Tay Ping Hui

Tay Ping Hui
Chinese name	鄭斌輝 (traditional)
Chinese name	郑斌辉 (simplified)
Pinyin	Zhèng Bīnhuī (Mandarin)
Ancestry	Hokkien
Origin	Singapore
Born	(1970-11-10) November 10, 1970
Occupation	Actor, host
Years active	1998-present
Spouse(s)	Married to A University lecturer

Tay Ping Hui is a Singaporean actor best known for acting in many Chinese-language television dramas produced by MediaCorp Channel 8. He has also made appearances in the films Summer Holidays (2000) and Infernal Affairs II (2003).

Early life

Tay attended Catholic High School (Primary and Secondary) and Catholic Junior College.^[1] Active in sports and extra-curricular activities, he was deeply involved both as a sportsman and leader, representing his school in basketball, athletics, volleyball, and several other sports. He was a blackbelt exponent in Tae Kwon Do and was the YMCA Tae Kwon Do Open Champion. Tay was also musically gifted, sang with the school choir, played the dizi in the Chinese orchestra, and was the lead singer and guitarist of the Temasek Hall Band " Cognitive Dissonance". As a leader, Tay was appointed Senior Patrol Leader (the highest position attainable in secondary school) in the Catholic High School scout group Stamford 06, he was a Student Councilor in junior college and was also a commissioned officer in the Singapore Armed Forces, holding the appointment of Company Commander, following National Service. He later obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in Economics and Political Science from the Arts and Social Sciences faculty of the National University of Singapore.^[2]

Career

Tay was the General Manager of the Singapore franchise of Subway^[2] and was planning to pursue a MBA at Harvard University before he was headhunted to join TCS (later MediaCorp) in December 1998. Barely a year after his debut in On the Edge - Mr Personality, Tay won the "Best Supporting Actor" award at the 1999 Star Awards for his realistic and stellar portrayal of a gang leader in Stepping Out. After that, he became the number one leading man, acting in numerous shows opposite veterans as equals. Tay also acted in Hong Kong film productions such as Summer Holiday directed by Jingle Ma, starring with Hong Kong actress Sammi Cheng, and "Infernal Affairs II" alongside Anthony Wong and Francis Ng.

Effectively bilingual in both English and Mandarin, Tay also starred in MediaCorp's English-language channel, Channel 5 dramas like A War Diary- a television drama set in Japanese-occupied Singapore during World War II, playing a resistance fighter and garnering rave reviews. Other prominent works included "Brothers 4" and most recently, was top billing in "Keong Saik Street".

Being the all rounded artiste, Tay also later performed in the stage play Butterflies are Free, handpicked by Hong Kong film director Clifton Ko. And most recently, mandarin stage musical " 记得说再见".

Tay has been nominated for the Best Actor in the Star Awards 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, playing coveted roles and excelling in major productions by MediaCorp. He has also been consistently been voted as one of the Top 10 Most Popular Male Artistes in the Star Awards 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011, receiving the All-Time Favorite Artiste Award at Star Awards 2012. Tay has been voted Media's Top 5 Popular ward in 2009 and was also in the list of Lianhe Zaobao's " Top 50 Most Popular Asian Idol" for five consecutive years.

In 2006, Tay starred as Huang Feihu in the mainland Chinese-produced supernatural fantasy television series The Legend and the Hero alongside China Megastar Fan Bin Bin, Liu De kai and Taiwanese Star Ma Jing Tao. The series was aired on Channel 8 in 2009 in Singapore. Since then, Tay has become a recognized face in China.

Tay was mostly known for playing "manly" characters such as in C.I.D., Honour and Passion and C.L.I.F. but it was his role as a crude Ah beng-turned-chef in Bountiful Blessings that earned him his first Best Actor Award in Star Awards 2012. And for the Star Awards 2013, he won the Best Supporting Actor despite only being in 7 episodes of the TV series "Unriddle 2".

Other

Tay has also performed live numerous times on stage for major events such as National Day and New Year's Day countdown and has performed alongside Taiwanese stars Wu Bai and Harlem Yu. He has also performed the theme songs of several high-profile MediaCorp series such as The Unbeatables III and Double Happiness I. His recording of "Follow Me" (跟着我一起) from Honour and Passion was named the Best Drama Theme Song at the Star Awards 2007.

In 2013, Tay completed his directorial debut with a Singapore/ China co-production feature film " Meet the Giants", first of its kind in such collaboration in the local movie industry. The movie shall be screened in June 2014, concurrently in Singapore, Malaysia and China.

Personal life

Tay married his girlfriend, a University Lecturer on 18 June 2010.^[3]

Filmography

Television

Hosted shows

Accolades

References

External links

• Tay Ping Hui's profile on xinmsn
• (Chinese) Tay Ping Hui on Baidu Baike