Tan Kheng Hua

Tan Kheng Hua (Chinese: 陈琼华; pinyin: Chén Qiónghuá; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tân Hhêng-hôa; born 17 January 1963) is a Singaporean actress best known for her role as Margaret Phua in Singapore-based MediaCorp TV Channel 5's longest-running hit television sitcom Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd. In her youth, she never thought about acting until she went to the United States to get her university education.

Career

While pursuing her studies, Tan enrolled herself in a theatrical art course, which gave her the first taste of acting. Although her desire to be an actress was very strong, she did not make acting a career immediately after she returned to Singapore. Instead, she took up a marketing job and acted in her spare time.

Tan started out in corporate marketing after she graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Indiana University.

The first stage play she performed in was John Bowen's The Waiting Room directed by her cousin Ivan Heng. It took almost a decade before Tan became a full-time actress.

Since 2000, Tan has been producing and creating projects for theatre and television. She produced the critically acclaimed box-office hits, "Revenge of the Dim Sum Dollies", "Dim Sum Dollies – Singapore's Most Wanted!" and "Dim Sum Dollies in Little Shop of Horrors". For Arts Central, she created and executive produced the critically acclaimed television series "9 Lives", and "Do Not Disturb", the latter of which became the first local television drama to achieve a maximum five-star rating in The Straits Times Life!, Singapore's leading English-language newspaper's lifestyle segment. She also conceptualised the top-rated infotainment programme, "Heartland Getaways".

Tan is currently working on her new creations – a teen musical for the stage as well as a new 13-part Channel 8 television drama series Mr And Mrs Kok 妙探夫妻档 which debuted on 26 November 2009.

Tan has been married to Lim Yu Beng since 1996 and they have a young daughter named Shi-An.

Awards and nominations

• Art Nation Best Actress Award (2003)
• DBS Life! Theatre Award, Best Actress (2002),
• Asian Television Award, Best Comedic Performance by an Actress (2002),
• Asian Television Award Highly Commended Performance by an Actress (2003),
• Star Awards (Mandarin) Nominated Best Supporting Actress (2002),
• Asian Television Award Runner-up Best Current Affairs & Magazine Presenter (2000),
• JCCI Singapore Foundation Culture Awards for Contributions to Singapore (1998),
• Critics Choice for Best Actor Cairo International Festival of Experimental Theatre (1997), *Indiana University Founders Day Award for High Scholastic Achievement (1984, 1985, 1986), *National Colours Awards for Gymnastics (1977) (Noteworthy Selections: 21 Remarkable Women of *Singapore by the Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware))
• One of the invited guest writers for Feel Singapore chapter on the arts, listed in People at The Peak – The Who’s Who of Singapore, chapter on the arts.

Skills and academic qualifications

• Skills: Acting, Dance/Movement, Singing, Gymnastics, Martial Arts
• Academic Qualifications: Bachelor of Science with Distinction, Indiana University, USA

Filmography

Films

• Drama: Aquafire Productions: Cages directed by Graham Streeter (lead, Pusan Film Festival 2006, Prague Film Festival 2006, Bangladesh Film Festival 2007, distributed by Golden Village in Singapore and Hallmark for Asia Pacific Region), Final Cut (lead, Singapore Int'l Film Festival 1993, Asia Pacific Film & Video Festival in LA 1993, broadcast over HBO and Arts Central Singapore); Zhao Wei Films: Mee Pok Man, 12 Stories (screened at film festivals in Singapore, Moscow, England and Venice, 1994)
• Comedy: Tiger Tiger Films: Forever Fever ; Cathay Films: That One No Enough

Television

• Drama: Oak 3 Productions: The New Home (lead, 2003); Dreamforest Productions: A War Diary (lead, 2000); Film Formations: AlterAsians – Iris’ Rice Bowl (lead, Best Miniseries Asian TV Awards, 1999); Mediacorp Studios: Masters of the Sea (lead, 1994, 1995);
• Comedy: Mediacorp Studios: Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd Seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 (lead, Best * Comedy Series Asian TV Awards 1998, 1999, 2000), Sayang Sayang Seasons 1,2 (lead, 2008–Present)
• Variety: Mediacorp Studios: Phua Chu Kang – The Musical (2000), Dick Lee with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (1995)

Theatre

• Drama: Wild Rice: Invitation To Treat – The Eleanor Wong Trilogy by Eleanor Wong (2003), Luna-Id: The Lover by Harold Pinter (Sarah, 2004), Wild Rice: Animal Farm adapted by Ian Wooldridge (Clover, 2002), Action Theatre: Autumn Tomyam by Desmond Sim (Marge Lerner, 2001), TheatreWorks: Trojan Women by Euripedes (Andromeda, 1991), Mad Forest by Caryl Churchill (Lucia, Dog, 1990), Mergers & Accusations/Wills & Secession by Eleanor Wong (Ellen Toh, 2001); Fiction Farm: The Blue Room by David Hare (Au Pair, Model, Singapore premier 1999), Closer by Patrick Marber (Anna, Singapore premier 2000); Practice Performing Arts: The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Bertold Brecht (emsemble, 1989)

• Musicals: Toy Factory: Guys & Dolls by Damon Runyon (Sarah Brown, 1999); TheatreWorks: Beauty World (Lulu, lead, South East Asian Theatre Festival and Tokyo International Theatre Festival in Japan); Music & Movement: Kampong Amber by Catherine Lim (May, lead, opening show Singapore Arts Festival 1994)

• Devised Plays with Movement: Theatreworks: Descendants of the Admiral Eunuch by Kuo Pao Kun (ensemble, winner Critics Award Best Acting Ensemble Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theatre, 1996), Lao Jiu by Kuo Pao Kun (ensemble, Perth Festival 1994); Longing (ensemble, outdoor performance); Broken Birds (ensemble, outdoor performance, 1995)

External links

• Tan Kheng Hua at the Internet Movie Database