William Gao Hardy is a British actor, singer, and model. He plays Tao Xu in the Netflix adaptation of Heartstopper. He is from South Croydon. He is the son of an British father and a Chinese mother who moved to England in her 20s. He attended the Trinity School, where he completed A Levels in Chinese, music and drama in 2022. He took up classical piano at the age of 11 and was a member of Trinity Boys Choir. He joined the National Youth Theatre in May 2019.