Tay Ping Hui has found his new calling in China: As a middle-aged alpha male TV star
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Tay Ping Hui has found his new calling in China: As a middle-aged alpha male Boob tube star
From playing Genghis Khan and acting in Huo Yuanjia, the histrion has been flight the Singapore flag high in Chinese dramas. And he'southward loving every minute of it – except when Christmas comes.
Tay Ping Hui is edifice a career for himself in China equally a leading man. (Photo: Aik Chen; Hair and makeup: Dax Lye)
06 Sep 2022 06:30AM (Updated: eighteen May 2022 01:46AM)
Leading a charge of Mongol warriors on horseback, laying waste to an entire hamlet and making a wall of water explode out of a raging river with a single gesture are simply some of the things Tay Ping Hui has been doing of late.
Those pursuits are a little more intense, you lot might say, than schlepping down to the kopitiam for a kopi-o gao kosong – which, by the way, is too something the Singaporean actor loves.
Information technology'due south famously known that Tay has been developing his career by taking on acting roles in Red china in the last few years, but what exactly has he been up to there?
The reply is getting kitted out in stick-on whiskers and period armour, pulling off martial arts stunts and eating xiao long bao when the camera's not rolling, for his roles as legendary historical figures such as Genghis Khan in the drama The Condor Heroes, which aired concluding year; and in the drama Huo Yuanjia (Fearless), which has yet to air. He has shot two other dramas that are soon in the editing stages.
"Thank you to director Guo Jing Yu, the characters I play are always superhero types. He says – and these are non my words – I fit the bill of an alpha male… which is a bit defective in Mainland china right now," the 48-twelvemonth-old explained.
"There are a lot of pretty boys; a lot of boys who wait like girls. In China they call them xiao nai gou: 'niggling milky dogs'. Their pare is fair and shine. And then, the characters I've been playing are masculine, middle-aged, ancient heroes with a hint of royalty. I can't play the sweet immature affair whatever more!"
FALLING OFF A HORSE Every bit A MONGOL WARRIOR
He tin, notwithstanding, play the father of the Mongol Empire, information technology seems – even if there were times he had to false it until he made it.
"On the first day of filming for The Condor Heroes, they said, 'Can you ride a equus caballus?' I said yes, so they brought me the biggest horse. I had 15kg of armour on and nosotros were supposed to practise a cavalry accuse. The others were true bluish Mongolians and horse handlers, and I was this Singaporean guy who hadn't ridden in 10 or xv years. On one mitt, I was freaking out. On the other paw, I was similar, 'Allow's do this.'
"On the starting time take, I fell off the equus caballus. My right pes was defenseless in the stirrup and I was dragged. I remember I was similar, 'This is the end of me and my married woman'south going to get all my CPF money.' No, I'thousand kidding! I landed on my head, but I was wearing a huge wig and my armour was quite thick." All things considered, though, "How many times in your life do you get to do a total cavalry charge with 100 horses all decked out while you lot pull out a big sabre and shout, 'Mongol warriors, accuse'? I loved it."
He continued: "I love the thrill of information technology. What I've learned in fighting or choreography or acting is that if y'all hold anything dorsum, you lot'll never exist 100 per cent. Perchance, in some demented way, I enjoy the thrill when I put myself in harm'due south way or when information technology'south risky. It's like when I get skydiving or racing."
Filming in China, "There are many nights I go back to my room all bruised and can't fifty-fifty elevator my arm. But you lot go abode and you rest and then you fight another day – which I enjoy. I remember I'm weird that way, lah."
The biggest claiming might not actually be the physically enervating scenes, but having to deliver two-page monologues in ancient Chinese.
"Information technology'due south similar Shakespearean Chinese," Tay said, admitting that he had never studied the language before. "The stress level I would say is easily fifty or 100 times (higher). There are l or 100 people waiting for you to finish your lines so they can have lunch. And there's a sense of stress everywhere considering if you screw up, in that location are like l guys waiting to take your identify." What's more than, "I have OCD and I'yard a perfectionist, and then I expect the best from myself."
On Cathay sets, everything is on a much larger scale, he said. "Everything is bigger, everything is faster. They work at breakneck speed. At that place'south a sense of urgency. They're willing to spend millions of dollars doing things they feel they need to." For instance, for one prepare, an unabridged hamlet with liveable houses was built; Tay's task was to storm the village and destroy it.
In another example, 20 burly men formed a homo concatenation to lay a pipage and funnel in a rushing river and so that compacted air could crusade the water to explode around Tay as a evidence of his character'due south ability. The current was so strong that one human being virtually got washed away. "You lot know what – those guys went at it," he said. "They didn't go, 'Oh, I don't desire to do information technology' – they just did it. I saw their passion and work ethic, and it just blew me away. And as an player, information technology's a keen feeling – flying over the river. These are things I've not washed in my 18 years every bit an actor. I beloved it. It's like asking me to do all the sh*t in which I might die – which I honey."
SPENDING A MISERABLE CHRISTMAS
Existence a bit of a thrill seeker ties in with the fact that Tay is never content to rest on his accolade.
"The reason I went to People's republic of china is that I didn't want to wonder," he said. "I was at a stage of my career where I could but cruise. I was very lucky. I was well remunerated. And I know that if I had stayed, Mediacorp would go along to renew my contract and I could but come up to work and say my lines. I'd lead a very comfy life. But I needed to know what was out there. And the opportunity came."
It wasn't an easy choice because it meant starting from scratch in a place where few people knew his name.
"Only I wasn't disappointed," he said. "I got to do a lot of things that I've never gotten to do. I got to work with slap-up casts, great crews and great storylines, and I witnessed what a truthful big-upkeep blockbuster was. And I became a superhero."
In existent life, he says, his just superpower is being able to touch on his nose with his tongue. But if he could have any superpower he wanted, it would be the ability to teleport. "I could go into bank vaults and – imagine! Just I'd accept to exist able to teleport everything I was touching or holding, likewise. Because imagine if I teleported and my clothes didn't – I'd exist butt naked."
Does he take regrets nearly making the decision to uproot his career? Actually, yes.
"I think I've lost a lot of time abroad from people I beloved and people I care virtually," he said, adding that his wife doesn't visit him while he's working considering he wouldn't have enough time to spend with her. "I've spent three Christmases in China – and nobody celebrates Christmas there, so it was quite miserable. I think afterwards in our lives, as we become older or more sensible, it's always virtually the people, in the end. If at that place's 1 thing that I've learnt on my journeying so far, it's that everything we practise should exist for the people around us. What else is at that place? Your money'southward not going to crowd effectually you and brand you feel better or weep for you when y'all dice. Your supercar is not going to be there for you and hold your paw when you need comfort."
Currently back in Singapore to shoot a short motion-picture show by Taiwanese director Wayne Peng, also as a drama produced by Baronial Pictures and also starring Jesseca Liu, titled Mind'south Middle, he's enjoying the opportunity to spend time at dwelling house with his family.
And no affair what happens, "Singapore will always remain my habitation," he said. "People ask me if I take plans to move to China or alive in People's republic of china. Who knows what the time to come will be – just for me, I'm always a true bluish Singaporean. I practise believe that I still take a place here, to share what I learn, if people are willing to learn. I think knowledge should be shared. I'd love to be able to come back and do projects here, and exist involved."
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/entertainment/tay-ping-hui-china-175561
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