Huang Biren says she's 24/7 on call for her family, but 'it's not that bad'

She's bold, she's bad, and she's back after a four-year break to play the antagonist in the upcoming Channel 8 drama Recipe of Life.

But what has local veteran actress Huang Biren been up to in her years of absence from our small screens?

In a phone interview with AsiaOne yesterday (Oct 22), Biren shared snippets of her life after leaving Mediacorp as a full-time actress.

"During the days I'm at home, I'm actually very busy and multi-tasking. Not only am I a mother, I'm also a chauffeur driving [my kids] to and from school, a tutor, and a nutritionist," she said.

"I'm on call 24/7," she continued, adding that she does everything in the family, including being her husband's personal assistant.

Of her three children, 20-year-old Justin is in National Service; Janessa, 12, took the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) a few weeks ago; and her youngest daughter Janelle is 10.

[embed]https://www.instagram.com/p/CBsCbKEFHds/[/embed]

During her time away from acting, the 51-year-old was able to spend more time with her kids and catch up with her ex-colleagues as well.

"I spend all my time with them actually, basically I do everything for them," she quipped. But she still leaves time for herself, noting that her kids turn in to bed early so she is able to do her own things and go out with her friends.

"It's not that bad, it's not exactly staying at home being a full-time housewife," she added.

Biren seems happy with the way things are, as compared to when she was a full-time actress. As the latter, Biren said she had no freedom to choose which filming projects to accept or reject, and she had lesser time to spend with her children.

[[nid:381792]]

Contrary to what people may think, Biren said she didn't really leave the industry, just that there were no job offers for her.

She initially did not plan to take on Recipe of Life, as it was a long-form drama with 130 episodes, thus requiring a lot of commitment.

"But after reading the synopsis as well as the character description, I really like the character," she explained.

Because of the preparation work for the role, she couldn't help Janessa with her PSLE.

"I have tons of scripts to read and scenes to prepare so I really can't contribute much," she said, with the duties falling onto her husband instead.

Recipe of Life is set in the culinary world, and also stars Chen Liping, Chen Hanwei, Shaun Chen, and Richard Low.

The drama premieres on meWATCH on Nov 2 and on Channel 8 at 7.30pm the same day.

trining@asiaone.com