Craig Taro Gold | |
|---|---|
 Gold at the opening ofArt Basel Hong Kong 2013 | |
| Born | November 1969 (age 55) |
| Other names | KinTarō (金太郎)(in Japan) |
| Alma mater | Soka University of Tokyo, Japan |
| Occupation(s) | Entertainer, author, singer-songwriter, entrepreneur |
| Years active | 1980–present |
| Notable work | Happiness Becomes You Open Your Mind, Open Your Life Living Wabi Sabi The Tao of Mom The Tao of Dad What is Love? The Diamond You |
| Spouse | |
| Relatives | Sean D. Tucker (Cousin) |
| Website | tarogold |
Craig Taro Gold (born November 1969), known asTaro Gold, is an American author, entertainer, singer-songwriter, and entrepreneur.[1] He is the author of severalNew York Times best-selling books includingOpen Your Mind, Open Your Life andLiving Wabi Sabi.[2] He is the co-author withTina Turner of theAtria Books releaseHappiness Becomes You: A Guide to Changing Your Life for Good.[3][4] He is also the co-founder of a number of technology companies includingeVoice,Teleo and other business ventures.
Gold attended aMontessori education preparatory academy from the age of 2, andTorrey Pines High School in his hometown ofDel Mar, California. At age 15, he spent an academic year as anAFS Intercultural Programs scholar inCanberra andBrisbane, Australia.[5] He earned a Bachelor of Science degree fromSoka University in Tokyo, Japan, where he studied economics, psychology, and philosophy, graduatingsumma cum laude in 1994. Gold earned the distinction of becoming the first American man to graduate from Soka University.[6][7] Hispostgraduate education included international relations and Spanish at theUniversity of Salamanca inSpain,[8] then screenwriting and computer graphics and graphic design at UCLA.[9][10]
Gold's career in entertainment began at an early age when he appeared in Broadway musicals as a child. He performed in the first national tour of the Broadway musicalEvita, directed byHal Prince, between 1980 and 1982.[11] At age 12, after more than 700 performances with the show, Gold left the cast.[11]
In 1982, Gold was cast as the lead role of Jason by directorJames Lapine in theLos Angeles production of the Broadway musicalMarch of the Falsettos. Gold played the son of Marvin and Trina (played byMichael Rupert andMelanie Chartoff).[12] In 1983, Gold won a spot in the original teen troupe ofThe Groundlings, where he studied and performedimprov at Groundlings Theatre in Los Angeles.[5] In 1984, he was cast as the starring character of John in the world premiere of the musicalPeter Pan[13] at thePantages Theatre in Hollywood.
From the mid-1980s to mid-1990s, Gold also worked as voice-over artist for theDisney Channel, as a print model for PUMA sportswear and Versace men's underwear, as an actor in Duncan Hines commercials, and appeared on anNBC television special withClint Eastwood.[14][15]
In Japan, Gold produced a 14-track solo album titledThe Diamond You, which was released in Asia by Virgin Music Japan in 2008.[16] Several tracks from the album appear in Sony PlayStation video games, includingVibes.[17]
In 2020,Tina Turner selected the title song from Gold's album, titledThe Diamond You, for the soundtrack to Turner's memoirHappiness Becomes You. The soundtrack was published byGraydon Carter'sAir Mail digital magazine and onSpotify.[18][19]
Gold executive producedOut in the Line-Up, an independent documentary film following two friends on a global journey to discover the emergingLGBT acceptance in international surf culture. The film premiered on February 20, 2014, at the Sydney Mardi Gras Film Festival in Australia, where it won the "Best Documentary" audience award. It went on to win "Best Film" at festivals including the 2014 Newport Beach Film Festival and the 2014 San Diego Surf Film Festival, and "Best Documentary" at the 2014 London Film Festival.
In 2021, Gold served as a consultant on the HBO documentary filmTina, about the life ofTina Turner, and in 2022 he produced the short filmMasaru, about the challenges of a gay Japanese-American boy growing up between the culture clash of Japanese and American societal expectations.[20][21]Masaru was awarded the Best Short Fiction Film award at the 2022Málaga Film Festival in Spain.[22]
Gold is aNew York Times best-selling author[23] of numerous books published byAndrews McMeel Publishing.[24] His books have sold more than two million copies and have been published in eleven languages worldwide.[25] His first book,Open Your Mind, Open Your Life, was released in 2001 and became a perennial best seller that was published in English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Hebrew, Japanese, and Korean. The book received a strong endorsement from Arun Gandhi, director of the Gandhi Institute and grandson ofMahatma Gandhi, who said ofOpen Your Mind, Open Your Life: "This book will enlighten and ennoble the reader."[26] The book's cover was created by Gold and designer Laura Shaw, and its depiction of purple irises became an iconic image of Gold's literary work that later influenced the development of a Taro Gold brand logo.[27]
Gold's bookLiving Wabi Sabi: The True Beauty of Your Life received a Benjamin Franklin Literary Award and was a recommended read byTime magazine, featured in aTime holiday gift guide,[28] and subsequently featured in aTime article on Asian aesthetic philosophies.[29] In 2018,Tina Turner toldThe New York Times that Gold'sLiving Wabi Sabi was one of her all-time favorite books of inspiration.[30]
In 2011, British journalistMarcel Theroux presented "In Search of Wabi Sabi" onBBC Four as part of the channel'sHidden Japan programming, beginning by enacting a challenge from Gold's bookLiving Wabi Sabi to "ask people on a Tokyo street to describe Wabi Sabi."[31] Theroux showed that, as Gold predicted, "they will likely give you a polite shrug and explain that Wabi Sabi is simply unexplainable."[32]
Gold'sWhat is Love? A Simple Guide to Romantic Happiness received a Book of the Year Award fromForeWord Reviews.What is Love? and Gold's other works have been cited by various authors including in the booksEven June Cleaver Would Forget The Juice Box[33] andWisdom For The Soul.[34] All of Gold's books have received endorsements and positive reviews fromPublishers Weekly.[35]
Gold has written essays for magazines and newspapers includingThe Advocate,[36] theWorld Tribune,Tricycle: The Buddhist Review,Parabola,[37] andBeliefnet.[38] He also served as an associate editor for three years withLiving Buddhism, a publication where he was a regular contributor.
In 2022, Gold's dialogue withHerbie Hancock,Wayne Shorter, andEsperanza Spalding was published under the title "The Sounds of Freedom: A dialogue on the poison of racism, the medicine of jazz, and a Buddhist view of life." The dialogue became Wayne Shorter's final published work during his lifetime, and appears in the book "Slavery and Its Consequences," which was edited byRev. Dr. Lawrence E. Carter Sr., founding dean of theMartin Luther King Jr. International Chapel atMorehouse College.[39]
Gold has been involved in many business ventures beyond entertainment and writing. His entrepreneurial career began in 2000 when he co-founded the telecommunications companyeVoice, which provided the world's first large-scale, Internet-enabled voicemail system with products including voicemail-to-email, visual voicemail and enhanced caller ID innovations. TheseVoice over IP innovations were the foundation for future apps deployed by Google Voice and Apple. During this time, Gold helped innovate a voice recognition technology known as Vodex.[40] eVoice was acquired byAOL in 2001 and became part of the AOL voice services group.[41] The company was then purchased byj2 Global.[42]
After AOL's acquisition of eVoice, Gold became the founding CEO of Call Forwarding Services (CFS), an internet startup that provided white label VoIP communications services toAT&T,MCI Inc. andQwest. CFS was acquired by Qwest in 2002.[citation needed]
In 2005, Gold helped launch another communications startup calledTeleo. The company provided a VoIP system enabling desktop and laptop users to send and receive phone calls over the Internet. Teleo was acquired byMicrosoft in 2006 and became part of Microsoft's MSN group.[43]
As a Silicon Valleyangel investor, Gold has helped raise funds for several successful startup companies including CallCast (acquired byLiveOps in 2003), andIronPort (acquired byCisco in 2007 for US$830 million).[44][40]
In 2008, Gold ventured into the health and fitness app development market as the founding CEO of WebDiet.[45] The patented technology of WebDiet uses mobile phones to count food consumption and was the first app to count calories and automate meal coaching.[2] Weight loss companyNutrisystem used WebDiet's technology.[46]
In 2014, Gold helped launch Vusay,[47] a social media platform that madeYouTube and other online videos more interactive and viral, allowing users to add comments that highlight specific moments in videos, then seamlessly share them onTwitter andFacebook.[48]
In 2016, Gold became an advisory board member of Averon,[citation needed] which develops cybersecurity solutions and artificial intelligent applications.
Gold's philanthropic activities have included private sponsorship of underprivileged students in Asia and South America.[49] He is also a long-time supporter ofthe Trevor Project, founded in 1998 by his friendCeleste Lecesne. Profits from a Taro GoldCafePress "Diamond You" shop benefited The Trever Project from 2002 to 2017.[50] In 2005, Gold endowed a named scholarship atSoka University of America called "The Rainbow Family Fund" for LGBT students and families.[51]
Gold has been a Patron Circle member of theSundance Institute andSundance Film Festival since 2006, and of Sundance London since 2013.[52]
Gold states that he has maintained a vegan diet since age five, when his mother adoptedveganism; practicesyoga; and supportsanimal rights. During his childhood, high school, and university years, he lived on four continents includingDel Mar, California, in North America;Tokyo, Japan, in Asia;Canberra andBrisbane in Australia; andSalamanca, Spain, in Europe.[53][54]
Gold's eldest cousin is world champion aerobatic aviatorSean D. Tucker.[5] Gold is married to American computer scientist and entrepreneurWendell Brown.[55]
A 2014Vogue Japan story on celebrity life in Tokyo noted that Gold lived in the luxury Park Hyatt Tokyo Hotel atop theShinjuku Park Tower from 2006 to 2008.[56]