Zhang Ze Tong on growing as an actor and embracing his true self

The third of our four-part cover story series for Her World’s July issue, Emerald Hill’s rising stars find common ground in their personal ambitions – where self-belief, authenticity and due diligence are their secrets to success. Read more about Tasha Low, Tyler Ten and the trio together.

Zhang Ze Tong has his mother’s dogged persistence and belief in her son’s good looks and abilities to thank for his foray into the entertainment industry. “I never imagined myself becoming an actor,” he confesses, his eyes twinkling merrily. “I joined Star Search in 2019 to appease my mum. I guess she was pretty confident about how I looked.”

“But I didn’t think I would win,” Ze Tong admits. “I thought I was going there for some weekend fun, to gain a bit of experience, and have stories to tell my friends next time.” His teary and emotional reaction to his Star Search win was one for the history books.

Like previous winners Jacelyn Tay and Felicia Chin, clinching the top prize at Star Search was a pivotal moment in his career. Despite having no prior acting experience, but having won due to his boyish charm and natural on-screen presence, Ze Tong knew he needed to give acting a go. “I would have regretted it if I did not try. I knew I could always go back to what I was doing before if it didn’t work out,” he explains.

Ze Tong, who graduated from National University of Singapore with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, was working full-time as a customer relationship manager at online marketing platform Carousell prior to Star Search. I ask if he was a class nerd, and he nods without missing a beat. “Yes, I don’t deny that. I have met enough nerds in my previous jobs to say that I am not a complete nerd, but I am definitely one along that spectrum.”

As the 32-year-old actor tells it now in earnest, it is not difficult to see his determination and discipline, nurtured through tedious commutes from home in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, to Marsiling Primary School in Singapore. His parents – who never completed their studies and strived for a better future for their children – decided to send him and his two sisters to primary school in Singapore for an English-dominant education.

Seven-year-old Ze Tong would have to wake up at 4am, way before the day’s first rays of light, before hopping on the school bus at 4.20am. It took him two hours each way to get to school, he remembers, as they had to pick up other children along the way and cross the Causeway into Singapore. School in Singapore typically ends between 1.15pm and 1.45pm, and Ze Tong would then get on the same school bus to get home at 4pm. If he had to stay behind for cocurricular activities, he would only arrive home at 8pm. He followed this gruelling schedule daily for 10 years.

“I have vivid memories of having dinner with my parents, finishing my homework, then being forced to go to sleep at 8pm. For a kid with a whole lot of energy, that was very hard to do! I could never get behind that 8pm rule,” says the middle child with a playful smile.

Ze Tong describes his family as “extremely loving” and his parents are “still very much in love with each other”. Calling them a fully-functioning independent unit, he believes that stability allows him to work hard without having to worry too much about them. Ze Tong currently lives in Singapore with both his sisters, but visits his parents, who still reside in Johor Bahru, once a month.

“They play a very supportive and advisory role in my career. When it comes to making decisions for my career, they are always there for me – my dad is a man of wisdom who dishes out great advice, and my mum is the emotional support of the family,” he says.

Does he wish to follow in his parents’ footsteps and settle down with a lifelong partner? “Yes, that’s on everyone’s list, I think,” Ze Tong laughs, flashing his trademark dimples. “It’s tough to find someone though. I realise that once you enter this industry, your circle of friends doesn’t really change. It’s hard to meet someone new along the way.” But there’s no pressure from his parents, he assures me. “There’s my older sister, who isn’t married yet!”

Soul searching

Known to many in the industry as a PR King, Ze Tong’s cheerful and easygoing nature makes him likeable to just about anyone. He effortlessly engages complete strangers in conversation, leaving them feeling like they’ve known him for years.

The prim and proper Zuye is less expressive and less extroverted than Ze Tong, but he calls Zuye “this perfect man that I will never be”. “He’s a goody-two-shoes who is almost too innocent and naive,” he explains. “The young me might have aspired to be him, but I didn’t end up becoming like him.”

What he does take away from Zuye though, is that one can still choose their ideals in a chaotic world. “You can still live with what you think is right with your own principles and values – despite the world being quite the opposite place,” he explains.

A core memory on Emerald Hill was his scenes in Episodes 12 and 13 at the pineapple plantation, located an hour away from Singapore in Simpang Renggam in Johor Bahru. The team spent about a week filming in the bucolic countryside, and the vastness and beauty of the plantation left an impression on Ze Tong.

“The view was nothing like I’d ever seen before. It was so breathtaking, and yet it’s not far from us. It is a place I hope to go back to one day and set up a small hut or villa for myself to rest in,” he contemplates.

The scenes Ze Tong shot there, primarily with Tasha, were also special to him. His love interest, Xinniang had just taken a shower after a long, hard day’s at work on the pineapple plantation, and it was the first time Zuye saw her in that particular light. “That was the turning point for Tasha and I,” he says. “We weren’t close before, but I’m the kind of actor who needs a personal connection before we get on camera. That night made me feel like our friendship had been taken to the next level.”

When it comes to his acting, Ze Tong believes that he has less performance anxiety than before. The difference? He started to be in touch with his inner thoughts and feelings. A self-professed rational person, he explains that he has not “worked with emotions for a long time”. “Living rationally was beneficial for me in terms of work and home life,” he says. “But I have feelings too, and being an actor has allowed me to face them head-on.”

And Ze Tong, who thinks he might have become an F1 driver if he had the money and resources in another life, is thankful for his career path to date. “I would like to try a fun, short, yet impactful type of movie role at some point,” he thinks aloud. “That would be on the wish list. But even if I leave the world without it, that’s fine. I’m happy with life as it is.”

PHOTOGRAPHY: REUBEN FOONG, ASSISTED BY: DANIEL WEST
CREATIVE DIRECTION & STYLING: LENA KAMARUDIN, ASSISTED BY: ANIS NABILAH AZLEE & MANDY TAN
ART DIRECTION: RAY TICSAY
HAIR: SYLIN/SHUNJI MATSUO
GROOMING: DOLLEI SEAH, USING DIOR BEAUTY
LOCATION: MADAME FAN AT NCO CLUB & SABAR MENANTI NASI PADANG