Stardom can wait for Quan Yifeng's teenage daughter

SINGAPORE - With her long wavy locks, alluring deep-set eyes and porcelain skin, 14-year-old Eleanor Yu Kaixin is a ravishing beauty.

The 1.65m teenager looks like a cross between Chinese actress Fan Bingbing and Korean actress Lee Yo-Won.

And she is making jaws drop and eyes pop as the ambassador of local celebrity hairstylist Addy Lee's new hair product, addyli, after appearing in a new series of addyli's promotional pictures and commercials.

But do not bet on seeing her in films, television or on the runway - at least not in the next couple of years.

It does not matter that Eleanor - the only child of MediaCorp host Quan Yifeng - is the latest local celebrity offspring to set tongues wagging with her gorgeous looks.

Addy Lee, her god-father and chief executive of Monsoon Hair Group, is against her entering showbiz at such a tender age.

"Kaixin has the X-factor and she's a natural at posing. But she knows very well that her mum and I don't want her entering showbiz right now," he told The New Paper in Mandarin yesterday.

"In fact, Yifeng has turned down many opportunities for her (to appear on TV) over the past few years.

"To me, she's still a kid. She should focus on her studies, because even if she wants to be in showbiz in future, she cannot be a bimbo. I've been in this industry long enough to know that bimbos don't last long, they'd be the first to get eliminated."

ONE-OFF PROJECT

Eleanor, whose biological father is 45-year-old former actor-turned-taxi driver Peter Yu, certainly follows in the footsteps of Tay Ying (whose parents are MediaCorp actors Zheng Geping and Hong Huifang) and Nicole Ng (daughter of the late MediaCorp actor Huang Wenyong) when it comes to gaining buzz because they are attractive.

She's currently a Secondary 2 student at an international school in Singapore.

Lee stressed that he had picked Eleanor over real celebrities for his advertising campaign because he wanted to "reward her for doing well in her examinations".

It was her first modelling assignment and the "first time she put on make-up", he said.

"Also, it's a platform for her to test her nerves, to give her a feel of what it's like to be in the public eye," he said.

For a novice, Eleanor - who was not paid - worked like a professional, according to Lee. The shoot for the commercial reportedly took eight hours and involved a crew of 20.

"It's not my intention for this project to be Kaixin's showbiz break... I want her to complete her university studies, preferably in the UK, where she can major in music or the arts."

ARTISTICALLY-INCLINED

Turning down our request to speak to Eleanor, he described his god-daughter as "a homebody who loves to paint and play the piano". "She doesn't like shopping at all. Earlier this month, I took her to Shanghai with me for two weeks. While I was busy with my work there, she just stayed indoors and painted," he said.

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Echoing the sentiments was Quan, who finalised her divorce with Yu in 2008 after a tumultuous 10-year marriage.

In an SMS to TNP yesterday, the 39-year-old admitted to being "extremely happy" whenever the public sings praises of her daughter's beauty.

"That said, Kaixin is still young. She is putting her heart and mind into her studies and her biggest hobby, art. She has no special ambition or desire to become a star.

"When she is older, I'll leave it to her to decide what she wants to pursue. I'm open-minded in that sense."

Local film-maker Kelvin Sng agreed that 14 is too young an age to step into the entertainment business.

Sng, 38, also manages former Singapore Idol singer Maia Lee and actor-host Louis Wu.

"As an artiste manager, I would say, since she has the talent and looks, why not? There are some teen stars, like Kimberly Chia, who started out in children's dramas," he said.

"But as a parent myself, I definitely empathise with (Quan and Lee). It'll be a no-no for me too. Showbiz is a complicated industry, it's not the best place for girls that age," he said.

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