‘Stop saying I’m vain,’ says Elvin Ng

SINGAPORE — The thing that Elvin Ng likes best about his new drama, Sealed With A Kiss, premiering next week on MediaCorp TV Channel 8, is that he gets to look “haggard” in it. In the romantic comedy, which also stars Rebecca Lim as his leading lady, Ng plays a jinxed homebody who brings bad luck to everyone within a 3m radius.

Ng’s preference for a haggard look came about because of a pre-production meeting, when he was told that he was very vain and very conscious of his looks.

“That was their impression, somehow. They said they would make me look haggard for the show — add a beard and everything,” he said.

Instead of protesting, Ng suggested going the extra step of not even wearing make-up for the camera. “I’m not vain. I take care to a certain extent, but that’s about it. Stop telling me I’m vain,” he said, with a wry smile.

However, the fake facial hair he wore for the show proved to be quite irritating. “They used glue to add the beard on. Probably the make-up artist had some shavings, collected it all and used it on me,” he joked. “I said, ‘You might as well link it all the way down (to my chest). Yeah, it was quite itchy and intolerable at times.”

That wasn’t the only follicular issue he had. For one scene, which spoofed the popular Korean drama My Love From The Star, he wore a wig that made him resemble the male lead, Kim Soo-hyun. “There were differing opinions on the wig. Some said, ‘It looks really weird on you. Please take it off.’ Others said, ‘It’s very refreshing and different.’ But it just kept getting in my eyes!”

He added: “I never followed Korean (culture) so I had to learn a bit — that the guy has to be just super suave somehow, with the hair and all. But it’s nice. I can see girls going, ‘Awww.’”

While the idol drama is fun, easy viewing for the audience, Ng thinks comedies are actually the hardest to do. “It’s not easy — I think it takes talent.”

Still, he enjoys the light-hearted nature of the genre. “Along the way, I’ve found myself liking this (genre) more — it’s not so ‘drama’, just light-hearted and fun,” he said. “I have done a few roles that were supposed to be a little bit comical, like in I’m In Charge and Together. But I’m not an outright comedian.”

Ng said he would like to try playing a rapist, psychopath or paedophile. “I have that tyrant inside me that I need to unleash — aggression inside that, if kept dormant for too long, might just erupt someday,” he said.

Before you inch away from him, it’s worth noting that unlike his character in the show, who spreads bad luck to everyone around him, Ng actually has quite good luck. Not only did he not catch co-star Lim’s bad cold, which lingered for three weeks, in spite of numerous kissing scenes, he has had good luck in terms of his career so far — although there have been mishaps along the way.

“I dare not say, leh! Touch wood!” he said. “I don’t do small accidents. If I do accidents, I do big ones. For example, in my first year in the industry, I got into a car accident. The car flipped. I was totally unscathed except for a small scratch. I should have died then. I never had any automobile accidents but that was a big one.”

That counts as good luck, we think. In any case, Ng said he’s in a pretty good place right now. “I’m quite positive. I think for a while, I was a bit melancholic or depressed — emo, lah. But now, in terms of career and everything, I sort of just go with it. I’m more stable, less grasping. Maybe because I’m quite the perfectionist, I always want to be in control. I think I’ve learnt to say, ‘Sometimes, it’s not going to be so perfect ... Just make the best of what you have’.”

Catch Sealed With A Kiss starting Aug 27, weekdays at 9pm on MediaCorp TV Channel 8.