I hope to portray a gay character next: Star Awards 2023 Best Actor Richie Koh

Richie Koh's soaring career may be becoming a lot more colourful.

At the backstage show for Star Awards 2023 earlier today (April 9), Richie shared that he's hoping to play a gay character next.

The 29-year-old actor had just won the My Pick! The Male Show Stealer award for his performance in Your World in Mine, where he portrayed an intellectually disabled adult.

Elaborating to AsiaOne later, Richie said: "I think this would be very challenging and fun. It's something that I'd like to try and develop more after seeing Mark Lee in Number 1. At the moment, I would like to try and understand that life."

This would be something new to Richie and he's aware of the difficulties that he might face.

He added: "At the end of the day, what we want to do is tell the story of their lives. I've come to understand the lives of disabled kids, special kids, and tell a good story about what they've been through.

"So hopefully, the next one that I'll get to experience is that part of [the gay community's] lives."

Portrayal of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) characters in local media is relatively limited. A subplot featuring a gay couple in the recent TV drama Silent Walls was also criticised by some.

Mediacorp and the production company have defended the show.

Richie was the big winner of the night, becoming Best Actor on his virgin nomination and the youngest one since Christopher Lee in 1997.

Earlier in the evening, he was also one of three winners for Most Popular Rising Stars, alongside Ayden Sng and DJ-singer Gao Meigui.

More to come...

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khooyihang@asiaone.com

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