'Life experiences enrich you as an actress': Evelyn Tan returns to acting after 18 years

While taking a break from your career may seem like a big leap for some, to local actress Evelyn Tan, it was a "non-event".

"I don't think I had much time to think about it so I was just really enthralling myself in that whole joy of being a mother for the first time. Yeah, so I think it was just like a non-event," explained the 48-year-old in an interview with AsiaOne yesterday (Sept 22).

Evelyn, now a mother of four kids, took a break from acting 18 years ago after the birth of her first child Kristen. She will be returning to the scene next month and begin production playing single career woman Gu Chuntian in the new drama Moments.

She mentioned that over the years she had thoughts of coming back to acting and received requests to do so, but it was something she could not afford to do due to the irregular working hours.

Instead, she took on ad-hoc projects like hosting which had more regular hours compared to acting in dramas.

"You usually wouldn't interview people in the middle of the night, but dramas are a little bit different. You may be required to do overnight shoots… at least that was the case last time. I hear that recently they don't do overnight shoots anymore," she added.

The recent pasar malam variety show she went on with her husband, fellow actor Darren Lim, was also one of those ad-hoc jobs she chose to take on.

"It was really fun. I felt it was more like a game and an interesting activity," she recalled.

'Life actually finds a way'

Evelyn had a few worries prior to accepting the role of Chuntian: "I might be rusty, I might not be able to remember my lines well... These are all things that have gone through my mind."

Her greatest worry? Not being able to spend as much time with her youngest child Elliot, 10.

Her oldest three children — Kristen, 18, Jairus, 16, and Way, 14 — had the opportunity to spend time with her as she was mostly free, and they were homeschooled for a period of time.

Evelyn was worried that going back into acting would not mean the same for Elliot.

"As mothers we always try to be fair, right? Always try to be as equitable as possible… with me going back to the workforce, that would mean less time spent with him. I think I will have to try to make up for it in other ways," said Evelyn.

She then concluded that things "will never be fair" the way she wants it to be and some things are beyond her control and remained positive: "I think I can make a different and unique experience for him that his siblings didn't have. So that's what I told myself I set out to do."

She did not specify her exact plans, but mentioned that Elliot will not be homeschooled like the other three kids as he does better in a group environment.

We asked if she was envious seeing Darren, 50, continue on with his career while she stayed with the children.

"It was really hard on him. He would have to shoulder the whole burden of bringing up all the four kids by being the breadwinner for the whole family, so that was mainly what I felt. Not so much like, oh, he gets to do it, I don't get to do it," she explained.

She continued: "He's very sweet. He would tell me, 'This is what we are doing now. We are playing different roles for the season in our lives where I go out there and bring the bread and butter back and you then take care of bringing up the kids, and so we are playing equally important roles.'"

She added that Darren kept emphasising this, which she appreciated.

How she got the new drama role

When asked about how Darren felt about her returning to acting, Evelyn said that he was "all for it".

"He was very positive, very supportive of my decision. In fact, he was actually the reason this role came about because the executive producer he was working with has a new project and they were talking about it. I think my name came up along the way, so I don't know who proposed it or mooted the idea first," she recounted.

The one who was most excited for her though, was Kristen, who had an interest in pursuing a showbiz career: "I think it's a reflection of her own inner world. She's living in it from her viewpoint."

When asked if Kristen was inspired by her and Darren, Evelyn partially agreed.

"I think in some ways it must have been influenced by what we do, but I also think that innately she was just born to be a drama queen. I always call her drama mama, drama queen," she laughed.

Preparing for the comeback

Evelyn was initially concerned about her role as Chuntian is very career-minded and also "single by choice".

"I'm starting to not sleep as well as before. I think I ruminate a lot more in my waking hours… just mulling over this character, reading the script and going through my lines," she revealed.

She mentioned that she has been watching serials like iQiyi's 2023 Chinese drama Her World which tells the story of three women of different backgrounds coming together to face difficulties in life bravely.

"My main worry is too much of my motherly instincts would come through in my portrayal of the character so I've got to rein in those," she noted.

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She remarked that she did not have as many worries about her roles in the past as she had to juggle her acting and singing career, which kept her busy.

She explained: "Acting was just acting, you know, but now as a more matured artiste, I think you put in a lot more effort to make the character more convincing because you've seen that there can be many different ways of portraying one."

However, she feels that everything she has gone through in the past 18 years has been "all for the better."

"I think what people say about how life experiences enrich you as an actress holds true because I feel that I'll perhaps be more ready to embrace a wider repertoire of roles, feelings and emotions. I think I'll be able to give it a lot more depth this time around because I've been through a lot more in life," said Evelyn.

The new drama Moments centres on Gu Yuexin (played by Paige Chua), a woman who is unable to overcome her past traumas, and Zhan Hefeng (Desmond Tan), a guy who sees no hope in the future.

Both later gain the ability to see the past and present respectively and their fates become intertwined as they handle criminal cases with their newfound powers.

Evelyn plays Yuexin's aunt.

The drama is scheduled to premiere in April 2024.

syarifahsn@asiaone.com

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