"Double confirm" came from the phrase I used on We Are Singaporeans. I trademarked the saying. Registered it, yes.

COVID was when I first met my nephew. It was lockdown and we couldn't interact in-person, only through Zoom. It was only a year later when I returned that I really bonded with the kid. By the time, he was one year old, I brought him bubbles—little blue bubbles—and the kid loved them. He’d call me "Uncle Bubble" and I don’t think, to this day, he even knows my name. It’s such a lovely feeling with this kid.

I love my nephew and I’m trying to be a responsible uncle, whatever that means. I’m very happy where I am now and I don’t think I’ll ever have children.

I’m a great uncle but a dad? No.

I used to be afraid of being alone. Some are very happy being alone but not me: I cannot eat alone; I couldn’t go to theatre by myself. I constantly needed to be surrounded by people, because I draw energy from them. But with getting older, I realised I don’t need that company so much any more. I’ve settled into this nice routine and rhythm. 

Health is an issue for all of us as we age; it's always on the foremost of people's mind. You know, you're getting slipped discs, you blow out your knees, your eyes dim... but we to remain positive about things, no matter what happens.

Fame is fleeting. People knowing who you are and wanting to be with you, and two seconds later, they are moving on to the next big thing.

This industry is ruthless. When I was in my 20s, 30s, there was the constant need to be seen, to be there. It kinda drove me for a while until I was brought back down to earth.

Have good friends and family, because they will tell you if you’re being stupid, and keep you grounded.

You wise up after all the fame-chasing. So, you start improving on yourself: how to be a better actor; how to hone your skills that an actor would need. You learn how to ride a horse, or drive, swim, do wushu, things like that because if a role requires you to do something and you can’t, you’re automatically taken out of the casting process.

Once you rest on the awards that you’ve won, you stagnate; you become jaded.

I’ve learnt along the way to show up on time; know your job and be kind. These three go hand-in-hand in everything that I do. You gotta show up on time. You gotta know your lines as an actor. You have to be nice to people... there's no point being a diva.

If you don’t insist on being nice, to be kind, to give a leg up to someone who needs help, then what’s the point?

To me, basically an actor is the bottom rung. Without everybody else—the costumers, the make-up artists, the cameraman, the riggers—you’re nobody.

As an actor, you’re a puppet.

I led a wonderful childhood. My dad is a great father. He was wild and played with all of us. All the cousins love Uncle Vincent.

Even when we were dirt-poor, my dad and mom never let us live without the bare necessities.

When I was younger, people labelled me as a comedian. I’m not a comedian, well, I’m not just a comedian. The pigeon-holing irritated me but I realised there’s no use trying to correct people’s perceptions of you. If they think you’re this, then you’re this, lor. But if you don’t agree with them, then don’t be that label they pin on you.

For years, I’ve been typecast as the nerd, the geek, the sidekick, the civil servant... it used to eat me alive. I wanted the lead role. I wanted to be James Lye. But I realised that every leading man needs a sidekick. Playing second fiddle always got me work and as an actor, that was very fortunate.

Ben [Lee aka Mr Miyagi] and I knew each other in ACS (Anglo-Chinese School) but we only became real friends at ACJC (Anglo-Chinese Junior College). Because we weren’t in rugby or swimming, the girls didn’t feel threatened by us and we hung out with them.

We are good friends and we only started collaborating when he returned from studying in Australia. Ben wrote all his life; I knew he was sharp and because he knows me so well, I asked him to write something in my voice. So he wrote my first monologue called Multiple Personalities Disorder! staged at Dream Academy. In it, I played 14 to 20 different personalities. The show sold out and that’s how we started working together.

There is religion and there is faith.

I believe there’s a God. That there is someone far larger than any of this, who hears me many times. Prayer is very, very, very, very, very powerful. Sometimes you utter words in your head or your heart that you don’t think it would be heard, but it is,  whether or not you get what you ask. From missed opportunities to roles I didn’t get, the reasons would be made known later.

The most memorable role was the first time I played Malcolm Png in Army Daze [the stage show]. I had only 24 hours to learn my lines because two days after Nicholas Chan was cast, he contracted chicken pox. That was when I put my mark on the theatre scene: "This is me. Take it or leave it."

I’d like to be remembered for being encouraging, being kind; that I was there for people... all these little clichés that people throw around.

Photography: Jaya Khidir
Creative Direction and Styling: Asri Jasman
Grooming: Sophia Soh at THE SUBURBS STUDIO
Styling Assistants: Naysa Subba and Quek Yu Tong