May 2023 Cover: What can Ayden Sng not do successfully?

As the year progresses and we enter the month of May, Ayden Sng is only gathering momentum each day. Last month, the local actor became one of three stars to collect Star Awards’ inaugural Most Popular Rising Star award. The artist has also been engaged in filming upcoming Channel 8 blockbuster All That Glitters. Set for a September release, the drama is one in which Sng “finally” gets to play the bad guy. As if all that wasn’t enough, the musically-inclined Sng says “there are plans to release more erhu music this year”. And this month, the star will make his silver screen debut in Seven Days, which he tells us all about below.

Congratulations on recently being one of three stars to pick up Star Awards’ Most Popular Rising Star award. How are you feeling about the achievement?

If a career is like a journey, it will be filled with big and small checkpoints to signal if you’re on the right path or going slightly off-course. This award, in some sense, is a checkpoint that my fans, The Baeden Club, and I have been hoping to reach together, which makes the win even more meaningful. To me, it’s a celebration of the community I have built over the past few years.

Could you tell us a little about the film that you’ll soon be starring in?

The film is titled Seven Days. It is about a teenage ghost who has been following her family around since she passed away 20 years ago and finally got a chance to possess her now grown-up younger brother’s body for seven days to resolve any regrets before having to pass on. This is my first feature film as the male lead, or in this case, technically, the female lead (haha) since for the bulk of the film, I’m playing a female ghost possessing the body of her younger brother. The movie is really about kinship and familial love. My experience so far has been in TV so I’m really excited to be able to foray into the silver screen.

In terms of television roles, what can viewers expect from you this year?

I am currently filming Channel 8’s blockbuster for 2023, alongside Desmond Tan and Jeremy Chan, titled All That Glitters. This project is exciting because of the script, the overseas filming (one and a half months in Malaysia and Thailand), and specifically for me, because I finally get to act an antagonist role. This role is a complete departure from the roles that I’ve been doing the past few years, which makes its challenging and exciting at the same time, and I can’t wait for viewers to see this version of me when it airs in September.

You’re musically proficient with the erhu, violin and piano. Will we see you making more music-related endeavours anytime soon?

Yes, music unfortunately is always on the backburner because of work but there are plans to release more erhu music this year.

It’s been about five years since you entered the entertainment industry. What has been the biggest challenge along the way, and what is the moment that you’re proudest of so far?

It’s been about four years since I have been doing this full-time. This line of work comes with a lot of instability and variability. You can be working really hard while not being entirely sure to what end. Is it to become more famous, more popular, or to become really good at your craft, and actually, none of these are mutually exclusive. The challenge, while pursuing this supposed glitz and glamour, is to slowly figure out what exactly it is you want, when a blurred vision for yourself becomes clear. And that probably is the moment I’m most proud of. I was filming in Batam for a project by CJ entertainment, which is not released yet, and it kind of just clicked — that as cliché as it sounds, I really like acting and I want to see myself do it for a long time. And that has been my truth since then. There can be multiple goals but at the core of it all, my commitment to acting as a craft pulls everything together.

If you could pick up to three things, what would you say have been some of the most encouraging things in your journey so far as an actor and a media personality?

I would pick three wins that meant a lot to me, especially in the initial phase of my career. First would be Loving You, a drama I did with Jesseca Liu that aired in 2020. It was the first time I was the male lead for a Channel 8 drama and properly introduced me to the TV audience in Singapore. Second would be shooting my first few magazine covers. Fashion is something quite integral to my identity as a personality and I have been more than blessed to have been able to work with so many brands and titles that I love. In the age of the multi-hyphenate, it is possible to do more than one thing you love! Lastly, the opportunity to take part in Seven Days. Very thankful to my director Grace Wu, who interestingly, hunted me down after watching a clip of me online, for giving me this opportunity. I see it as a start of a new chapter in my career — to look forward to more challenging roles for TV and film and to continue to work on my craft as an actor.