10 things you should know about the bubbly actress Felicia Chin

Star Search is Mediacorp's talent-scouting competition for new talents to join the local entertainment industry. The contest has spawned familiar names such as Zoe Tay, Ivy Lee and Jacelyn Tay, just to name a few. Felicia Chin walked a similar path to them, having won the 2003 edition as the Overall Female Champion. She is lauded as the "first Singaporean champion ever since the contest went regional in 1997."

Felicia Chin then signed with Mediacorp and went on to debut in the drama series Always On My Mind, all in the same year as her crowning. She subsequently went on to star in many iconic shows, including The Champion (2004), Portrait of Home (2005), The Golden Path (2009) The Journey: Tumultuous Times (2014) and A Jungle Survivor (2020).

Felicia Chin has also hosted several shows such as Campus Superstar (2008) and My Star Guide (2018).

The Seven Princesses of Mediacorp - Rui En, Jeanette Aw, Rui En, Joanne Peh, Felicia Chin, Jesseca Liu, Fiona Xie and Dawn Yeoh - were all rising actresses in the mid-2000s. They were expected to be the next big things and marketed as such.

As for Felicia Chin, she began winning Star Awards' Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes in 2006 and got her 10th trophy in 2022. A year later, she was commended with the All-Time Favourite Artiste as a confirmation of her popularity through the years.

Felicia Chin has also received multiple Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress nominations, though she has always been edged out at the final round. She did, however, take home the Best Actress in a Leading Role at the 2021 Asian Academy Creative Awards for A Jungle Survivor.

We know Felicia Chin by her Chinese name Chen Fengling. But some fans might remember that between 2008 and 2010, she went by the stage name Chen Jing Xuan. Her reason for the change? "I just wanted to use the name that my dad gave me. I can’t give a very exciting reason — sorry!"

In 2010, Felicia Chin made the decision to return to university to study business and act part-time instead. "I was feeling lost. I felt like a fraud as an actress. I felt there was nothing more I could contribute. I felt really empty inside. That’s why I kind of ran away to study."

After three years of studies and soul-searching, Felicia Chin returned to full-time acting without completing her studies. "I think I found a bit of myself during those three or four years. Sometimes, running away might not be a bad option."

"In my first seven years, I was a bit lost, but I think my next seven years in the company were where I found my purpose."

Then in June 2022, Felicia Chin announced that she had decided to leave Mediacorp for good. "This might take you by surprise but I want to personally share with you that I am going to leave Mediacorp this coming July and move on to a faith-based ministry." She joined the Chinese-language Christian platform Hai Hao Ma (or How Are You?) as a presenter and content creator.

2022 was clearly a momentous year for Felicia Chin. At the tail-end of the year, Felicia Chin finally wedded fellow actor Jeffrey Xu. The couple had been dating since 2015 and got engaged in August 2022 at a surprise proposal at Night Safari, where Felicia Chin's first job was. The wedding ceremony was held at the Bethesda (Bedok-Tampines) Church and many celebs were present with even more fans watching online via livestream.

On an episode of The Zoe and Liang Show (2023), Jeffrey Xu revealed the couple's initial hesitation on going public when they started seeing each other in 2015. "At that time, I felt unworthy, because in my mind, Felicia was one of the Seven Princesses (of Mediacorp), like a goddess. It felt like she was out of my reach. If we disclosed our relationship, the press would definitely badmouth me."

After Felicia Chin and Jeffrey Xu went public, he received many negative comments and derogatory terms. "There was name-calling, and this term called 'ah tiong'. They said I was dating out of my league."

"The reason I kept my relationship with Felicia secret for so long is because I thought, if I had made it known, I wouldn't be able to accept these [comments] and it would directly affect our relationship."

"I was facing so many attacks in the form of online comments, so people even held us in contempt. I didn't know why they did that. Why couldn't you just offer us your blessings?"

In 2014, Felicia Chin partnered with fellow actor Sora Ma to open The Mama Shop. It was located at Pearl’s Hill Terrace and served up retro-themed snacks and food. A year later, Felicia Chin opened Wholly Crab, a seafood stall at Satay By The Bay. As the name implies, the shop sold crab made in traditional and unique flavours ranging from chilli and black pepper to Kung Pao and Marmite.

Both businesses seemed to have since shuttered.

In May 2023, Felicia Cihn took to Instagram to share a story of how she had difficulty fitting in while working at a local fashion store at 17. "I was working to earn some allowance, and the pay was about S$3.50 to S$4 an hour back then. The other salespersons I worked with didn't seem to want to speak to me."

"I am more optimistic and enthusiastic by nature, so whenever a customer walked in, I would cheerfully greet them and ask if they need any help. Maybe that caused my colleagues to feel, 'Why are you so proactive?' because I observed that they're all more chill and laidback."

In hindsight, Felicia Chin reflected that she would have dealt with things differently. "I could have, if possible, asked the girls if there was something I was doing that made them feel uncomfortable. We could have found a compromise, so this is also a learning experience for me."

In 2021, Felicia Chin opened up to Quan Yifeng about how nervous she was when she just started out. "There’s a reason for this. I grew up in an unstable environment and I was always fearful."

"My mum has a temper and she doesn’t know how to express herself. The way she said certain things could be harmful to a child. It’s an accumulation of things that happened over the years that made me afraid of doing the wrong thing… I’m very sensitive to what others think of me, and how others feel. If someone’s unhappy, I’ll think about why they’re upset."

Felicia Chin's father had also passed when she was 17. "I can’t say for sure because you digest everything differently when you’re 17. When I looked back on what happened after I grew up, I realised that I was very hurt by what happened. I lost my father, and both my mother and older sister had their own issues to deal with. I was 17 and still growing up."

That anxiety later developed into an eating disorder that lasted for the first two years of her career. "I was disappointed because I felt useless [at work]" and so she would buy two bags of snacks from 7-11 to stuff on daily.

"This unhappiness would follow me home and I’d be even sadder after eating everything. I’d look at all the opened food wrappers and think to myself, ‘I’m filming in the morning tomorrow. My eyes were puffy at work and my face was getting rounder, so I’d force myself to vomit everything I ate."