Aileen Tan Lay Ching (born 18 October 1966) is a
Singapore
Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
an actress.
Life and career
Tan studied at Willow Secondary School.
Tan worked in sales for more than a year before becoming an office administrator at an advertising agency.
Tan participated in
Singapore Broadcasting Corporation
Mediacorp Pte. Ltd. is the state media, state-owned media conglomerate of Singapore. Owned by Temasek Holdings—the investment arm of the Government of Singapore—it owns and operates television channels, radio, and digital media properties. ...
's inaugural
Star Search
''Star Search'' (later known as ''Ed McMahon's Star Search'') is an American television show that was produced by T.P.E./ Rysher Entertainment from 1983 to 1995, hosted by Ed McMahon, and created by Al Masini. A relaunch was produced by 29 ...
in 1988 and was placed second behind
Zoe Tay
Zoe Tay Hui Gek (born 10 January 1968) is a Singaporean actress and former model. She has been referred to as the "Queen of Caldecott Hill" and "Ah Jie".
To date, Tay has received four Star Awards for Best Actress.
Early life
Tay is the s ...
.
She also won the award for Most Photogenic.
Tan was often cast in leading roles in the first 15 years of her acting career, but has since played supporting roles in recent years.
She has been nominated multiple times in the
Best Actress category at the annual
Star Awards
Star Awards (Chinese: 红星大奖) are awards for artistic and technical merit where Mediacorp recognises entertainers under their employment for outstanding performances of the year.
The awards are given annually in a ceremony. The various ca ...
. She was nominated for the award in 1995, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2002, and 2003; she won the award once in 2001 for her role in ''
Three Women and a Half'', playing a manager in an advertising company who would make use of her looks and charms to climb up the corporate ladder. Tan took a break from television in 2005. In 2006, she appeared in two Singapore dramas, ''
Women of Times
A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl.
Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional ute ...
'' and ''
Measure of Man'', the latter drama clinching the runner-up position in 2006's television viewership ratings.
Tan also ventured into English dramas. In 2000, she played Mae in
MediaCorp Channel 5's longest-running drama series, ''
Growing Up''. Later in 2009, she played Suzanne Kong, the wife of a tycoon in the 40-episode drama ''Red Thread''. In 2013, Tan won Best Actress in a Supporting Role at the 18th
Asian Television Awards
The Asian Television Awards, founded in 1996, is an appreciation to recognize and reward programming and production excellence in the Asian television industry. Held every December, it comprises 56 categories across news, documentaries and curre ...
(ATA) for her role in ''The Day It Rained on Our Parade'' which consisted of four episodes. On 29 May 2015, it was announced that Tan will play the lead role in
Jack Neo
Jack Neo Chee Keong (born 24 January 1960) is a Singaporean filmmaker, comedian and actor who was a full-time Mediacorp artiste from 1983 to 2003. He established a unique presence with his genuine and relatable stories that highlight societa ...
's film, ''
Long Long Time Ago'' alongside
Mark Lee and Wang Lei. At
Star Awards 2017, Tan received the
Best Supporting Actress award for the drama ''
Hero
A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. The original hero type of classical epics did such thin ...
''. At
Star Awards 2018
Star Awards 2018 (also SA2018SG, Chinese: 红星大奖2018) is a television award ceremony which is held in Singapore, with the Post Party and Ceremony Awards was broadcast live on 22 April 2018. A total of 15 awards were handed out during the ...
, she landed her 4th nomination for
Best Supporting Actress for the drama, ''
Have a Little Faith''.
Tan has won 2
Star Awards for Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes
The Star Awards for Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes is an award presented annually at the Star Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1994.
In 2023, the Most Popular Rising Stars award was introduced for artistes who have been in the ...
in 1994 and 1997.
Personal life
Tan's parents are of
Hokkien
Hokkien ( , ) is a Varieties of Chinese, variety of the Southern Min group of Chinese language, Chinese languages. Native to and originating from the Minnan region in the southeastern part of Fujian in southeastern China, it is also referred ...
descent.
She married
Hong Kong
Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
film director
A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...
Gerald Lee in 2002. She experienced an
ectopic pregnancy
Ectopic pregnancy is a complication of pregnancy in which the embryo attaches outside the uterus. Signs and symptoms classically include abdominal pain and vaginal bleeding, but fewer than 50 percent of affected women have both of these sympto ...
in 2006, which eventually led to an abortion.
Filmography
Television series
Film
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tan, Aileen
Living people
1966 births
Singaporean people of Hokkien descent
Singaporean television actresses
Singaporean film actresses
20th-century Singaporean actresses
21st-century Singaporean actresses