Moses Lim

Moses Lim Aik Ming ( zh, s=林益民, p=Lín Yìmín; 12 December 1949 – 11 February 2025) was a Singaporean actor, television host, comedian, and food critic, best known for playing Tan Ah Teck in the Singaporean sitcom '' Under One Roof'' (1995–2003). Together with his comedy partner, Jack Neo, they were often compared to Wang Sa and Ye Fong, a popular Singapore comedy duo in the 60s and 70s.

Early life and education

Lim was born in Singapore to a businessman father and housewife mother on 12 December 1949. He had one brother and two sisters.

Of the Chinese Henghua dialect group, Lim grew up speaking Puxian Min at home. He later learned English, Malay and Mandarin from his neighbours.

Lim took his primary school education at Catholic High School, secondary school education at Maris Stella High School and pre-university education at Anglican High School. He later studied commerce at the Ngee Ann Polytechnic.

Career

Media

Lim started learning crosstalk at the age of eight from a Catholic missionary priest from Harbin, China, who was also a teacher at his primary school, Catholic High School. During the early 1970s, Lim performed crosstalk at his first television appearance. While working at other jobs, Lim would take on freelance entertainment jobs with the radio stations and occasionally made a few television crosstalk appearances.

Lim met Jack Neo during a Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) variety show in 1984 and their comedic personas matched and decided to be a double act.

In 1988, they produced a comedy video movie, ''Fuji's Destiny'' (富士缘) with Neo as director and actor, Lim and other local comedians, Marcus Chin, Hua Liang, and Tan Tiaw Gim acted in it. However, in the same year, Lim and Neo were banned by SBC for two years. The duo made a comeback in July 1990, hosting a comic segment ''Gaoxiao Xingtong'' in SBC's variety show, ''Variety Tonight'' on Mondays. As a result of their popularity, they went on to host ''Variety Tonight'' from February 1992 onwards. Lim also hosted a weekly comedy talk show with Neo on Radio Heart. By then, Lim and Neo were compared to Wang Sa and Ye Fong, a popular Singapore comedy duo of the 1960s and 70s, as the next most successful comic duo.

In 1992, Lim launched a book, ''Singapore Laughs'' / Smile Singapore (新加坡笑笑), containing his observations on Singapore's idiosyncrasies.

In 1994, Lim was one of the co-hosts of the multinational Asian talent program Asia Bagus along with fellow Singaporean Najip Ali. In the same year, Robert Chua, a Hong Kong producer, took note of Lim's success and invited Lim to Hong Kong to work. According to Lim, who was considered a part time actor with Television Corporation of Singapore (TCS), TCS tried to get him to sign a contract as a full time artiste which he declined due to disagreement on how management worked at TCS. Lim also claimed TCS tried to persuade him to sign a contract not to work overseas which he declined also and which he claimed resulted in TCS blacklisting him from any work with TCS. Lim eventually signed with China Entertainment Television to appear on a cookery programme and variety talk show.

In late 1994, Lim joined the Singaporean sitcom '' Under One Roof'' (1995–2003) on Mediacorp Channel 5, making him the first crossover artiste from Mediacorp Channel 8, after collaborating with Jack Neo, Mark Lee, Henry Thia, Marcus Chin, Jimmy Nah, and John Cheng in ''Comedy Night/Comedy Nite'' (1990–2000, 2003–2004). Lim's famous tagline from ''Under One Roof'' is: "This reminds me of a story! Long before your time, in the Southern province of China...". For his effort in ''Under One Roof'', Lim became the first Singaporean actor to win an award at the Asian Television Awards for Best Male Actor in a Comedy in 1996.

In 2007, he played Eric Tan in the Singaporean film '' Just Follow Law''. In 2011, Lim also starred in the Okto television series ''Zero Hero'' as Grandpa Magnificent. He performed at the 2012 stage play, ''Happily Ever Laughter''.

In 2015, Lim starred in ''Our Sister Mambo'', a commemorative film for Cathay Organisation's 80th anniversary.

Gourmet

Lim's gourmet career started in 1993, when a tour agency asked him to host a thematic gourmet tour, to which Lim agreed. He was the founder and manager of the Moses Lim Gourmet Club, which organizes gourmet tours on a bi-annually basis. Lim also served as brand ambassador for Singaporean porridge restaurant Zhen Zhou Dao, which was run by his son-in-law and eldest daughter. Zhen Zhou Dao eventually closed after three years of operations.

Other

In 1975, Lim's father died of a heart attack and Lim joined the automotive spare parts import-export firm which his father co-owned. Lim eventually started his own spare parts trading company.

In the 1990s, Lim had other companies which traded and market health food and premium gifts.

Lim served as chairman for a bridal store and a real estate company.

Personal life and death

Lim was a Christian.

During one of his business trips while working for his own company, Lim met Monica, a Taiwanese woman. They married in 1977 and had two daughters together.

In 2018, Lim had heart surgery which was met with complications, resulting in a three-month recovery period. In 2022, he was diagnosed with a slow pulse rate and was advised to implant a pacemaker which he refused due to previous complications. A review six months later revealed his conditions were stable and his doctor agreed on not implanting the pacemaker.

Lim died on 11 February 2025, at the age of 75, of ischemic heart disease.

Filmography

As Host

Television

Film

Awards and nominations

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lim, Moses
1949 births
Singaporean people of Chinese descent
2025 deaths
Singaporean male television actors
Singaporean people of Henghua descent
Singaporean Protestants