How well do you know fan favourite actor Elvin Ng?

Like many of his actor peers, Elvin Ng got his foot into the showbusiness door through talent search competitions. In 2004, the program School Belle and Beau went to the National University of Singapore in search of fresh blood. There, they spotted the fresh-faced student Elvin Ng. He later signed with Mediacorp and began his journey as an actor.

No surprise here given Elvin Ng's boyish good looks and 1.8m tall stature. In a 2007 interview, he talked about how the modelling agency told him to pass off as Eurasian because it would open more doors for him.

"When I first joined the agency, they told me to put on my composite card that I was Eurasian. I was like, 'Why? I’m Chinese what.' Apparently, if you’re a bit angmoh and a bit mixed, then you ‘sell’ better. And it’s not just [the bias towards Eurasians]. When I was with the modelling agency, they’d always think a foreign model is better than a local model, but that’s not necessarily true. A lot of our local girls could walk much better than the foreign girls. I totally detest such prejudice. I think it’s about us being a post-colonial society and how our people lack awareness of our history and where we came from. We have to be aware of this and find our own identity, instead of thinking westerners are superior."

Elvin Ng debuted as an actor in 2005 with Love Concierge and A Life of Hope. He went on to star in many notable shows including Breakout (2010), C.L.I.F. (2011), Code of Honour (2011), World At Your Feet (2014), All Is Well (2019) and My One And Only (2023).

It also seemed like Elvin Ng was destined to receive love and adoration from fans. He became the youngest male artiste to take home the Star Awards' All-Time Favourite Artiste trophy in 2017 after winning the Top 10 Most Popular Male Artistes 10 (consecutive) times. He has been nominated for multiple Best Actor awards too.

And they are Romeo Tan and Sheila Sim. With the former, Romeo Tan has been noted to stay over at Elvin Ng's house from time to time as it was nearer to the workplace. The two had also worked on C.L.I.F. together.

Sheila Sim shared on The Inner Circle (2011) that Elvin Ng has a unique way of thinking that needs time to get used to. "I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the way he is. That’s just how his mind works, so in order to understand him, you have to think like him."

In the end, Sheila Sim mused that Elvin Ng has gotten "more open-minded and confident" while Romeo Tan felt that he is "much happier" now.

Speaking of Elvin Ng's house, the actor bought a semi-detached property sometime in 2017. The home, which cost $3.5 million and another $1 million for renovation, sits on 3,300 sq ft of land and is three stories tall. He lives with his family of eight which includes his mother, siblings, two nieces and a nephew.

In 2021, Elvin Ng revealed on The Inner Circle that he was bullied by a Taiwanese actor he was working with. The actor was allegedly unprofessional, attempted to make him forget his lines and disrupted emotional scenes with rude comments.

Netizens later figured out that the Taiwanese actor that Elvin Ng referred to was Patrick Lee, who played his brother in Gifted (2018). Patrick Lee, through his agency CatWalk, responded by saying, "The truth will speak for itself." Patrick Lee later added, "A Taiwanese who is all alone in a place that is full of Singaporeans... bullying a Singaporean? Where is the logic? If you were the Taiwanese, would you do that?" as well as "Congratulations, you have become a little more famous."

When he was filming Breakout (2010), Elvin Ng wrote on his blog about a particular "bad person" who said that he is "a lot like his role" as an autistic person. Elvin Ng wrote, "I feel that seniors should behave like seniors. It doesn’t mean that you can do whatever you want just because you have talent. It’s sad if you have talent but have no cultivation and integrity."

That senior turned out to be host-actor Guo Liang who clarified that he meant that Elvin Ng was sunny, innocent, naive and intelligent rather than autistic. He also took charge against being called a "huai ren" (bad person). "In Mandarin, saying ‘I don't like so-and-so’ is fine. But calling someone a ‘huai ren’ is a more serious accusation. Only people who rob and murder and do evil are called 'huai ren'."

In the end, the two seemed to have buried the hatchet. Elvin Ng shared on Hear U Out (2020) that he was unhappy with what happened rather than with Guo Liang. "Guo Liang didn’t feel that way. It was only me [who was bothered]. People thought that we had something against each other, but I was only upset about what happened. That’s why I felt that I should say something about it."

In July 2022, Elvin Ng embarked on a solo trip to study acting for a month at the New York Film Academy. "I think in this stage of life, in my 40s, it's very surprising [to many] that I'm even doing [this]."

On the decision, Elvin Ng added that the decision was to "do something for myself." "I feel like I've always been cooped up with everything back home. It’s all [about my] family, career, work, my own relationships [and] friends, things like that. So this time, I said: 'Okay, I'm going to put everything down, and just spend time with myself, and do something for myself.’ Just go out there and experience something different."

The stay, despite only lasting for a month, was initially emotionally difficult for Elvin Ng. "Some might say it's very dramatic, [‘cos] I’m only going away for one month [or so], but actually it's long enough for me. It's not short, but not long either. When I left, I felt many emotions. I was very raw and vulnerable. And then on the plane, when it was taking off, tears were rolling down, and then suddenly I'm okay again. There are ups and downs."

That New York trip eventually taught Elvin Ng to "get out of my head, not set so many rules for myself and to give up control."

"I went to New York in June to go back to school and that solo trip taught me that we set too many rules for ourselves in our heads and that we should learn to give up control in order to live more in the moment and freely. To be open and vulnerable, and to be directly sensitive to the world around us with fewer walls built up means that we experience a more vibrant and gracious world where we take the centre away from ourselves.

I'm now always trying to be as open and spontaneous and to go with the flow where life takes me, so anything goes and it's a happy, rich and rewarding experience in which I can always learn new things about myself."

Elvin Ng became one of the most talked about topics after the 2021 Star Awards. Why? It was because of the pink Alexander McQueen outfit that he had worn for the awards ceremony. With an ombre effect that went from light to dark pink, the suit was likened to a bandung, or rose syrup, drink and even a used, upside-down tampon.

In June 2022, Elvin Ng revealed five possibly surprising facts about himself that people might not know to Lianhe Zaobao. The first, which is the weird one, is that he really likes smelling the strap of the watch he had worn for months while filming as it has been soaked with sweat.

The other four facts are - he is afraid of lizards, he can use only a single makeup brush to doll up his entire face, he can't live without tissue paper as he uses it to do many things and finally, that he is lactose intolerant.

While Elvin Ng and Romeo Tan were in Taipei promoting the drama All Is Well in 2019, the two got into a car accident. The MPV taxi that they were in got rear-ended by a coach bus. They were seated at the back and it happened as they were waiting at the junction.

"We’re generally fine, though we’ll probably feel the whiplash tomorrow morning. I blanked out for a while after the accident. I hit my head and my vision is slightly blurred right now. My ankle hurts a little and I just realised that my knee is bruised."