The life of Tay Ping Hui, the Singaporean actor who wants to keep challenging himself

As we said, Tay Ping Hui is one of the biggest male actors in Singapore. He, however, never intended to go down that path and had even turned down the opportunity after graduating from the National University of Singapore (NUS). "Back in the day, I didn't watch television and had no interest in showbiz. At that time I thought acting wasn't an actual job and felt that it was just about making expressions and reciting lines in front of the camera, which was so shallow."

Tay Ping Hui went on to become a general manager at Subway and planned to go to Harvard University for an MBA. Mediacorp reached out again, this time in 1998, to star in the crime anthology series On The Edge. "I happened to be on a holiday. Since I was free and was curious, I decided to take on the role. When I was done with the show, the producer and company executives asked me to sign a contract with the company again. After much thought, I decided to sign a one-year contract to see if I actually enjoy acting."

That eventually put Tay Ping Hui down the path of showbiz. Despite the challenges, he fell for the craft and worked hard to improve. "After I was enlightened, I no longer look at my characters from my own perspective when I do my 'homework' for a role. I learnt to see things from my character's point of view and interpret the story from there. Most importantly, I started seeing the joy in creating characters and knew how to enjoy the process of performing."

Tay Ping Hui went on to star in productions such as Stepping Out (1999), The Reunion (2001), Love Is Beautiful (2003), The Golden Path (2007), The Ultimatum (2009), 96°C Café (2013) and many more.  He has also starred in English-language productions including A War Diary (2001) and Tanglin (2015).

The Star Awards' Best Actor trophy is the greatest commendation of his acting chops an actor can get locally. For Tay Ping Hui, it took him an arduous eight tries before taking home the win in 2012 for Bountiful Blessings. His prior nominations were for My Home Affairs (2000), Love Is Beautiful (2003), A Life Of Hope (2005), C.I.D (2006), Mars VS Venus (2007), The Ultimatum (2010) and The Family Court (2011). He also won Best Supporting Actor twice in 1999 for Stepping Out and and in 2013 for Unriddle 2.

On the popularity side, Tay Ping Hui received the All-Time Favourite Artiste win in 2012 after winning the Top 10 Most Popular Female Artiste ten times.

Fun fact: Tay Ping Hui was nominated thrice for the Best Theme Song, but only took home one for Honour and Passion (2007).

After 19 years with Mediacorp, Tay Ping Hui challenged himself again by parting ways with the local broadcaster in 2018. He then focused his attention on China after signing with China-based entertainment company Perfect World Pictures, where he would have to start from scratch to establish himself in a new market.

"If you’re honest about it, I’m a nobody there. So in a way, I’m going over as a starter (I call myself a bottom feeder), which allows me to reboot certain things I’ve taken for granted here and as much as there are challenges and difficulties, it also excites me. I’ve learned a lot and I’ve also benefitted greatly [from this experience]."

By the middle of 2019, Tay Ping Hui had participated in multiple productions including The Legend of the Condor Heroes (2017), Handsome Siblings (2020) and Heroes (2020). He still works in Singaporean shows from time to time, though, with the most recent being Titoudao: Dawn Of A New Stage (2023).

Tay Ping Hui is managed by G.H.Y Culture & Media now.

Never one to be public about his personal life, Tay Ping Hui is actually married. In 2010, he tied the knot with lecturer Edna Lim, who teaches Theatre Studies at NUS.

In a 2023 interview, Tay Ping Hui revealed that working overseas can be difficult for him as he misses his loved ones. "But for me, being away from my family is tough. Family is important, friends are important, so being away is something I have to deal with. But I’m not going to cry about it. It is difficult but at the same time, I know that when the project comes out, what I gain for my professional career will be satisfying. "

And on maintaining his marriage, the couple makes it a point to talk on the phone almost daily regardless of how tired they are. "We are independent but I think we should and we do [talk on the phone] almost every night. However tired I am, I think we should still just maintain that connection."

In 2020, Tay Ping Hui received word from some fans that there was someone impersonating him online for money (ranging between $15k to $20k) before alerting his social media followers about him.

"Apparently someone has been opening account after account with different versions of my name and sending private messages to fans in an attempt to get their contact. The modus operandi is [always] the same. Fella would message a female fan, (always female, terrible you know, so sexist) chat them up, ask for their number and eventually try to cheat them of their money.”

"Tbh I can’t help but feel flattered and insulted at the same time. Flattered because [he] thinks that my fans love me so much until they would lose all common sense and obey my every command. Wah, I so powerful meh? Insulted because he thinks I would be so careless to get myself in such financial problems and am despicable enough to make use of my dear supporters."

Speaking of supporters, Tay Ping Hui once had to deal with a fan who went overboard with his actions. "He pretended to be an alumnus from my school and reached out to my friends, asking to play basketball together. Basically, he wanted to know when we would play and then appear at the same place."

"I feel very helpless... I hope fans don't waste time doing such meaningless things. "I don't know what his intentions are, but I really hope that he'll stop harassing me. There are many other things in this world to pay attention to and care about, please don't waste time on people of no significance. If you can, pay more attention to those around you, especially your parents; I'll give you my blessing."

Tay Ping Hui went on to share that he had met that particular fan before as he had sent a bloodied suicide note stating that he wanted to meet the actor. The note went on to read "I think about you every night, I can't sleep or eat because of you. This feels like loving someone to the point of infatuation. It would be really nice if I had a friend to confide in, someone who could support me and take care of me. But I can only blame it on the fact that I'm not lucky enough to be your friend... The few drops of blood from my veins is nothing, for the sake of a better afterlife, I'm willing to leave this world. It's really sad, I hope you can meet me often in your dreams."

In May 2023, Tay Ping Hui took to his social media to air his viewpoint regarding a post that had garnered attention on LinkedIn. The post, which is above, talked about the differences between "HDB people" and those who lived in private residences and how the author didn't want to interact with the former for fear of losing her "#uniqueidentity" as a member of the latter.

This was Tay Ping Hui's response:

"I couldn’t believe my eyes.

A self-proclaimed Nationalist in “Strategic Communication” would actually think it is ok to write such a delusional post reeking with ultra low level thinking.

What exactly is “HDB people”? Is Ms. Kaur categorizing those living in public housing a lower class than those who live in private housing? Perhaps my English needs improvement because I simply cannot comprehend the layers of flawed logic as she pontificates upon the supposed differences between the two groups and how it affects her “ Unique identity”. I never knew that things like ignorance, arrogance, egoism and small mindedness were considered unique.

And OMG, that final nail in the coffin, “Happiness is not about humanity. Humanity is humanity” is akin to saying “Bak Gua is not about bananas. Bananas are bananas” like whatttttt? Seriously man, what is this woman smoking?

If living in Singapore is so hard because the plebeians’ existence in her neighborhood offends her elitist sensibilities, then perhaps she can consider taking the next flight out and don’t come back."

ICYDK, Tay Ping Hui is a fan of driving and has even driven on race tracks in Europe. But as a self-professed "aggressive but always safe" driver, the one thing that really ticks him off are drivers with bad etiquette.

"I’m not a very patient driver, and [so having someone cut into my lane without signalling] would make me quite upset. I’m a serial curser so I’d definitely curse in my car if that happens. It’s unfortunate because there seems to be a deterioration in driving skills and etiquette in Singapore. What I hate most are road hoggers. I mean, if you go on the highway and you drive at 70km/h on the extreme right lane, you choke up the whole lane and people get impatient. That’s when accidents happen. The extreme right lane is not for you to cruise! I used to stare at people when such things happened, but I’ve come to realise that there’s no point because these people are just clueless. Now, I don’t even bother because they’re not worth it. I’d just focus my attention on the road."

In a 2021 dialogue that delved into the topic of multiculturalism, Tay Ping Hui revealed that he grew up in a Mandarin-speaking home, attended a Special Assistance Plan (SAP) school that taught him Chinese literature and had more than 90 percent of his friends being Chinese up till the years of national service.

"I was very comfortable, with everyone around me Chinese. I thought I probably didn't need to know about the other races. It doesn't mean that I had Chinese privilege, but I must acknowledge I had a majority blind spot. "

That comment later drew attention online as many questioned the difference between the two terms "Chinese privilege" and "majority blind spot".

Tay Ping Hui went on to clarify his stance, stating that he indeed had Chinese privilege. "It was only when I went to (junior) college, army, then university, (that I gained) the opportunity to meet and interact with friends from other races, countries... people with different beliefs. It was during that time that I came to a realisation that there were so many things that I did not know."

"There's a term that is also used nowadays, which is called 'majority blind spot', or kind of a racial blind spot. I had that blind spot too, until a time when I had to travel after my graduation from university. I was in Australia and the United States, where I experienced some pretty intense racial discrimination. I was referred to with derogatory racist names and it made me realise even more how it was like when I was no longer the majority."

"I believe that there might be many within the Chinese community who still do not see a need to understand the history, traditions and perspectives of other races and cultures. They might think that it is not important, but it is. Because only when we open our minds to actively seek to understand others' perspectives, will we be able to have constructive discussions. Be it Chinese, Malay, Indian or others, it is an important step that we should take to understand that the things we've come to believe, what we think, are not always the given truth. It is my hope today that this is what the Chinese community can do for our society."