Star Awards 2024: Triple-nominated Andie Chen reflects on how he's changed after Taiwan move, reminded of going home empty-handed in 2017
The 38-year-old also had three nominations in 2017's Star Awards, but didn't win any, which he said left his 'much younger' self 'quite devastated'.
It's a celebratory occasion, but local actor Andie Chen was a little hesitant when talking about his triple nomination at this year's Star Awards. For the uninitiated, the 38-year-old scored nods in the Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, and Top 10 Most Popular Male Artistes categories.
Chen shared with Yahoo Southeast Asia that he was reminded of the 2017 Star Awards, where he was nominated in all three categories as well. However, he went home empty-handed.
During an interview on Tuesday (26 March), Chen said, “At that time I was much younger, so I was quite devastated. It really made me reconsider my whole career path. And whether I even want to continue, or if there is any future pursuing this life…
“It felt like, I did everything I could. And then, like, maybe the audience just doesn’t like me, or maybe the company doesn't see my value. Or maybe I'm just not good at this, you know? I still remember that emotional feeling quite vividly.”
Chen remarked, “I also 'PTSD' leh.”
'No biggie' if history repeats itself
That said, Chen was “pleasantly surprised” by the nominations and acknowledged that a double acting nomination “doesn’t happen very often”. Still, he felt that the potential disappointment could be quite scary.
Even if history does repeat itself, though, Chen said he’ll get over it and “it’s no biggie”, thanks to his changed perception of being an actor over the years.
He explained, “My mindset then was that I wanted to be a good, and popular, and well-recognised actor. That was the goal. Now, I’m very clear on my goal. I’m the paint to the painter, and the painter is the director.
“I want to be the most vibrant paint to the painter, and every time I step on set, every scene every line, I just need to be the most vibrant paint and be responsible for them. So that to me is always the key. When I complete that, I'm good. Everything else is a bonus.”
But, even if an award isn’t the goal now, Chen isn’t going to ignore one if it comes his way.
He said, “I go to Taiwan because I want to be the best, right? If an award comes with that, of course, I'm not gonna say like, I don't care. If I don't get it, fine. If it takes 10 years, fine.
“It's a great target to have a Golden Bell, a Golden Horse, an Academy Award. Those are just yardsticks in a career. If you get it, fantastic! If you don’t get it, it doesn't make you any less.
Feeling the love from people in Singapore
Chen - who started acting at 11 - also admitted that acting in Singapore is his “first love” as it was his childhood dream to be “the best actor in Singapore”.
He said, “There is the emotional attachment [to the dream] - however naive or childish it is. I recognise that it’s there. I still hold on to that lah, you know? Like when I come home, do I feel like that people want me here?
“Honestly this year, even without the results now, I do feel a lot of love from audience and coworkers,” he added.
When asked if it was due to his move to Taiwan in 2020, and people miss seeing him onscreen, Chen felt that it was instead because he is a “more amicable person” now.
He said with a laugh, “To be fair, I was a bit of an a**hole[back then]. I was very self-absorbed. I worked very hard, yes, but I was not the most fun and easiest person to work with.”
Now, he’s not just focused on the acting aspect of a project and wanting to excel in it, he also sees a project holistically and as a sum of its parts - from the production to the directing.
Chen said, “So I understand the whole thing, and I'm just trying to play ball the best I can. I think people see that. And then now, I also truly care about the people into production. I care about the director. I care about the cameraman. I care about the producer. I care about the crew. I care about the cast. And, I think that made me a lot of friends in the past couple of years.
“I think the fact that I'm working in Taiwan also means that when I come back, I also bring back a lot of experience. And I share that with them, and we discuss, and we come up with new ways to work. And I think, like, there's more value, I bring more value back. I think this all adds together, probably.”
Change in mindset after moving to Taiwan
He attributed the change in his mindset to the move and said that when he’s back in Singapore acting, he doesn’t think about the awards at all.
“It never even crosses my mind,” he said.
For now, Chen's trying to play his part “as sincerely as possible”, so other characters in the scene or story can shine.
Dubbing it the “servant mindset”, Chen said, “I'm trying to serve the other character. I'm trying to serve the story.”
Members of the public can start voting for their favourite artistes from now till 21 April, 7.30pm. The voting page can be found here.
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