'Why did you cry so ugly?' Ayden Sng's family members are his harshest critics

People who genuinely care about you will give you their honest feedback, even if it's tough.

Local actor Ayden Sng's family is no different.

The 29-year-old joined Mediacorp as a full-time artiste in 2019 after leaving his stable job as a tech consultant. Though his parents didn't encourage him to join showbiz, they didn't object to it either.

He told 8world in a recent interview that his extended family — parents, grandmother, and aunts from both his mum and dad's sides — are some of his harshest critics. They watch all his shows, and having grown up watching Channel 8 dramas, are quite familiar with local productions too.

"They comment very harshly on my acting skills. For example, asking me why I am crying so ugly, or telling me that my clothes are ugly, which scenes can be improved upon, and asking whom I have a good rapport with," he shared.

"They will also comment on other people's acting skills and say who is good-looking. They have a lot of opinions, haha."

Ayden's latest drama is All That Glitters, where he plays He Jianzhi, a man who helps out at a satay stall owned by his gambler father to pay off the latter's debts.

He is best buddies with Lin Musen (Desmond Tan) and Huang Jintiao (Jeremy Chan) and the story centres around how their close-knit friendship crumbles over the span of 20 years as they pursue success and riches to change their destiny.

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In a recent press conference, he admitted that the real-life dynamics between him and his co-stars "mirror" their characters'.

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"I'm the level-headed one who will do the planning and the administrative stuff. Desmond is that one who's like, 'Why not we go and do this?' and Jeremy is the joker," Ayden explained.

He was also glad they got to go overseas to Malaysia and Thailand and film All That Glitters as it felt like they were in a "fraternity" and reckoned they might have been more "distant" from one another without that bonding experience.

He added: "When we come together, everything just melds together as if it's a jigsaw piece in a huge puzzle… Even the best of friends might not be the best match when it comes to acting. I feel like this is a really, really happy coincidence."

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drimac@asiaone.com