Singaporean actress Rui En has had a colourful and eventful career. She has achieved great success as an A-list actress through her two-decade-long journey in the local entertainment industry and has found herself blessed with a dedicated fanbase named RBKD. On the other hand, Rui En had to overcome many personal lows, including brushes with the law, many negative headlines and dealing with mental struggles. All her highs and lows have shaped her into the person we know today, keep scrolling to learn more about who Rui En is.
Rui En started modelling in 1999 after her A levels and was signed to Phantom Management. Her portfolio includes a SingTel ad as well as being in the Singapore edition of the men’s magazine FHM.
Many of us might remember that Rui En sang the 2005 National Day Parade song Reach Out for the Skies with Singapore Idol winner Taufik Batisah. But besides the patriotic number, Rui En has released two solo albums, Rui Σn vol. 01 (2002) and United Nations (2008), as well as multiple singles and drama theme songs.
In 2002, Rui En debuted with her first acting credit in No Problem! (2002). It wouldn’t be until A Promise For Tomorrow in 2005 that she scored her first leading role that later led Rui En to be labelled as one of the Seven Princesses of Mediacorp alongside Jesseca Liu, Jeanette Aw, Fiona Xie, Joanne Peh, Felicia Chin and Dawn Yeoh. It was a term given to the seven most promising young actresses in the 200s.
Since then, Rui En has been in many notable productions such as Unriddle (2010), A Tale of Two Cities (2011) and The Dream Makers (2013). She has also won two Best Actress awards at Star Awards and clinched the All-Time Favourite Artiste in 2016 after winning the Top 10 Most Popular Female Artiste 10 times.
In 2008, Rui En opened up about her difficult childhood with The Straits Times. In the interview, she shared “I used to be really angsty. That’s the thing I like about getting older. You accept yourself a little bit more. I used to hate myself.” Rui En added that her parents were divorced when she was 17 and that “they were the most incompatible couple I have ever seen” as they fought all the time.
As a result, Rui En always felt like an outsider everywhere she was – at home and in school, for example. Rui En then confessed to smoking and drinking in order to cope. “I hung out with the kind of people I shouldn’t have hung out with. I was also probably trying, in my own ridiculous way, to annoy my parents because I wanted their attention.”
In 2004, she decided to overhaul her life after watching her performance in the Channel 5 sitcom Achar!. “I remember watching Achar! and thinking that I didn’t recognise myself. I was doing kissing scenes and all this annoying behaviour. I watched the show and thought that was not me. All I saw in my eyes was the hunger for fame and popularity. I really hated what I had become. So I decided to sit down and take stock of my whole life. I realised that I was just allowing myself to be a victim. I didn’t want to be a victim anymore. I didn’t want to use my broken family as an excuse for my behaviour anymore. I had to grow up.”
And with that, Rui En decided to cut out any role that required her to do kissing and intimate scenes.
While everyone and their parents seemed to be on Instagram, it wouldn’t be until August 2021 that Rui En decided that it would finally be her time to join the social media platform as well. As someone who is known for being fiercely private, Rui En shared that Instagram “has opened up my career and life in very different ways.”
“I’m enjoying the whole process, like working with collaborators who are in their mid-20s and pushing me out of my comfort zone. Previously, the public heard from me only through reporters, or whatever thing I get my fan club to post, or see how black my face is at an awards show. It’s still filtered through a third party or whatever news is in the headlines that day. Now, I am grateful to be able to control the narrative, to use this medium to showcase who I really am, which is very empowering.”
In January 2016, Rui En hit a car and the owner revealed her license plate number on social media. In the end, the actress contacted the owner and the two settled privately.
Then in April 2016, Rui En committed another blunder as she mounted a road kerb and collided with a stationary motorcycle at a Clementi carpark. As a result, Rui En appeared in court and was fined $700 after pleading guilty to one count of careless driving.
ICYDK, Rui En has been known to give back to the community and ropes in her fan club RBKD as well. In 2020, she partnered with the local vegetarian hawker stall Mummy Yummy to support their door-to-door food distribution to needy residents program. A year later, Rui En made an appreciation poster for the frontliners at Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
Rui En shared that she started celebrating milestones by doing charitable acts with her fan club since 2010 and wants to use her position of privilege to give back to the less fortunate as much as possible.
In a February 2022 post, Rui En revealed that she had tested positive for Covid-19. She added that her symptoms “were incredibly mild” and was glad that she had finally contracted it. “All I could think was, ‘Oh, so this is it? Really?!’. I somehow felt more relief at finally getting it (because) I’ve always hated suspense.” Rui En ended the post by telling people to “stay vigilant and socially responsible, but no need to let fear rule your life.”
Rui En is no stranger to negative comments and headlines. After all, it is part and parcel of being a public personality. In 2017, Rui En spoke out against fat-shaming comments she had gotten after gaining seven kilograms for If Only I Could. “I do not deny that I unfortunately chose a career where I will undeniably and brutally be judged on my appearance. I can’t change that. However, the irony of being praised for being professional and putting on weight for my auntie role in If Only I Could, and yet be judged and torn apart for looking heavier, does not escape me. I just shrug and tell myself [it’s] dirt off my shoulder.”
“Showbiz anywhere in the world is what it is. I just wish for younger actresses to understand that being skinny is not [everything]. If you’re a bamboo pole but can’t act, is that any use? Work on yourself, understand the crazy — and getting crazier — world we live in, and understand life.”