Did you know that Ann Kok was once referred to as the “third ah jie”?

Ann Kok participated in the 1993 edition of the talent competition Star Search. While she was only a finalist (the winner was Ivy Lee), it nevertheless started her entry into the local showbiz scene.

The first two are Zoe Tay and Fann Wong, while Ann Kok and Phyllis Quek were given the third and fourth names as a testament to their popularity as the top female artistes.

In addition, Ann Kok currently holds nine Star Awards‘ Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes wins, one shy of achieving the All-Time Favourite Artiste award. Could 2023 be the year she attains the final one?

Together with local music label company Hype Records, Ann Kok released a total of three albums in the years 1997, 1998 and 2000 respectively. In fact, you can listen to all of them on YouTube.

In 2014, Ann Kok made headlines when she announced that she would take a break from acting to pursue a “top secret” new project. While it was unclear what the project turned out to be, Ann Kok eventually returned to the small screen in 2022 with the medical-themed drama Healing Heroes. This was her first role in three years, the last being the 2019 drama Hello From The Other Side.

Ann Kok also went to Hong Kong between 2000 and 2005 to develop a career in Hong Kong.

The first was a retail shop selling bags and accessories named BFF Zakka and it was opened with fellow actress Jesseca Liu before it closed in 2014 “when the rental contract was up”.

Ann Kok’s second business was the Harmony Bakery in Johor Bahru which sold castella cake. It was founded in 2017 and likely closed around 2019 according to Facebook postings.

If the hashtag #annlovescars accompanying the above Instagram post of her with a white McLaren doesn’t clue you in, Ann Kok has uploaded another photo of her with a red Ferrari.

When asked in August 2022 whether she was “happy being single”, Ann Kok replied, “Yah… I always believe in ‘letting love find you’. But of course, I don’t always stay at home and wait for love to come and find me. It would not be possible to meet anyone!”

In 2021, Ann Kok revealed on Quan Yifong’s talk show Hear U Out, that she once thought that she must get married. “I wanted to get married when I was younger. I think most women think this way when they reach a certain age. They might think of having children ‘cos they like kids too. But you no longer think about it this way after you’re a certain age.”

Ann Kok added that she almost got married to a guy outside of showbiz she dated for two years. The relationship didn’t work out because he was all talk and no action. “When you want to get married, I think it’s more important to act on it rather than to keep talking about it. He would say ‘Let’s get married’ every day, and he would talk about what our future would be like, but he wouldn’t act on it.”

Her views on marriage have since changed. “I don’t yearn to get married, nor do I want to quickly meet the man of my dreams and have kids, but I won’t rule out the possibility should destiny come knocking on my door. I’m not afraid of being lonely ‘cos I have a lot of friends and family around me.”

It was the 1996 Star Awards and the outfit that would forever immortalise Ann Kok in the local celeb fashion history was a sheer black Dolce & Gabbana top that showed off her ample chest.

Ann Kok recounted the incident on Hear U Out, “In the immediate aftermath, I didn’t feel great about what happened. At the time, society was still not as open-minded, so my very first worry was that my family would take it badly. I wondered if my parents were able to accept [the outfit], but what happened was that they didn’t give me any pressure about it at all.”

In the press meeting for Healing Heroes, Ann Kok was asked about the pressure on actresses to “always look young and beautiful” and whether it made her “hesitant about being on screen”.

Her response? To focus on ageing gracefully and enjoy life as much as possible instead. “Everyone will age, it’s just unfair to compare them to the younger ones. Of course, I’ve been there and done that. I was younger, I looked better then. But as long as we still look good at our age and we live life to the fullest, that’s enough lah. Don’t have to go and worry about whether you should look younger. Because you will never get a younger role.”

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