'The act is wrong but it doesn't make you a bad person': Tay Ying on playing a cheating wife and 'lots of first times' in new drama

When local actress Tay Ying first received the script and read about the cheating wife that she was going to play in her new drama, she wasn't pleased with what her character is doing.

In an interview with AsiaOne on July 13 about her first long-form drama My One and Only, the 27-year-old said that she had a chat with the drama's executive producer.

She said: "I asked the executive producer, 'Why is she doing this? Why is she doing that?' And the executive producer said, 'You're right about one thing, you're judging the character'."

Tay Ying plays Leia Chong in My One and Only, who is married to Hao Renpin (Shawn Thia). The young couple face multiple challenges and their marriage soon gets rocky when Renpin finds out that Leia is having an affair with Lucas Low (Zhang Yaodong).

However, as they are married for less than five years and want to avoid returning their BTO unit to HDB, they decide to maintain their spousal relationship in name only. Leia later returns to depend on Renpin when she becomes pregnant with Lucas' child.

While Tay Ying took some time to come to terms with Leia's actions, she said that she eventually learned to empathise with her as she realised that what Leia does, while incorrect, spurred from her loneliness and insecurities and her desire to be loved.

She shared: "Leia is a complicated character… I think when it comes to playing Leia, and this is something that I took a while [to come to terms with], the first thing the actor has to do is to empathise with the character first, to understand what this person is going through, what happened in her past and her present, and what is going through her head.

"Then you try to empathise and you don't judge the character that much anymore. You try to sort of be in her shoes."

'You can't give it to me, so I need to find it elsewhere'

Tay Ying said that portraying Leia in this 130-episode drama provides many "first-time" experiences for her, such as playing someone's wife, cheating on her spouse and portraying pregnancy and miscarriage later.

"I am feeling emotions that I never felt before. I am trying to relate to situations that I have never been in before," said Tay Ying.

When asked about how she views extramarital affairs in real life, she said: "The act is wrong, but it doesn't make you a bad person."

Relating her opinion to Leia's character, she added that Leia understands that her actions are wrong, but she still puts the blame on Renpin because she wants his attention.

Tay Ying said: "From Leia's perspective, she is thinking, 'The reason why I cheated is not because of me, it's because of you. You're not giving me enough love and attention. What I want is as simple as that, but you can't give it to me, so I need to find it elsewhere.'

"To other people, they may think that is a really bad mindset to have. But when you are that person, you'll be like, 'No, I am right. Why I'm like this is because of you'."

Tay Ying also believes that when a spouse cheats, what is left between them cannot be described simply as love, but "more of familiarity".

Speaking about Leia's and Renping's relationship, where they have been together for six years and "are pretty much like a family", Tay Ying said: "Whether there is love or not, it is debatable because you will definitely always have a soft spot for this person, you will always feel something.

"But whether it is true love or not, it really depends. But one thing for sure is that we both had that comfort after such a long relationship. That's what kept us together."

'Isn't it better to get to know that person and judge for yourself?'

Besides learning about empathy, playing Leia has also taught Tay Ying to not be too quick to judge a person or a character that she is going to play in the future.

She said: "Different people have different challenges. We all go through different things in life."

She added that there are many people who judge others based on the things that they read and see on the internet nowadays without determining whether they are factual.

"Isn't it better to get to know that person and judge for yourself once you know him or her, instead of what you see online or what you see on the surface? So I guess it's something that I learned and even when I'm analysing another character, I will not be too quick to judge," she said.

My One and Only is currently still in production and also stars Zoe Tay, Brandon Wong, Shaun Chen, Elvin Ng and Ya Hui. It is available on demand for free on meWATCH now and will also be broadcast on Channel 8 on Mondays to Fridays at 7.30pm from July 27.

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yeo.shuhui@asiaone.com

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