Things keep hotting up for Desmond Tan

The first time I interviewed Desmond Tan, back in 2009, he was a severed head. More accurately, he was playing Chen Shu Cheng’s son in Channel 8’s The Ultimatum, a character who was quickly decapitated. Admittedly, I was far more interested in the severed head than I was in the 2007 Star Search finalist who was still in school and only acting part-time: Was he creeped out by the papier-mache head? Was it like an out-of-body experience? And, most importantly, did he get to take it home?

That was a time when all the characters Tan played met swift and untimely ends. “My friends would say, ‘Eh, your next drama — die again, ah?’” he recalled. “When I went into reservist, people laughed at me. When I went to school, people laughed at me. When I met my secondary school friends, they mocked me.”

Six years on, it’s obvious who’s laughing now — proving that all you need is a little determination, a little charisma and a lot of hard work. The 28-year-old is now a MediaCorp leading man, an endorsements magnet, a budding singer, the de facto leader of the 8 Dukes and arguably the only guy with enough rock star quality to pull off a shiny powder blue suit (and channel Tony Leung while doing it, too).

FROM BACK BURNER TO ROCKET FIRE

What one might not realise, though, is how rocky a journey it has been for Tan since his career sputtered to life. “Back then, I didn’t have the pressure of being ‘the up-and-coming guy’,” he smiled, referring to our 2012 feature. That was the year he won the Rocket Award for his turn as a rickshaw puller in the period drama A Song To Remember.

Before that steroidal shot in the arm of his struggling career, he said he had “a lot of leeway” to make mistakes without them being pointed out. “I learnt a lot, but at the same time, I had to manage my emotions,” he said. “There was a lot of growing (up); a lot of humbling work that kept me grounded. When I got my breakthrough role as the rickshaw puller ... I didn’t take fame or success for granted.”

But the pressure started building up. “After the Rocket Award, I realised that people were judging my performances and the way I carried myself. The spotlight was on me. There was no turning back or slowing down,” he said. “The first and second dramas, you do well. But when you play roles that are similar, people say, ‘same style’. It’s harder to push for another breakthrough. Harder to push for another breakthrough.

“Sometimes, when you put in more effort, you don’t get proportionate returns,” he added. “Last year, I acted in Against The Tide. I put too much pressure on myself to create a new character. When I watched myself on TV, I didn’t like my performance. I felt quite low for a while.

“Sometimes, you doubt yourself. But the thing is that you just have to move on.”

Of course, when you’re in it for the long haul, there are bound to be ups and downs. “I see acting as a long-term career — something that I’ll do until I’m same the age as Robert De Niro,” Tan said. “You might go from being a supporting actor to a leading actor and then a supporting actor again, but you won’t see that as a degrading thing. You’ll see yourself as part of the art of the TV industry. I’m still at the discovery stage of my own destiny in this industry.”

This year, Tan will be expanding his career and market by doing a lot of work for Channel 5. He is set to play a new lead character in the third season of the period drama Mata Mata (which starts in November) and also return for the second season of the sitcom Spouse For House (which premieres in April), for which he earned a Best Comedy Actor nomination at last year’s Asian Television Awards. “I’ve always had a thing for comedy because I love Stephen Chow shows. And I like to play around with words — some very low-class puns, as well.”

But first, he plays a “Hokkien beng” in the Channel U drama Second Chance, about a hooligan lawyer who devotes his time to pro bono work. When it comes to channelling unruly guttersnipes, “part of it is exploration; part of it is going back to my roots”, he grinned.

LAKSA HOTHEAD

You might be surprised to learn that Tan used to have a temper when he was younger. “When I was in the army, I scolded a guy until he cried. I was so loud that people upstairs and downstairs came out to look,” he said. “I used to be very bad-tempered at home, as well ... I was very arrogant and egotistic — I didn’t talk much to my family.”

During his university days, he was given to bouts of road rage — and on one occasion, laksa rage. It was midnight at a 24-hour coffee shop, he recounted and he had put two spoonfuls of laksa leaves into his laksa. “I love laksa leaves, but the uncle scolded me: ‘Don’t play with the leaves. Don’t mess around with me. I’m not selling my laksa to you. Go away.’ Then, he took the bowl from my hands and tossed my money back at me. I got so angry, I threw a dollar coin into the pot of laksa. He got a knife and was about to attack me, but the guy from the bak chor mee stall next door stopped him.

“I think I was crazy, because I threw a dirty coin into the pot and basically called it a day for him.”

These are pretty startling revelations because if there’s one thing you hear a lot about Desmond Tan, it’s how nice a person he is. (I had been willing to stake all my laksa leaves on the claim that he didn’t have a single enemy in the world.) So what gives?

“I think over the years, this industry has tamed me a little — not because I have an image to maintain, but because I realised I have a social responsibility. I’ve toned down a lot,” he explained. “I used to show people my middle finger when driving. Now, I just give them a thumbs-up. Sometimes, I wonder if there are videos of me giving thumbs-ups!”

Now that he’s on the opposite end of the scary spectrum, though, “I have people telling me, ‘Don’t be the Mr Nice Guy’,” he said. “But I’ve realised that it’s easier to be myself than to be an ‘ideal artiste’. Maybe an artiste cannot be too friendly? (Does) an artiste have to be mysterious? I don’t know. I just can’t see myself being something I’m not. People are just so busy with their lives (that) Singapore really lacks warmth — not the weather, but warmth among people.

So, I’d rather just be the Mr Nice Guy that some people don’t agree with.”

Catch Second Chance starting on March 12, weekdays at 10pm on MediaCorp TV Channel U. For more on Desmond Tan, visit http://tdy.sg/todayceleb

For a behind-the-scenes look at Desmond Tan rocking the blue suit late into the night, follow the link http://tdy.sg/viddesmondmar2

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CREDITS:

Photography: Jason Ho

Hair: Junz Loke, Passion Hair Salon

Makeup: Melissa Yeo (97682813) using skincare by Kiehl’s and makeup by Laura Mercier

On Desmond: Dolce & Gabbana double-breasted silk three-piece suit, cotton shirt and silk tie (prices available upon request). Shoes: Desmond’s own.