Gurmit Singh (born 24 March 1965; ; ) is a

Singaporean Singaporeans are the citizens and nationals of the sovereign island city-state of Singapore. Singapore is home to a people of a variety of ethno-racial-religious origins, with the city-state itself being a multi-racial, multi-cultural, m ...

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

comedian A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertainment, entertain an audience by making them laughter, laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop c ...

and

host A host is a person responsible for guests at an event or for providing hospitality during it. Host may also refer to: Places * Host, Pennsylvania, a village in Berks County * Host Island, in the Wilhelm Archipelago, Antarctica People * ...

. He was prominently a full-time

Mediacorp 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. ...

artiste from 1994 to 2014. He is best known for his role as the titular character Phua Chu Kang in ''

Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd ''Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd'' is a Singaporean sitcom created by Andrea Teo for Mediacorp's Channel 5 (Singaporean TV channel), Channel 5. Written and produced by Ong Su Mann, it ran for eight seasons from 25 September 1997 to 11 February 2007. The ...

'', '' Phua Chu Kang Sdn Bhd'' and '' Phua Chu Kang The Movie'', for which he won the

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 ...

prize for Best Performance by an Actor (Comedy) five times, from 1998 to 2001 and in 2003 for the former. From 2004 to 2005, he won the Highly Commended prize.

Life

Born in

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 ...

to a Malaysian Sikh Indian ( Punjabi) father, Chainchal Singh Virk and a mother of Chinese–

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

descent, Gurmit was brought up as a

Sikh Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Si ...

, but converted to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

in 1985. Gurmit studied in Outram Secondary School during his years in

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

. Gurmit married Melissa Wong in 1995, whom is a

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

Chinese. They have three children, Gabrielle (born 1997), Elliot (born 2002) and Mikaela (born 2013). Gurmit is an

alumnus Alumni (: alumnus () or alumna ()) are former students or graduates of a school, college, or university. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for groups of women, and alums (: alum) or alumns (: alumn) as gender-neutral alternatives. Th ...

National Police Cadet Corps The National Police Cadet Corps (NPCC) is one of the national uniformed group for youths between age 13 to 17 in Singapore. The organisation is supported by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Home Affairs. Established in 1959, it tr ...

( NPCC) and held the rank of Cadet Inspector. Gurmit is a native English speaker owing to his multiracial heritage and is also fluent in Malay as he learnt it as his Mother Tongue Language at school.

Career

Making his debut in the

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a comp� ...

named ''Live On 5'' in 1994, he then became the

and

lead actor A leading actor, leading actress, or leading man or lady or simply lead (), plays a main role in a film, television show or play. The word ''lead'' may also refer to the largest role in the piece, and ''leading actor'' may refer to a person w ...

in the

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches" or, "skits", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. While the form developed and became popular in ...

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

based on him known as ''Gurmit's World'', which was also debuted in 1994 for the 1st season after ''Live On 5'' Season 1 ended. The 2nd season of ''Gurmit's World'', which continued in 1995, Gurmit portrayed his 'relatives' in a series of skits (unlike the first season where he played a wide assortment of mostly non-recurring characters), featured the first appearance of a character and

general contractor A contractor (North American English) or builder (British English), is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of a construction site, management of vendors and trades, and the communication of information to all involved parties throughout the c ...

named Phua Chu Kang, where he is one of the 6 characters that Gurmit was portraying in the 2nd season of ''Gurmit's World''. The

Singlish Singlish (a portmanteau of ''Singapore'' and '' English''), formally known as Colloquial Singaporean English, is an English-based creole language originating in Singapore. Singlish arose out of a situation of prolonged language contact betwe ...

-based

spin-off Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media *Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work *''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine * ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...

sitcom based on Phua Chu Kang known as ''

'' in 1997 made Gurmit a popular icon, not only in

, but also in neighbouring countries (especially

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

). This factor leads to having another spin-off sitcom

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music, or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

based in Malaysia known as '' Phua Chu Kang Sdn Bhd'' (2009-2010). In 2013, Gurmit was nominated for the Best Actor prize at the 1st Golden Wau Awards, aimed at promoting Chinese-language Malaysian films, for his role in '' Phua Chu Kang The Movie'' (2010). In October 2014, the

Madame Tussauds Madame Tussauds (, ) is a wax museum founded in London in 1835 by the French wax sculptor Marie Tussaud. One of the early main attractions was the Chamber of Horrors, which appeared in advertising in 1843. In 1883, the restricted space of ...

Singapore museum unveiled a wax figure of Phua Chu Kang. In November 2014, Gurmit announced that he would leave the entertainment industry at the end of his full-time television career at

- after exactly 20 years. Gurmit shared that he planned to spend more time with his family and would take on engagements on a more selective basis. In July 2017, Gurmit was announced by the Dover Park Hospice as the Hospice Ambassador. In August 2020, Phua Chu Kang was announced and signed as Shopee's first Singaporean brand ambassador.

Filmography

Film

Television

Skit & Entertainment

Others

Accolades

Discography

Albums

* ''Sing Singapore 2002 : One (We Are One)'' (2002) duet with

Tay Ping Hui Tay Ping Hui (born 10 November 1970) is a Singaporean actor and director, known for starring in many Chinese-language television dramas in Singapore and mainland China. In 2014, Tay made his directorial debut with the basketball film '' Meeti ...

* ''One Leg Kicking Original Soundtrack: 'Calling': "Into The House"'' (2001) * ''Moments'' Gurmit's debut album (2015) * ''Gurmit Goes Local'' (1995) comedy album

Compilations

* ''A Happy Journey Starts Like That!'' (2009) * ''The PCK Sar-vivor Rap'' (2003) * ''Love, No Boundaries: "Into the House"'' (2001) lbum single

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Gurmit Singaporean television personalities 1965 births Living people Singaporean Charismatics Singaporean people of Malaysian descent Singaporean people of Indian descent Singaporean people of Punjabi descent Singaporean people of Japanese descent Singaporean people of Chinese descent Singaporean male television actors Singaporean male stage actors Singaporean male film actors Converts to Christianity from Sikhism 20th-century Singaporean male actors 21st-century Singaporean male actors