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Andie Chen wins double nominations for Star Awards

SINGAPORE — Nominations for the Star Awards 2017 are out and the drama with the best showing this year is Hero, with 11 nominations in several categories including Best Drama, Best Screenplay, Best Director and four Best Supporting Actress nods.

Andie Chen has scored double nominations at the Star Awards 2017. TODAY file photo

Andie Chen has scored double nominations at the Star Awards 2017. TODAY file photo

SINGAPORE — Nominations for the Star Awards 2017 are out and the drama with the best showing this year is Hero, with 11 nominations in several categories including Best Drama, Best Screenplay, Best Director and four Best Supporting Actress nods.

Getting twice the limelight this year is Andie Chen, who is up for Best Actor for his work in If Only I Could, as well as Best Supporting Actor for his turn in Hero.

The Best Actor nomination surprised him, said Chen. He played Rui En’s husband in If Only I Could.

“I downplayed all my moments because I saw my character as supporting Rui En’s character — to make her decisions harder. The story is really about her making decisions. So, I had her character in mind when I was planning my scenes. People don’t usually do that. They try and milk everything they can from every line and scene so they can be seen. I reversed that and try to play it as small and realistic as I could. I don’t think I cried in the whole show, and I had many chances to.”

Chen hopes that this “real and understated” quality is what made the performance stand out. In contrast, the role in Hero was “more of a caricature”. In Hero, he played a simple-minded heartlander.

Also downplaying the achievement of a double nomination, Chen said: “I’ve been nominated before and disappointed at every Star Awards! Last year, I was a little confident — that didn’t pan out so well. In life, I’ve learnt to work really hard and not expect much. I think it’s an actor’s thing — you go for 20 auditions, you get insulted in 10, ignored by 9, and then you get one. If you are hopeful for every one, it’s going to crush you. And I think I’ve had my fair share of disappointment in life. It sounds gloomy, but it’s true!”

For her role in If Only I Could , Rui En was nominated Best Actress, a category that sees the usual suspects: Jeanette Aw for The Dream Job; Rebecca Lim and Zoe Tay for You Can Be An Angel 2; and Jesseca Liu for Hero. Liu was not eligible for Star Awards from 2010 until last year, when she signed on again as a Mediacorp artiste (managed by HIM International Music) and clinched a Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes award.

The Best Actor category also sees stalwarts such as Shaun Chen for Hero; and Pierre Png and Chen Hanwei, both for The Gentlemen. In addition, Zhang Zhen Huan scored his first Best Actor nomination for his work in The Dream Job.

“It feels like a weight off my shoulders because last year I won the Best Supporting Actor award, and I was stressed out in case I wasn’t nominated for anything this year. To me, a Best Actor nomination represents an improvement and a step forward from last year,” Zhang said.

“The first thing I did was to share the news with my family (in China). My grandfather asked my father to look up the show online so that he could watch it. It’s the first time he’s watching any of my shows, so I’m very touched.”

To celebrate his nomination, he rewarded himself with a hotpot meal. “I had been craving hotpot for a long time but refraining in order to control my weight. So when I got the news, it was a good excuse to go and have hotpot to celebrate.”

Artistes nominated alongside Andie Chen for Best Supporting Actor are Chen Shu Cheng (Fire Up), Jeffrey Xu (Peace and Prosperity), Ian Fang and Romeo Tan (both for The Dream Job).

Nominated for Best Supporting Actress are Ya Hui for House Of Fortune; and Pan Ling Ling, Aileen Tan, Bonnie Loo and Paige Chua, all for Hero.

In the Best Programme Host category, there is new blood for the first time in a long while: 29-year-old Desmond Ng is nominated for co-hosting BENGpire. It is the GeTai Challenge 2015 winner’s first Star Awards nomination. BENGpire, which Ng hosts with Wang Weiliang, is also nominated for Best Variety Programme.

This year, there will only be one Star Awards live show instead of the event being held over two weekends. It will take place at Mediacorp MES Theatre. 

According to an announcement from Channel 8, the online-voting categories Favourite Male Character, Favourite Female Character and Favourite Onscreen Couple have been scrapped so that “audiences can concentrate on the online voting for the Most Popular categories”.

In addition, the Social Media Award will also be scrapped because it “overlaps” with the Top 10 Most Popular Artistes awards. Top Rated Variety Programme and Top Rated Drama Serial awards will also not be given out “due to a switch in measurement of TV viewership”.

 

Catch the Star Awards 2017 on April 16 at 7pm (Walk Of Fame at 5.30pm). Also catch the Countdown Shows To Star Awards 2017 on Sundays from March 26 to April 9 at 9pm on Mediacorp TV Channel 8. For the full list of nominees, visit www.toggle.sg/starawards2017

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