Zoe Tay
Zoe Tay (born 10 January 1968) is a Singaporean actress , a former model and was named as "Queen of Caldecott Hill" by local media and fellow referred to as "Ah Jie" (senior actress) due to her status. [1][2][3]
Zoe Tay | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
郑惠玉 | |||||||
| Born | 10 January 1968 | ||||||
| Nationality | Singaporean | ||||||
| Education | Kay Hua Primary School Yuan Ching Secondary School | ||||||
| Alma mater | Baharuddin Vocational Institute | ||||||
| Occupation | Actress | ||||||
| Years active | 1988–present | ||||||
| Spouse(s) | Philip Chionh ( m. 2001) | ||||||
| Children | Brayden, Ashton, Nathan | ||||||
| Awards | Star Search 1998 : Champion Star Awards 1996 : Best Actress Star Awards 1998: Special Achievement Award Star Awards 2004 : All-Time Favourite Artiste Star Awards 2017 : Best Dressed Celebrity & Best Actress Star Awards 2019 : Best Actress | ||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 鄭惠玉 | ||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 郑惠玉 | ||||||
| |||||||
| Musical career | |||||||
| Associated acts | Queen of Caldecott Hill | ||||||
Career
Tay started out as a model at the age of 16. In 1987, she was named Model of The Year. After Tay was crowned champion of the inaugural Star Search in 1988, she was offered a 3-year contract with the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), now known as Mediacorp. While Tay had initially disliked acting, she began feeling passionate for her craft after her role in Crime and Passion in 1991. Her breakthrough performance as a materialistic young woman in Pretty Faces catapulted her into stardom. Her popularity was affirmed with a Top 10 Most Popular Female Artiste Award at the Star Awards every year for ten consecutive years since its inception in 1994. In 1996, Zoe won the Best Actress award for her role in The Golden Pillow at the annual Star Awards. In 2004, she was the first actress to have been awarded the prestigious All-Time Favourite Artiste .
Other than television dramas, Tay also forayed into films. In 2010, she starred opposite Hong Kong actor Kenny Ho in Love Cuts, playing the role of a terminally ill woman who has breast cancer. In 2013, she appeared in her first fully English-speaking role in Mister John with Irish star Aidan Gillen.
Tay has collaborated with many artistes in her various projects. Her on-screen chemistry with Li Nanxing in The Unbeatables and other serials has put them in the list of the Top 5 Best Onscreen Couples at the Star Awards 25th Drama Anniversary show. In 2015, she collaborated for the first time with Huang Biren, in The Dream Makers II.
Due to her contributions to the television industry in Singapore, a wax figurine was modelled after her by Madame Tussauds Singapore, and is currently on display in the museum.[4][5]
Tay won her second Best Actress at the Star Awards 2017 for You Can Be an Angel 2, 21 years after her first. In an interview, she revealed that after her first win in 1996, she had contemplated quitting as she felt "strangely empty and lost". Instead, she enrolled in an acting class in New York, an experience which transformed her to "someone who is focused on improving my acting and who can be exemplary to other actors." Guiding her are three Chinese words from her father: 毅力 or perseverance, 耐力 or endurance , 勇气 or courage.[6]
In Star Awards 2019, Tay won her third Best Actress for the drama, A Million Dollar Dream.
Personal life
Tay is the sixth of seven children born to Teochew parents. She was three when her biological mother died in an accident. Her father remarried and had a daughter with Wong Pong Chin.[7] Her father worked at a pig farm in Lim Chu Kang while her stepmother was a housewife. Tay attended the now-defunct Kay Hua Primary School and later, Yuan Ching Secondary School, where she completed her O-level examinations. She studied design at the Baharuddin Vocational Institute.
When she was 13, she thought of using "Jenny" as her Christian name as people pronounced her hanyu pinyin surname Zheng as "Jenny". However her siblings didn't like it. She later found the name "Zoe" in a dictionary.[7]
She is fluent in Mandarin, Teochew and Cantonese.
Tay is married to Philip Chionh, an Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) pilot.[8] They were engaged in 1995 and held their wedding ceremony in 2001. They have 3 sons together: Brayden, Ashton and Nathan.[9]
Filmography
Chinese/Dialect Series
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 1988 | 窈窕淑女 My Fair Ladies |
| 奇缘之怨偶天成 Strange Encounters II | |
| 1989 | 铁警雄风 Patrol |
| 亲心唤我心 A Mother's Love | |
| 1990 | 出人头地 Finishing Line |
| 壮志豪情 Navy | |
| 1991 | 最后一个大侠 The Last Swordsman |
| 三面夏娃 Pretty Faces | |
| 1992 | 霹雳红唇 Ladies In Action |
| 执法先锋 Crime and Passion | |
| 戏剧人生 Terms of Endearment | |
| 1993 | 暴雨狂花 Angel of Vengeance |
| 卿本佳人 Ride The Waves | |
| 双天至尊 The Unbeatables | |
| 欢喜冤家 Happy Foes | |
| 1994 | 惊天大阴谋 Thunder Plot |
| 爱情定金(电视电影) Love Dowry | |
| 聪明糊涂心 Truly Yours | |
| 一号凶宅 Shadow In the Dark | |
| 1995 | 潮洲家族 Teochew Family |
| 甜甜屋(电视电影) Love Knows No Bounds | |
| 金枕头 Golden Pillow | |
| 1996 | 杀之恋 (电视电影) Pointed Triangle |
| 妈姐情缘 A Different Life | |
| 双天至尊II The Unbeatables II | |
| 1997 | 101老婆之老婆柠檬茶 My Wife, Your Wife, Their Wives |
| 富贵双城 Love in A Foreign City | |
| 长河 Rising Expectations | |
| 迷情专访(电视电影) The Scoop | |
| 1998 | 神雕侠侣 Return of the Condor Heroes |
| 卫斯理传奇 The New Adventures Of Wisely | |
| 1999 | 另类佳人 Lost Soul |
| 千年虫 'The Millennium Bug | |
| 2000 | 家事 My Home Affairs |
| 2001 | 世纪攻略 The Stratagem |
| 大酒店 The Hotel | |
| 2002 | 加东 Miss Oh Katong Miss Oh |
| 双天至尊III The Unbeatables III | |
| 2003 | PCK Pte Ltd V 鬼马家族V |
| 我家四个宝 Baby Boom | |
| 2004 | 跑吧男人 Man at 40 |
| 野蛮亲家 My Mighty In Laws | |
| 2006 | 闲妻靓母 Lady of Leisure |
| 百万宝 A Million Treasures | |
| 2008 | 绝对佳人 La Femme |
| 不凡的爱 By My Side |
| Year | Drama | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | The Ultimatum 双子星 | Ye Yuchen 叶予晨 |
|
| 2011 | Devotion 阿娣 | Liu Zhaodi 刘昭娣 |
|
| 2012 | Double Bonus 双星报喜 | Li Meifeng 李美凤 |
|
| 2013 | The Dream Makers 志在四方 | Zhou Weiyun 周薇云 |
|
| Recipe 回味 | Qiu Yun 秋芸 |
| |
| 2015 | You Can Be An Angel Too 你也可以是天使 | Wang Ruojun 王若君 |
|
| The Dream Makers II 志在四方II | Zhou Weiyun 周薇云 |
| |
| 2016 | Eat Already? 吃饱没？ | Doctor Tay 郑医生 |
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| You Can Be An Angel 2 你也可以是天使2 | Wang Ruojun 王若君 |
| |
| Hero 大英雄 | Deborah |
| |
| 2017 | While We Are Young Z世代 | Fang Ting 方庭 |
|
| 2018 | A Million Dollar Dream 给我一百万 | Hu Jiaofen 胡娇芬 |
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| VIC 维多利亚的模力 | Zoe |
| |
| You Can Be An Angel 3 你也可以是天使3 | Wang Ruojun 王若君 |
| |
| 2019 | How Are You? 好世谋 | Doctor Soong 医生 |
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| All Is Well 你那边怎样，我这边OK | Zhang Bizhu 张碧珠 |
|
Compilation album
| Year | English title | Mandarin title |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | MediaCorp Music Lunar New Year Album 12 | 新传媒群星金龙接财神 |
| 2013 | MediaCorp Music Lunar New Year Album 13 | 群星贺岁金蛇献祥和 |
| 2015 | MediaCorp Music Lunar New Year Album 15 | 新传媒群星金羊添吉祥 |
| 2016 | MediaCorp Music Lunar New Year Album 16 | 新传媒群星金猴添喜庆 |
| 2017 | MediaCorp Music Lunar New Year Album 17 | 新传媒群星咕鸡咕鸡庆丰年 |
| 2018 | MediaCorp Music Lunar New Year Album 18 | 新传媒群星阿狗狗过好年 |
| 2019 | MediaCorp Music Lunar New Year Album 19 | 新传媒群星猪饱饱欢乐迎肥年 |
| 2020 | MediaCorp Music Lunar New Year Album 20 | 裕鼠鼠纳福迎春了 |
Accolades
| Asian Television Awards – Acting Awards | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result |
| 2000 | Best Actress in a Leading Role | My Home Affairs (as Zhang Xiaotong) | Nominated |
| 2010 | The Ultimatum (as Ye Yucheng) | Nominated | |
| 2017 | You Can Be an Angel 2 (as Wang Ruojun) | Nominated | |
References
- Loh, Aretha (17 June 2015). "Zoe Tay on why she's not afraid of growing old". Her World. Retrieved 2016-11-15.
- Tay, Mervin; Whang, Rennie; Tan, Judith (15 June 2013). "MediaCorp veterans blast young actors for being rude". The New Paper.
- Fam, Jonathan (11 January 2017). "Zoe Tay Shows Us Why She'll Always Be The Queen of Caldecott Hill". 8 Days.
- Chan, Ilsa (23 October 2014). "Zoe Tay 'surprised' by her wax figure at Madame Tussauds". Toggle. Retrieved 2017-06-12.
- "Zoe Tay's wax double - TODAYonline". YouTube. 22 October 2014. Retrieved 2017-06-12.
- Yun, Daniel (14 May 2017). "Understanding Zoe Tay's enduring appeal". Today. Retrieved 2017-05-22.
- Tan, Sumiko (21 May 2017). "Lunch With Sumiko: Zoe Tay on motherhood, her mum, and how she once called herself Jenny". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2017-05-22.
- Ejlersen, Jeanette (29 January 2015). "EXPERT ADVICE: Timeless wedding tips from Zoe Tay". Her World. Retrieved 2016-01-05.
- Chua, Charlene (20 January 2013). "Zoe wants Baby No. 4 but..." Asiaone. Retrieved 2016-11-14.
External links
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