Growing Up actor Steven Lim suspects fellow cast member tried to get him fired from show

You don't have to be buddies with everyone at work, but you should be civil with them.

Actor Steven David Lim, best known for his role in local English drama Growing Up (1996 to 2001), recently revealed in a podcast with Dear Straight People his conflict with a co-star.

The 49-year-old told host and Getaway co-star Sean Foo: "That person stopped talking to me, made it quite difficult on set — which I endured, and I'm very proud of myself for doing that."

He continued that the cast and crew were aware of the situation, and that the "animosity" and "weirdness" between them may have affected his career at Mediacorp and made him leave to a certain extent.

On the other hand, he added that his onscreen sister Jamie Yeo stood by him during the conflict, and he also had positive things to say about his onscreen dad Lim Kay Tong.

Set in the 1960s to '80s, Growing Up follows the Tay family — Mr and Mrs Tay (Kay Tong and Wee Soon Hui respectively), Gary (Andrew Seow), David (Steven), Vicky (Irin Gan) and Tammy (Fan Wen Qing, Quek Sue-Shan and Jamie through the six seasons).

Steven also suspects his co-star, whom he didn't name, might have tried to get him fired.

While Steven was the narrator of Growing Up in the first season as David, he was replaced by "an older" Tammy in the second season.

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"At the end of the first season, the TV station — for whatever reason — received so many complaint letters about me," he revealed.

The letters claimed that he was a "terrible actor", but Steven had his suspicions as he had not received such complaints on other productions. He also didn't think most people would write in to Mediacorp if they believed an actor wasn't good.

"They'd just gossip among themselves," Sean suggested.

"I was called in," Steven continued. "Fortunately, my agent stepped in and went, 'Why don't we contact these people and see who they are, and if it's actually legit?'"

Fortunately, Mediacorp also concluded that the letters were unlikely to be from their viewers.

The full podcast is available with a subscription to Dear Straight People's Patreon.

Since leaving local showbiz in 2001, Steven attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art as he "never had any formal training in acting", he revealed in a previous interview with AsiaOne.

After staying in the city for around 14 years, Steven eventually settled down in Bangkok, Thailand, where has lived for a decade and runs a cafe (Luka Bangkok) and a restaurant (Luka/Quince at Siri House).

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"I've always maintained that I have three loves in my life in terms of work. One's photography, two is acting and three is coffee," he said. "So my full-time job that pays the bills here in Bangkok is that I kind of co-own and run a few cafes and restaurants."

He added: "I still keep photography and acting on the sidelines. One keeps me sane from the other."

In recent years, Steven has starred in local gay drama People Like Us (2016) and Singapore's first boys' love (BL) drama Getaway (2022).

Getaway follows Sam (Sean), a man from Singapore who has a falling out with his conservative dad (Steven) and jets off to Thailand, intending to find his gay uncle who was similarly disowned by the family.

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drimac@asiaone.com

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