Foreign celebs in local dramas

Other than his role as veteran actor Li Nanxing’s little brother in the blockbuster drama The Journey: A Voyage, Taiwanese model-actor Allen Chen was also involved in another blockbuster, C.L.I.F. 3, and showed off his sculpted body as a rugby player in the Channel U drama Scrum!. The actor also played a supporting role in the drama Life is Beautiful, as female lead Shen Chuyi’s (Rui En) boyfriend, Ding Zhanpeng.

For Allen, acting in The Journey was his breakthrough role, as he had only managed to play “passers-by" in previous Taiwanese dramas. Hence, he considered The Journey to be his first real acting role, and we think he managed to show a lot of potential as the kindhearted Zhang Tian Ying. After all, even Christopher Lee and Fann Wong showered him with praises after the drama aired, complimenting his acting for being very natural.

Last year, the 34-year-old returned to our shores for Toggle Originals series VIC as a womanising supermodel. Back then, he had just undergone an impressive "fatty"-to-hunk transformation for his role, after injuring himself and being unable to work out for a while.

Taiwanese actress Esther Yang has quite the affinity with Singapore—or rather, with the popular actors here.

So far, she has come into contact with two of the hottest male stars in Singapore. Her role as local actor Pierre Png’s bubbly fiancee in the 2015 drama Life is Beautiful happened to be the meatiest role in her career back then, and her first onscreen kiss was also given to the latter. Esther has also collaborated in the Taiwanese television film, Forgotten, with local hunk Christopher Lee.

The pixie-faced actress debuted through commercials when she was merely 15 years old, and has since won the Taiwanese audience over with her bright and natural performances in dramas such as Love, Now.

Following Esther’s likeable performance as the bright Cai Jiayi in Life is Beautiful, she went on to appear in several other Taiwanese dramas, including Home Sweet Home and Behind Your Smile​​​​​​​.

After playing a rebellious daughter in Devotion and an aspiring performer in Joys of Life, Taiwanese actress Chloe Wang went on to play Xu Bin’s love interest in 118.

For a while back then, Chloe was appearing in Singapore frequently, especially since she was signed on to local star Michelle Chong’s talent management agency, Left Profile. Her recent endeavours back home in Taiwan include Girl's Power and Love Scams.

During her birthday in 2014, Chloe was pranked by the crew of variety show Game GX (which she was hosting), who went out of their way to make things difficult for her during filming. However, the actress was so well prepared that pranking her was no easy feat—she even felt so much guilt over her mistakes that she apologised to everyone in tears, proving herself as a respectable actress and a star worth looking out for.

Hong Kong-born Canadian actress Selena Lee’s short stint as the female lead for the Channel 5 sitcom Spouse For House was liberating, to say the least. She stars as Jessica, who marries her high school lover John (Alaric Tay) only to get stuck in an unwanted marriage when the love fades. Drama ensues when both parties are unwilling to give up their new house.

While Selena was in Singapore to film for the show, she openly gushed about the more relaxed filming conditions here, which are extremely different from filming in Hong Kong. Although it was her first time acting in English, which was uncomfortable at first, the shorter filming hours and looser schedule made acting in Spouse for House feel like a holiday for the star.

In fact, Selena loved it here so much that she returned for a second season of the well-received sitcom, but we think it’ll be even better if we could one day see the talented actress in one of our blockbuster dramas.

Popular Taiwanese singer-actor Alien Huang’s first and (currently) only local drama is the blockbuster Joys of Life, a drama set in post-war Singapore and revolving around a group of friends and their dreams.

Alien’s character, Zhao Ming Xing, is a young man who dreams of becoming a star. He is friends with other characters played by Rui En, Chloe Wang, Kate Pang, and Andie Chen. The artiste also got many chances to interact with the top actors in Singapore, as he shared a loveline with Rui En and acted as veteran actor Chew Chor Meng’s son.

Chor Meng, in particular, has had a profound impact on the budding actor. To Alien, Chor Meng is someone whom he looks up to as a mentor; the latter shared many insights about life and acting with him.

Other than Chor Meng, acting in Joys of Life has also given Alien the chance to forge precious bonds with local actors. When Andie and Kate were in Taiwan for the variety show Going Home, they ran into Alien, who sat down for a chat with the couple and even took several pictures with their son Aden. Michelle Chong is also among the list of his local actor friends, as he acted in the former’s movie, Already Famous, with her.

Since Alien has made quite a few good friends from Singapore through his acting ventures here, we wouldn’t write off the possibility that he might return for a cameo or even starring role some day—one can only hope.

Hong Kong-based Chinese actress Jessica Hsuan is another one of the big names from Hong Kong who has come to Singapore to participate in local productions.

The actress has a stunning resumé, with a list of co-stars that include popular male stars such as Julian Cheung, Louis Koo, and Nick Cheung.

The local dramas that she starred in, Parental Guidance, and the 2011 Channel 8 drama Bountiful Blessings, were also very popular among the audience. In particular, her character in Parental Guidance, frazzled newbie mum Ling Toh, got her a Best Comedy Performance nomination at the 2007 Asian Television Awards.

Since we’re talking about foreign celebs in local dramas, it seems almost necessary to bring up Taiwanese actor Steve Ma, who was probably one of the pioneers of this movement, back when acting in another country’s productions wasn’t as common amongst stars.

Back in 1998, Steve starred as leading man Lu Dongbin in the then Television Corporation of Singapore’s (TCS) period blockbuster, Legends of the Eight Immortals, where he romanced former Mediasorp actresses Jacelyn Tay and Phyllis Quek. The series was a great hit, and even now is often lauded as the best drama that then-TCS (now Mediasorp) had ever made, on top of being the most watched drama in that year.

With great results like that, can you blame the TV station for wanting to recreate their biggest success? Two years later, the company reached out to Steve again, who returned to play Linghu Chong in The Legendary Swordsman, which was adapted from the famous Louis Cha novel, The Smiling, Proud Wanderer.

This time, the cast was even more star-studded than before, with Fann Wong, Ivy Lee, Chor Meng, and Jacelyn included. The company also invested large amounts of money for the drama’s pre-publicity, creating a lot of buzz for it. However, it was eventually unable to become the success that its predecessor was, as ratings slowly declined throughout its run.

Steve may not have been able to create two consecutive successes in Singapore, but nevertheless, he was one of the first actors who displayed the huge potential that international casts can have in Singapore. Since more than 20 years have passed since his first hit show here, perhaps a reunion drama is in order?