SINGAPORE — Zed may be just over a month old, but new dad Christopher Lee has already discovered that, like father like son, Zed is a “hangry” little fellow.

“I think he inherited my and Fann’s temperaments,” Lee said. “He’s quite strongheaded! When he wants to be fed, he cries very loudly and you feel his urgency. We were just remarking: ‘He’s just like us — once he’s hungry, he has to eat immediately.’ And he eats a lot. Basically, he has definitely got our genes.”

Smiling, the 42-year-old actor added: “I don’t think he is the docile, accommodating type. But when he’s sleeping or well-fed, you tell yourself, ‘Actually, he isn’t that bad tempered. He’s an angel.’ So, I think we’ll have to wait for him to start talking before we can really understand his personality.”

Lee shared that he is very much a hands-on father — and, yes, he actually does diaper duty. “At the moment, I’m the one who does most of the diaper changing,” he said. “Of course, we have a confinement lady, but I always tell her, ‘Let me do it!’ I would like my wife to concentrate on breastfeeding and leave the diapers and all that stuff to me, because I think it’s tougher on her. She really wants to do it, though.

“We both really want to interact and bond with him, whether it’s through changing his diapers, feeding him or learning how to soothe him when he cries. It’s a rare opportunity because at this age, each day is different and we’re enjoying it.”

Zed’s arrival has even led Lee to see a different side of wife Fann Wong. “I have seen her change from a girl to a mother, a woman. I have really come to understand what it means to be a woman,” he said. “She changed from the day she conceived. When a woman is caring for her baby, regardless of whether it has been born or is still in the womb, she has a very noble sort of charm. She sacrifices herself. Before, Fann was very conscious of her figure. But with the baby, she eats what he needs. That’s why women are noble — guys can do whatever we want because it’s not our bodies!”

He, too, has changed. “I think I’ve become simpler. You look at the baby and you think, ‘Actually, people can live so simply. As long as you’re happy, it’s good enough. There’s no need to concern yourself with the superfluous.’”

So is Lee already bugging Wong for baby number two? “Give her a break first, lah,” he smiled. “Actually, she really, really wants to. We will see if that can be accomplished as soon as possible, but it depends on her health.”

While Lee would like to remain in Singapore with his family, he will have to return to work in Taiwan at the end of October. That’s when he will attend Taiwan’s weighty Golden Bell Awards ceremony, in which he is nominated this year for Best Actor in a TV series for his work in the Taiwanese drama A Good Wife. In the drama, he plays an architect in a struggling marriage. Lee was also nominated in 2012 for Best Actor in a miniseries/TV movie for the work titled Forgotten.

On being nominated, Lee said: “I already feel like I have won. No matter what profession you’re in, when you are affirmed by your boss or people who have been watching your career, you feel that sense of accomplishment that everyone chases after. It feels like a promotion or raise. That feeling doesn’t come randomly or without hard work, so it’s meaningful.”

Meanwhile, he is looking forward to the Sept 24 debut of the Channel 8 drama Against The Tide, in which he stars as a novelist roped in to help the police with copycat crimes.

“The material is very daring. It’s a good thing because other countries are changing and Singapore should, too,” he said. “I think this drama will thrill many young viewers. Of course, that’s not to say we don’t care about the older audience. I think we can teach them to watch shows like these that require them to think and guess the mystery. I think that’s what reels you in. It’s interesting to add an element of mental work to your life.”

Catch Against The Tide from Sept 24, weekdays at 9pm on MediaCorp TV Channel 8.