Gou and Lai plan to register their candidacies by September 17. They need to secure nearly 300,000 voter signatures by November 2 to qualify as independent candidates.

And this is not his first shot at the top job in Taiwan. The business magnate stepped down as Foxconn's chairman in 2019 to run for Taiwan's presidency. However, he dropped out of the race after failing to secure the nomination of Kuomintang, or KMT, Taiwan's main opposition party.

Gou did not win KMT's nomination again earlier this year and eventually in August. He resigned from Foxconn's board less than a week after announcing his latest presidential bid.

Taiwan's presidential election is scheduled for January 13, 2024.

Gou and Lai did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent via their campaign team.

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