Reading out our music video requests with fellow Thai MTV VJ Sonia Couling. Photo: Courtesy of Utt Panichkul
But his journey towards VJ stardom meant leaving the U.S. for Thailand where MTV was holding casting calls. “That was my chance,” Panichkul said. And it would turn out to become the biggest competition of his life. In Bangkok, he went up against over 200 other hopefuls from across Thailand. “You either had it or you didn’t.” And after six gruelling rounds of auditions, Panichkul was shortlisted and flown to Singapore where he was thrown in with other hosts on live TV. “Then I got the call and the rest is history.” The popularity of VJ Utt peaked across Southeast Asia in the early 2000s, winning him fans not just in Thailand but also in Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines, where he appeared in magazines and on billboards. “It was incredible representing Southeast Asia,” Panichkul said. “Kids back then would rush home from school to turn on MTV and wait for music videos from their favorite bands. I loved that part, knowing that I played a part promoting music from [the TV set] in someone’s living room or bedroom.”“I knew early on back then that I wanted to be an MTV VJ. And I badly wanted them to start in Asia.”
VJ Utt. Photo: Courtesy of Utt Panichkul
Interviewing Canadian pop punk band Simple Plan at the 2004 MTV Asia Awards. Photo: Luis Enrique Ascui, Getty Images
VJ Utt with Lady Gaga. Photo: Courtesy of Utt Panichkul
He then entered a Buddhist monastery where he embraced his spiritual side and was ordained as a monk. “It was a natural rite of passage for me,” he said. “I held it off for so long because of MTV and I knew that when I returned to Thailand, it was what I had to do. The time was right.”“I was an introvert whose asset was being a public persona, and I needed to find the right balance of being Utt again.”
Chilling at home with his many rescued dogs. Photo: Courtesy of Utt Panichkul
Utt today. Photo: Courtesy of Utt Panichkul
