There is a first time for everything, even for Mediacorp “Ah Jie” Zoe Tay.
The 48-year-old’s latest role is a cameo as sugar mummy to Shanghai-born actor Ian Fang, 26, in the upcoming Channel 8 year-end television drama Hero.
The veteran local actress told The New Paper at a shoot yesterday: “I’ve never been paired with such a younger actor before.
“I think it’s quite interesting for me, and I’m also familiar with Ian’s working style.”
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They are comfortable with each other as they had worked together on both seasons of the Channel 8 hit series The Dream Makers in 2013 and 2015. Tay played Fang’s aunt.
The two were filming their scenes at a pub at Orchard Shopping Centre with Singapore-based Malaysian actress Jesseca Liu, who plays the toy boy’s older sister, and China-born actor-host Guo Liang, who also has a cameo as Tay’s character’s husband.
In the scene, the husband confronts the lover about how he cheated Tay’s character out of a total of $14,000 in cash and branded goods, while the sister (Liu) tries to help resolve the situation.
As Tay’s role is just a cameo, don’t expect any intimate scenes – the furthest the pair go is take a wefie.
She said: “Basically (my character) needed some company because she’s been neglected by my husband.
“She meets (Fang’s character) in a pub, they start talking and she shares personal things with him. They also take a very close face-touching selfie to send to her husband.”
When asked if Tay still gets attention from younger men in real life, the mother of three sons – aged 11, nine, and six – joked: “The ‘electricity’ (referring to attraction) is already gone. But I still want attention from my sons. I want them to love me and don’t leave me forever.”
GOOD BOY
And even if Tay were younger and single, she would not be attracted to Fang as she prefers the more “innocent and good boy type”.
Fang was a big fan of Tay’s when he was younger. He has known about her since before moving from China to Singapore at 13.
He told TNP: “There, they do show a lot of Singapore TV dramas, so I knew who Zoe, Fann Wong and Christopher Lee were.”
He added: “But I had a crush on (Tay) only last year because I was getting closer to her and she takes very good care of me as well.
“She’s also definitely more attractive as she ages. Even when she turns 70, she will forever be ‘The Zoe Tay’.”
Fang added: “She is very down-to-earth and approachable. Since I got to know her better after working with her on The Dream Makers, I find that she’s really very nice and she’s a good mother.”
Which is why he felt “relaxed” and “not nervous” acting as her character’s boy toy.
Indeed, Fang would not mind dating an older woman like Tay, and said: “Yeah, why not? If (she) looks like Ah Jie, it would be great.
“But (then again), I’m not that kind of person (to seek out a sugar mummy). I wouldn’t do this kind of thing.”
tracylow@sph.com.sg
This article was first published on July 16, 2016.
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