Ayden Sng’s New Mental Health Drama Is Important To Him As Someone With “A Lot Of Work-Induced Anxiety”

For many actors all over the world, the past two years haven’t been the most productive in terms of work no thanks to the pandemic, and Ayden Sng can definitely relate.

The 28-year-old tells 8days.sg that there were four or five months in 2021 and more than half a year in 2020 where he did “absolutely nothing”, which was understandably “anxiety-inducing” ‘cos of the lack of job certainty.

Oh, how things have changed.

Ayden, who renewed his contract with Mediacorp last year, is now so ridiculously busy — he’s currently filming a Ch 8 serial with Chantalle Ng, James Seah, and Fang Rong that he’s very excited about — that he hasn’t even been able to really sit back and enjoy his new status as a homeowner.

Those who follow the star on Instagram would know that he was in the midst of renovating his own bachelor pad since late last year, and Ayden happily revealed that it’s been completed and he moved in around Chinese New Year.

The reason he hasn’t announced anything about it on social media is ‘cos he’s — as we said earlier — had a super packed schedule.

“I have no time to process anything ‘cos day in and day out, I’m just stepping into the house, reading scripts, sleeping, and then leaving,” he shared, adding that he would love to share more about the place “when the time comes”.

Can’t wait to see more of his crib

Busy Ayden’s latest drama is the 10-episode Truths About Us, in which he plays university counsellor Ryan.

The show was commissioned by Temasek Foundation with the aim of raising mental health awareness and literacy in the community, and it’s a cause that’s close to his heart.

“A lot of issues reflected in our show are quite relevant. For example, there’s someone suffering from depression ‘cos of something that, to some people, is as insignificant as a break-up, but the reality is that these seemingly minor things can be causes or triggers for mental health symptoms in the long run,” shared Ayden, who spoke with a few real-life psychologists in preparation for his role.

“Sometimes, from the lens of someone who’s slightly older, they might think you’re just being weak or whiny, but I really hope this show will shed some light on the prevalence of mental health issues and also encourage people to be more willing to embrace this so-called ‘weakness’,” he mused.

The Duke University grad went on to recall living in America at a time when mental health was already a very big topic there, a few years before the conversation started picking up steam in Singapore.

“I remember thinking, ‘Why does every other person suffer from depression or anxiety or some other mental health issue, or are they just being very vocal about things that aren’t that serious?’ And then I entered the workforce and realised that a lot of workplace aggressions and stressors can really result in long-term wear-and-tear on your emotional and mental psyche.”

He continued: “Last time, I thought we needed to speak up about these things ‘cos I knew they existed, but now that I feel like I’m actually experiencing them myself, the cause becomes even more relevant and personal to me.”

Ayden and Truths About Us co-star Ya Hui

When asked to elaborate, Ayden cautiously let on that he has “a lot of work-induced anxiety”. “Maybe it’s just… I’m not used to not excelling. I know I sound like a douchebag. (Laughs)”

To be fair, excelling is pretty much what this overachiever is known to do: In addition to attending one of the Top 10 universities in the States (and Raffles Institution back home), Ayden is musically talented, perfectly eloquent in both English and Mandarin, was a Commando in NS, and, prior to joining showbiz full-time in mid-2019, had a successful career as a product manager in a consulting firm.

His newfound feelings of inadequacy stem from being in an environment where “things are out of [his] control”, which is something he isn’t used to.

“It’s tiring when you are constantly told, either directly or indirectly, that you’re never good enough,” he said. “There’s a hierarchy in showbiz and you need to understand where your place is, but I think most organisations and industries are like that.”

“I guess a better way of putting it would be that I have a lot more empathy for [those experiencing] workplace-induced stressors, and being in this line of work has challenged me to take some steps to improve my mental wellbeing.”

Before we could delve deeper into whatever might have sparked this candid confession from Ayden (which could potentially have been quite a sensitive subject especially since he’s known for being very straightforward), his manager, who was also on the call, put an end to that line of questioning.

Moving on…

It’s probably easy to assume that Ayden’s lack of recognition at the Star Awards so far — he surprisingly missed out on a Top 10 Most Popular Male Artistes nomination last year and wasn’t shortlisted for any of the performance categories this year — may have contributed to whatever it is that’s making him feel “not good enough”, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

“Actually, I quite expected that,” he said, referring to his absence from the current selection of Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor hopefuls. “The only role that I could’ve been nominated for was Recipe of Life, and even I think it’s a bit far-fetched to nominate myself ‘cos I feel like I have a lot of room for improvement, so I’m not affected by it at all as I do think it’s a very fair list.”

As for whether he believes he has a good chance of making the Top 40 — or will it be the Top 60 again? — this time: “That is something that I do not want to think about. (Laughs)”

“My fans and I recently met up to do some volunteer work and they were asking me about it all doe-eyed, and I was like, ‘You all just chill! Don’t count your eggs before they hatch!’ And in this case, I’m not even sure there’s an egg in the basket to begin with! (Laughs) But if it happens, then I’ll be happy, and if not, then it is what it is.”

Wishing Ayden all the best

Truths About Us airs Tuesdays, 8pm on Ch 8.
It is also available on demand for free on meWATCH.

Watch the first episode of Truths About Us below:

Photos: Ayden Sng/Instagram, Mediacorp