Before she was Sritala – the mysterious, magnetic resort owner in The White Lotus season three – Lek Patravadi was already a national icon. But it wasn’t her decades of theatre and television acclaim that landed her the role in The White Lotus.
According to associate producer Atchariya Pinitsanpirom, speaking at a special screening of Episode seven at Siri Sala in Bangkok, the casting spark came from a little-seen 1992 clip: a funky folk-rap TV performance that caught the eye of series creator Mike White and ultimately helped shape one of the show’s most iconic characters.
A moment of TV magic
In episode seven of The White Lotus (no major spoilers here, don’t worry), there’s a moment when Frank (Sam Rockwell) and Rick (Walton Goggins) visit the home of Sritala and Jim Hollinger (Lek Patravadi and Scott Glenn).
While Frank lounges in the living room, a television plays an old clip of Sritala performing on Thai TV in the nineties as he tries his best to maintain the facade of the visiting director and producer duo.
But here’s the twist – the footage is real and it’s of Lek Patravadi herself.
In a televised 1992 performance on a Channel 9 show called Normal Not Normal, she performed a remixed traditional lum tad song ‘silapa’ (a Thai folk style call-and-response rap) with jazzy vocals and Broadway flair.
It’s fun, expressive and has the potential to hold a similar meme-cultural significance level to Vitas’ tong wobbling space pop hit. And it just so happens that it’s the exact performance that caught Mike White’s eye and influenced more of the show than we ever knew.
‘Mike saw it when she came to audition. Our casting department put it in as a link to show the background of each cast,’ says Atchariya Pinitsanpirom, associate producer for The White Lotus season three. ‘He saw it and suddenly loved it, and said to use it in the show. Both on the TV in this episode and at the hotel dinner.’
Art imitating life, or vice versa?
Elements of Lek’s real-life persona, musical background and expressive style are clearly woven into Sritala’s character and story arc, blurring the lines between fiction and reality and the kind of storytelling trickery that The White Lotus fans love.
And while it would be reductive to say that one performance sealed the deal – Patravadi is, after all, one of Thailand’s most celebrated actors – Pinitsanpirom told Time Out that the video became a creative cornerstone. With Lek’s full support, it helped shape the role of Sritala and allowed Mike White to build an entire world around her.
Although it would be disparaging to say that this performance was the only thing that convinced him of Patravadi's talent – she’s done a lot since then and is one of Thailand’s most acclaimed actors – Pinitsanpirom told Time Out how this video played a role in both her audition and the shaping the character of Sritala.
‘He just wants to showcase a picture of Thai culture as much as he can,’ she added.
The video’s newly revived fame is now gathering attention from fans worldwide, with a slew of social media comments echoing the lines said by Frank as he did his best to feign his ‘director’ role alongside Rick.
You can find the original clip on Patravadi’s own YouTube channel, where fans are already deep in the comments dissecting every frame. ‘It’s like MC Hammer. Peter Pan. It’s got a little, um, Pippin!’
A house fit for Patravadi
With so much attention and world building around the real Lek Patravadi, it’s unsurprising to also find out how her personality shaped the role and the locations that she was found in during the series.
‘We did a lot of scouting with Mike White in 2023, he saw a lot of houses,’ explained Pinitsanpirom. ‘Big colonial houses by the Chao Phraya river inspired him but when it was time to find the right place, we came back to Siri Sala as this place fits the script. It’s related to the old days and the old way of life of people – it has a sense of Thai house even though it's renovated a lot. It fits the character of Sritala.”
Siri Sala was chosen as the Hollinger house in season three and, in real life, is Bangkok’s only riverside private villa that offers full board and intimate experiences of real Bangkok culture in and around the distinct and more traditional Bangkok Noi neighborhood. It’s open for reservations.
A Thai trailblazer
Born Patravadi Mejudhon, or Lek Patravadi as she’s more affectionately known, has long been a transformative force in Thai arts. In 1973, she earned the Best Actress award at the Tukkata Thong Awards for her debut in Mai Mee Sawan Samrab Khun, and by the nineties, she had launched the Patravadi Theatre, a pioneering venue for experimental performance in Bangkok.
Her artistic signature saw her riding the wave of new media, blending traditional Thai performance with modern styles – exactly what she brought to that 1992 TV appearance, and now, to The White Lotus.
And as for Mike White? Let’s just say he knows a good story – and a good song – when he hears one.