These famous celebs may be known for their acting or singing skills, but they also enjoy pursuing their individual passions such as baking and drawing, or going into stress management or health and wellness. A few have even gone on to start businesses, or publish their own books. Here are 13 stars who can do a lot more than just act, sing, dance or host.
Photography
Followers of Romeo Tan’s Instagram will know that he is passionate about photography. The actor, who recently bought his own place, not only regularly shares photos taken with his mobile phone, camera or drone with his fans, he also has a Instagram account @romeophotologue dedicated to his photography.
In an interview, Romeo said that he first got interested in photography when he was in polytechnic, and became more serious about the hobby when he joined showbiz and could afford better cameras. He enjoys taking travel photos, and some of his favourite places to shoot at are European countries where there are nice architecture, as well as the beach.
Baking
The Asian pop diva is not only an accomplished singer, she is also a baking enthusiast and has created many amazing fondant cakes such as a life-sized wedding dress cake and Birkin-shaped cakes. She even won a Gold Award in the 2016 Cake International competition held in the UK. Her entry was a cake of Marilyn Monroe which took her 10 days to make.
Jolin is the creative head of her own cake art studio, Your Majesty, and has given international celebrities like actor Tom Cruise and Japanese singer Namie Amuro her stunning creations during their visits to Taiwan. During the 2016 Golden Melody Awards, she not only presented the award for Best Mandarin Female Singer, she even created six fondant trophies for the nominees so that no one would leave empty-handed.
Painting
Did you know that He Ying Ying has a talent for painting? The local actress posts her work on Instagram under the hashtag #yypaints, and has done various striking paintings of cartoon characters, scenery and flowers, as well as interesting abstract pieces. She also does acrylic painting and lettering work, and has gifted her paintings to her friends like fellow actresses Fang Rong and Michelle Wong for their birthdays.
Singing and playing the guitar
Besides acting, local heartthrob Desmon Tan also enjoys singing. The athletic actor — whose biggest dealbreaker is somebody who’s overly loud — updates his Instagram account with videos of himself serenading in the most charismatic way possible in front of the camera.
His soothing vocals have also earned him the recording of an original sound track for his drama When Duty Calls, alongside co-star Felicia Chin. We’ll definitely be checking his Instagram for more of his singing!
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Cooking
These days, acclaimed Hong Kong actor Nicholas has been keeping himself busy with film acting and television programme hosting. He’s also known as an avid chef and his passion for all things culinary have led him to host his own Chinese food travelogue show, Chef Nic.
In 2017, the handsome Cantopop singer wowed celebrity host Dee Hsu with his culinary skills on her cooking show Sister’s Hungry. A man with looks and can also cook? How irresistible!
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Drawing and writing
Following her first book titled Jeanette Aw: Definitions, Jeanette released another illustrated pictorial book called Sol’s World: Somebody To Love in 2015.
The story revolves around an insecure girl and her journey of self-discovery.
Speaking to the media at the book launch, Jeanette mentioned that she saw glimpses of herself in the character.
She said: “When I first entered show business 15 years ago, I was unsure what it was all about. I didn’t have it in mind that I want to do television. I did theatre studies and what I wanted to do was stage.”
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Drawing
Modelling, acting, singing, hosting…Fann Wong has been one of the most talented and bankable actresses in Singapore since her drama debut in 1995. Her far-reaching fame has also made her one of the most recognisable faces in the region.
But growing up, Fann’s ambition didn’t involve acting. Instead, she’s always dreamt of being a nurse, teacher or comic book artist. So it’s no surprise when she released a comic book slash memoir titled Girl Illustrated in 2014. It documented her childhood, work life and everything in between through her paintings.
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Managing a business
Star Awards All Time Favourite Artiste and Star Search 1990 champion Chew Chor Meng has been one of the best known household names in local showbiz throughout the years (remember the 1997 Immortal Love?).
Fast forward to July 2017, the actor opened his first Thai barbeque steamboat stall called 888 Moookata at Hougang, alongside his three other partners including fellow actor Dennis Chew.
For those who plan to check out his store, chances are, you’ll spot him in an 888 Mookata T-shirt among his staff, working hard for his patrons.
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Stress management
Besides her full time acting gig, Singaporean actress Cynthia also hosts regular healing workshops to educate her Instagram followers on Bach Healing (it’s first discovered by Dr Edward Bach in the 1930s).
It basically uses different wild plants, flowers and trees to concoct supplements that promise to help users beat daily stresses, maintain emotional health and achieve inner peace. Sign us up please!
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Arts and crafts
Celebrity mum Joanne (whose weekend wear we admire) is busy throughout the day because she has two kids to take care of.
When it comes to raising them (they have their own Instagram hashtags #BabyQi and #QiDiDi), the actress is seriously involved.
She regularly shares photos of the artwork that she’s done with #BabyQi, such as ice cream puffy paint craft and this one which cleverly recycles her wilting birthday bouquets to create beautiful drawings.
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Health management
We’ve known Jacelyn as the famous actress in local television series such as Legend of The Eight Immortals and The Legendary Swordsman.
The former actress left the showbiz scene in 2006 and she’s now a celebrity health and nutrition coach.
She founded Body Inc. Wellness & Detox, a healthcare company that specialises in pain management, aromatherapy products and weight loss programmes. Want to know her secrets to looking fabulous?
Click here to learn more about her wellness tips.
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Cooking
You won’t know this unless you follow Dee on Facebook or watch her cooking show Sister’s Hungry.
The celebrity host and sassy mummy (she visited Singapore in July 2017 for fashion label iRoo’s 7th anniversary) is also a…*drum roll* great cook.
On her Facebook page, the candid host frequently posts videos featuring her and her daughters. In them, she asks her children to comment on her cooking skills and they seem rather impressed by her dishes.
So it’s no wonder producers have knocked on her door and invited her to host a cooking show called Sister’s Hungry after she ended the 12-year run of her popular talk show Mr Con and Ms Csi in 2016.
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