In 2011 a magazine revealed that the actor Nadech "Barry" Kugimiya was of Thai-Austrian descent and not Thai-Japanese. The actor came forward to say he didn't mean to deceive anyone and declared himself unworried by the resulting fuss. Reportedly far from deceiving fans for his own sake, he really did it for his adoptive parents: "My foster father is Japanese. I told everyone I am half Thai, half Japanese to honour him." He denied he felt stressed to be exposed as Thai-Austrian. "I meant to tell people, but the time had not yet arrived," he said.[2]
In his personal life he can speak fluently in Isan dialect and Central dialect Thai languages. However, he cannot speak Japanese language because Yoshio, his adoptive father, did not teach him, instead only speaking Thai to him.[