“I Thought Acting Wasn't An Actual Job”: Tay Ping Hui Reflects On How Ignorant He Was When He First Joined Showbiz
Tay Ping Hui, 52, recently wrote a column for Lianhe Zaobao where he got candid about how he never intended to pursue a career in acting.
The former model revealed that he had turned down an offer from Mediacorp (then known as TCS) to be an actor after he graduated from the National University of Singapore.
"Back in the day, I didn't watch television and had no interest in showbiz. At that time I thought acting wasn't an actual job and felt that it was just about making expressions and reciting lines in front of the camera, which was so shallow," recalled the Economics and Political Science double major.
The high-flyer that is Ping Hui went on to become a general manager at Subway. He was also planning to pursue an MBA at Harvard University.
However, Mediacorp came knocking on Ping Hui's door again in 1998, this time asking him to star in crime anthology series On the Edge.
"I happened to be on a holiday. Since I was free and was curious, I decided to take on the role. When I was done with the show, the producer and company executives asked me to sign a contract with the company again," said Ping Hui. "After much thought, I decided to sign a one-year contract to see if I actually enjoy acting."
That was when he realised that acting was way tougher than he'd imagined.
Even though he had basically little to no experience, the actor was given the lead role in Are You My Brother.
Watch Ping Hui in his first lead role in 1999 drama Are You My Brother on meWATCH below:
"All the internal dialogues were done based on gut feel and I had no technique at all. My tempo when delivering Mandarin lines was all over the place and because I hadn't spoke Mandarin in many years, my pronunciation was a mess," he said.
"Every day after work, I thought that my acting was a failure. All my lines and emotions were expressed superficially," added Ping Hui.
He eventually realised how ignorant he was for making fun of acting.
"After I was enlightened, I no longer look at my characters from my own perspective when I do my 'homework' for a role. I learnt to see things from my character's point of view and interpret the story from there."
Ping Hui also acknowledged that he needed to work on his Mandarin, and picked up the dictionary again to improve on his vocabulary and pronunciation.
"Most importantly, I started seeing the joy in creating characters and knew how to enjoy the process of performing. Whenever I have breaks on set, I would no longer hide in a corner to chit-chat or play with my phone to kill time. Instead, I started observing the other great actors and learnt from them."
He continued: "If there was anything I didn't understand, I could also humbly ask the other person. Most of the time they would be more than willing to share their experience, which really helped me grow exponentially."
Photos: Tay Ping Hui/Instagram
