He may be wearing Gucci but as CHEN HANWEI tells Diana Ong his family was so poor four of them had to share one glass of iced lemon tea
Photos: Simon Sim
Styling: Steven Kong
Family Matters
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He may be wearing Gucci but as CHEN HANWEI tells Diana Ong his family was so poor four of them had to share one glass of iced lemon tea Photos: Simon Sim Styling: Steven Kong
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8 DAYS: You seem to have a knack for playing a wonderful, loving hubby.
HANWEI: Basically, I'm reprising the same role as the first season of Vive, but this time I have a superstitious and nosy auntie [played by Hong Huifang]. She puts orbid [old-fashioned] things in our house, like chimes and bagua [octagonal] mirrors, and bursts in on Biren and me every time we make out. Towards the end, she even pricks holes in my condoms to get Biren pregnant!
Sounds like a hoot. What's your real family like?
My family is very loving but not very expressive. When I was young, we were really poor. We didn’ t have a home of our own and had to live with my auntie. Dinner was the leftovers from my relatives' meal.
Your relatives didn't like your family very much, did they?
They looked down on us and often scolded and cursed us in Teochew, so I refused to learn it. (Regretfully] I still can’t speak a word of my dialect today.
That's really sad.
We were so poor that my elder sister and I played with the same paper lantern for many years. If it tore, we would patch it up with newspapers.
Tell us about a happy childhood memory instead.
Whenever my family came to Singapore {from Malaysia, where he grew up], we would go to Chinatown - my idea of paradise then. All of us - my parents, elder sis and I - shared one glass of iced lemon tea. That's my fondest childhood memory.
And now you can have all the iced lemon teas you want.
On the very day I got my first paycheck from MediaCorp [then S B C], I bought one iced tea and drank it all by myself. Then I went and bought a return air ticket to Kuala Lumpur because I had never flown before. I just flew there and back. For that one-hour flight, I looked out the window and kept telling myself, "I've made it. I've made it."
Indeed.
But I still suffer from insomnia worrying about my parents. I've never said this in any interview, especially not to the Chinese press, because my mum reads the Chinese papers. She often asks if I still worry about her and I always reply, 'No lah!'
Were you a sensible boy growing up?
I was actually quite hyperactive. You see this scar on my forehead? Once, when I was still crawling, I hit my head on a metal chair and I just kept banging my head over and again while trying to get past it. I didn’t stop even when blood was pouring down my face! I had to be sent to hospital for stitches.
That's very tenacious. But are you sick of playing these nice guy roles yet?
I want to go beyond nice guys. I would like to play a rapist or a psychopath. I could even do a role in drag!
Speaking of roles, you are almost the perfect hubby in Vive. What kind of a lover will you make in real life?
I'm rational. I'll listen to explanations. And I don’t get jealous easily. I also like to give surprises.
Small surprises or grand gestures?
Small surprises. It can be something as simple as a hug, making you a bowl of soup or just pouring you a glass of water when you've just woken up in the morning.
But what's the grandest gesture of love you've ever made for a special someone?
Definitely nothing like what Pierre Png has done! Maybe setting up a joint account without my loved one's knowledge and putting my money in it. I think that's very sweet and meaningful. But I haven’ t done it yet.
Is there anyone you'd like to do it for at the moment?
No. {A beat} Really!
Vive La Famille II airs Mon to Fri, Ch 8, 9pm
Source: 8 Days No 658 May 15- May 22, 2003. The photo is partially cropped.
Added on 11 Jun 03