PUBLISHED ONApril 06, 2023 7:08 AMByJolynn ChiaAhead of the Star Awards on April 9, an ad from 32 years ago has been circulating on social media.
Yesterday (April 5), the Facebook account Daily Quote Singapore posted the 1991 advertisement from Fuji Video Tape showing the 20 female and male celebrities nominated for Top 10 Artistes Popularity Poll.
On the poster we see local stars who are still active in showbiz today, for example, Xiang Yun, 61, Lin Meijiao, 59, Chen Liping, 57 and Aileen Tan, 56, Zoe Tay, 55.
Li Nanxing has rarely appeared in local dramas since 2018. In 2019, he signed on with Zhao Wei's artiste management agency and appeared in the Chinese web drama Everyone Wants to Meet You (2020). He also appeared in Mediacorp variety show I Want To Be a Towkay in 2022.
Aileen does not act often - she participated in a few drama series in 2022 and last appeared in Fix My Life in 2023.
Huang Wenyong died of lymphoma at age 60 on April 20, 2013, which was also the eve of Star Awards. He was given the Honorary TV Award posthumously that year and is currently the only artiste to have ever received this accolade.
Chen Xiuhuan, 57, appeared on the English long-form drama Sunny Side Up in 2022, and Tang Miaoling, 54, recently appeared in the Mediacorp drama series Silent Walls.
However, there are fewer male actors from the ad who are still active in showbiz today - only Chen Shucheng, 73, Zhu Houren, 68, Li Wenhai, 66 and Desmond Shen, 60, have appeared in Mediacorp dramas these two years.
Shucheng and Desmond recently acted in Mediacorp drama Silent Walls (2023). Zhu Houren acted in a few dramas last year and is nominated for Star Awards Best Supporting Actor for Your World in Mine (2022) this year.
Li Wenhai only appeared in one role in You Can Be An Angel 4 last year while his previous roles date back to 2019.
Madeline Chu, Liu Qiulian and Zeng Huifen are no longer in showbiz anymore, as are most of the male actors such as Sean Say, John Hung and Huang Yiliang.
The Top Ten Artistes Popularity Poll is the predecessor of Star Awards Top 10 Most Popular Male and Female Artistes categories, with the inaugural edition of Star Awards held in 1994.
Comments in the post mostly gushed at Edmund Chen, saying he "still looks attractive" and that he looks "about the same after 32 years".
Edmund Chen also posted about it on his Instagram today and joked that he and wife Xiang Yun received the 'Lifetime Achievement Award' that year because they had their first child, Chen Xi.
[embed]https://www.instagram.com/p/Cqrwhh6AS2R/[/embed]
Edmund has not been acting since 2017, and last appeared in Life Less Ordinary. He mentioned that he acted in the past because the scripts were good, and would consider returning to acting if there is a good one.
Commenters did not forget about the female artistes, with one saying: "Ladies' hairdo power!"
To another, those were the "real actors and actresses".
According to an user's comment, in order to vote for their favourite artistes, the public needed to buy a Fuji Video Tape with a Silver Star sticker and attach it on their entry forms that they could get from Lianhe Zaobao and RTV Times.
Among the names in the 1991 ad, only Nanxing and Zoe have won Top 10 Most Popular Female and Male Artiste award consecutively for ten times.
Ann Kok, Yvonne Lim, Jesseca Liu, Pornsak have won the award nine times, and if they get it this year they would have gotten it ten times and will be awarded the the All-Time Favourite Artiste award next year.
Star Awards will be livestreamed this Sunday (April 09), from 7PM to 10PM. There will be ongoing backstage streaming from 3.30PM to 10PM.
Fix My Life, Silent Walls, Your World in Mine are all streaming on meWATCH.
ALSO READ: Star Awards 2023: Yes 933 DJs 'cry' after Love 972's Yu Jian Huang Chong sweeps Best Radio Programme for 3rd year
jolynn.chia@asiaone.com
No part of this story can be reproduced without permission from AsiaOne.
