Actor and model Godfrey Gao, who grew up in British Columbia and was an ambassador for Canadian tourism, collapsed and died while shooting a TV show on Wednesday.

His agency, JetStar Entertainment, confirmed that Gao died in the early hours of Nov. 27 in a statement posted to microblogging site Weibo and cited by South China Morning Post and Womens Wear Daily .

Gao, 35, was filming Chase Me, a reality TV show for Chinas Zhejiang Television that features competitive sports, in the eastern Chinese city of Ningbo, according to Apple Daily .

Our beloved Godfrey collapsed while filming on set. Unfortunately following three hours of medical rescue efforts, he left us, said JetStars statement. It added that his family rushed to the scene.

The shows producers released a statement on Weibo , revealing that Gao was running when he collapsed, and that the hospital said he suffered a sudden cardiac death.

They added: We feel grieved and very sad.