On the occasion of her 35th anniversary in television and film, Zoe Tay reveals what her brother said that nudged her into starting out as a teenage model, how she and her fellow Star Search 1988 winners turned the 'conservative' industry 'upside-down' and who it was who first started calling her “Ah Jie”.
When you’re the Queen of local showbiz, you don’t let things like how long you’ve been in the industry trouble you. But, well, other people do. So, when we brought up how time flies and this year marks her 35th anniversary as an actress, Zoe Tay simply quipped with a smile: “How scary.”
Right from the start, as a teenager famously growing up on a chicken and pig farm in Lim Chu Kang, the idea of acting for television never entered her head. There, “I learned to catwalk. I did some small shows. It was interesting.” She was never a show opener, though, because she wasn’t the tallest, she said. Still, she was chosen to be on the cover of “one of the top local magazines – I can’t remember if it was Her World or Female” – which was something, because “for someone from an unknown agency to be on the cover was quite unusual.”
Plisse lurex midi dress with knot, logo choker, leather heeled sandals and leather Jackie 1961 Hobo bag, all by Gucci. Stockings, stylist’s own. But, even while she was learning the ropes, she was already spearheading a small revolution in the local television scene. Officially, her breakthrough role was as the brash Bobo in 1991’s Pretty Faces; but personally, she regards the part she played in the series Crime And Passion, released around the same time, as more memorable. “That was when I started to know how to really perform, and enjoy it.”
“I don’t know – I was so busy, just working nonstop,” she mused. “If I’m not wrong, I think it was during a photo shoot. Maybe it was Andy Lee or David Gan. I said, ‘Huh? Why are you calling me Ah Jie? I’m still very young, you know! I should be mei .’ Cotton high-neck shirt with bishop sleeves, by Dice Kayek from EnVie De Pois. Acrylic asymmetric belt, by Mugler from Envie De Pois. High-waisted full skirt with slits, by Maticevski from EnVie De Pois. Headpiece, stylist’s own.
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