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Joshua Tan sought tips from Pierre Png ahead of Ch8 debut

The Ah Boys star will be participating in his very first Channel 8 drama since his showbiz debut six years ago

Joshua Tan sought tips from Pierre Png ahead of Ch8 debut

When we first heard that Joshua Tan – fondly remembered by many viewers as Ken Chow from the Ah Boys to Men franchise – was part of the cast of You Can Be An Angel 3, the first question in our minds was this: Is this his first Channel 8 drama? It can’t be, because it’s been years since he’s debuted, right?

Turns out, our self-doubt was for naught as the 27-year-old, who had a recurring role in Lion Mums, confirmed that this will be his first Mandarin drama since his showbiz debut six years ago. Granted, he’s been in Toggle Originals A Selfie’s Tale, but he shared with Toggle during his imaging session earlier this week that this time around, it “feels more like a traditional drama because it’s a full 20-episode series”.

One of the biggest worries that he has on his mind ahead of the start of filming is the language, and Joshua chuckled that he approached Pierre Png, another actor known for his jiak kantang (slightly more westernised) level of Mandarin.

“He told me that he used to write hanyu pinyin (the romanisation of Chinese characters) for his scripts,” the actor mused. “Writing out all the hanyu pinyin one by one is quite tough, and for me, I think I’ll still encounter words that I don’t know. I’ll ask if I don’t know and if need be, I’ll start jotting down the hanyu pinyin in my script too. I think Pierre is a really good example – just look at how good he is now!”

Joshua will also be putting on a different uniform altogether this time around – instead of going green, he’ll be ditching his No. 4 to put on a nurse uniform. His character will have his share of ups and downs, especially since he was smart enough to be a doctor, but went against societal – and his loved ones’ – expectations and decided to become a nurse instead.

(Left) Joshua on the set of Ah Boys to Men 4, (Right) Joshua in his army uniform ahead of going for reservist


Although this will be the first time he is playing a nurse, he has some experience up his sleeve. Many of his friends and men (subordinates in the army) are nurses, and Joshua has since picked up quite a number of skills in his arsenal. Being able to hook a patient up onto an IV drip, manage fractures, simple bandaging, CPR, AED and drawing blood are just some of the things Joshua can do.

We asked if this meant that he was the most experienced among the cast, but he chuckled that he’ll “definitely make a mistake” if we say that, and attributed it to having friends in the nursing industry instead.

He’s also put his skills to use in real life as well, as one of the crew members on the set of Ah Boys To Men 4 suffered a heatstroke, and Joshua immediately inserted an IV and hooked him up to a saline drip, which he grinned made him feel happy that he could help.

(Continued on next page: Joshua tells us about his most embarrassing hospital experience)

(Left) Joshua trying on the nurse uniform during his imaging session (Right) One of Joshua's many snaps of himself with children


While we were on the subject of nurses, Joshua told us that he feels that there is a huge lack of male nurses in the industry, and his army friends had told him that they need male nurses who have the strength to carry patients and do certain things that female nurses may not be able to do.

“It’s sad that the social stereotype (against males becoming nurses) exists. People think, why would a grown man want to take care of old patients?” he shared. “Hopefully this show will help in breaking that stereotype, and there will be more men joining the industry.”

He has a similar personal experience with regards to societal expectations, as Joshua admitted that he used to want to go into early childhood and become a kindergarten teacher.

Joshua explained, “Early childhood education was my first choice, but all my friends gave me the same ‘What?’ reaction, because you don’t see a lot of male early childhood teachers. Perhaps people associate them with being pedophiles or lechers and because of this, I changed my first choice of subject to mass communications instead.”

With their nurse training coming up (Joshua will be attending his this Friday), we asked Joshua if he had any memorable hospital experiences, and he chuckled self-deprecating before saying yes, adding that it was “very embarrassing”.

“While I was on set for A Selfie’s Tale, we were shooting a gym scene. In between scenes, I wanted to just sit down when I felt something snap in the lower half of my body, and I won’t tell you exactly where,” he said wryly. “It didn’t feel better after an hour so I went to the A&E department, where I was wheeled in a wheelchair. They asked me what was wrong, and I told them that it was something below the belt.”

After hearing nurses talking about him and chuckling about how “Ken Chow is hurt there!”, Joshua requested for a male nurse and a male doctor, and he thankfully felt better after treatment, and they gave him painkillers to tide him over the next couple of days as it was just a muscle strain.

Photos: Joshua Tan/Instagram


Before the interview ended, we checked in with Joshua about the hints that he has been dropping on his Instagram account about a special someone in his life, and the actor paused for a moment before admitting that yes, he is in a relationship with a non-celebrity.

However, when we probed further about more details, Joshua shared that it is “not yet the right time to share yet”. You know we’ll always have a listening ear for you, right?

You Can Be an Angel 3 premieres on October 29, 9pm on Channel 8.
Watch past episodes of
You Can Be an Angel Too and You Can Be an Angel S2 on Toggle.

Related:
‘You Can Be an Angel 3’ stars get blood on their hands
Joshua Tan reveals his past relationship with a single mother

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