PUBLISHED ONApril 24, 2022 6:12 PMByBryan LimIt took a long (and probably agonising) 27 years but local actor Brandon Wong scored his first-ever win at Star Awards last night (April 24).
The 50-year-old became incredibly emotional as he collected his trophy for the Top 10 Most Popular Male Artistes award and cried during his acceptance speech.
Backstage with the local media, Brandon apologised for breaking down onstage, self-deprecatingly calling it "losing face".
He added his supporters felt bad for him that he hasn't won an award in so many years.
"I was really scared that I would disappoint them. When news of my nomination broke, people were very supportive and encouraging. If I didn't win, I would be disappointing them greatly."
When AsiaOne asked him if he felt bad for himself, he replied the stars have to align in order for an artiste to win an award.
"I've been nominated for Best Supporting Actor and even Best Actor many times, but I was always lacking something. So I always encourage myself with an ancient poem, that before heaven places a great responsibility on a great man, it always frustrates his spirit and exhausts his body.
"So I made myself out to be so great and noble, that I have to endure tough times because I have something bigger in the future. I didn't feel bad for myself. If I had blamed others for my situation, I wouldn't have given my all in every role — there were many years when I felt my roles were even smaller than supporting roles — that I received these 27 years.
"Maybe some people found it regretful, and they see all the work I've done, so they voted for me."
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That wasn't the only shocking thing to happen during this year's Star Awards. Unlike last year's rather predictable wins (yawn), this year saw some twists — including awards darling My Star Bride failing to clinch the night's highest honours.
Huang Biren won the coveted Best Actress award for her role in Recipe of Life, beating out veteran actresses Joanne Peh, Jesseca Liu, Ya Hui and fan-favourite starlet Chantalle Ng.
Recipe of Life was her first project in four years and it would prove to be a momentous one.
Meanwhile, Mediacorp's Ah Ge Chen Hanwei won Best Actor (also for Recipe of Life) after losing the trophy to veteran actor Qi Yuwu last year.
However, he seemed shocked when his name was announced and he mentioned that he would prefer the newbies bring home the award.
He said to local media: "I hoped that I would stand on the stage [as a host] and have the opportunity to present the award to someone from the next generation. I really think there's a huge significance in this as it represents the passing of the torch."
It was a surprising turn of events as My Star Bride was deemed to be the frontrunner of the awards ceremony and its male lead Xu Bin was also nominated for Best Actor.
Alas, the series only walked away with Best Drama Serial and Best Theme Song while Lin Meijiao won Best Supporting Actress for her role on the show.
Victory for Felicia Chin
The Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes award turned out to be rather eventful as well. Aside from Brandon Wong's recognition, two actresses — Rebecca Lim and Felicia Chin — snagged their 10th Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes award .
All eyes were on Felicia (again) as she was one win away from collecting her All-Time Favourite Artiste. She failed to get it last year — and remained positive despite walking away empty-handed — but luck favoured her this year.
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During a backstage interview with local media, the 37-year-old confessed to feeling nervous during the announcement of the winners and was happy that she won.
Earlier in the ceremony, her boyfriend Jeffrey Xu remained coy about his plans to propose and said he would see whether she wins her Top 10 award.
So, we couldn't help but ask Felicia if she thinks he'll pop the question.
However, she was none the wiser.
She said with a hearty laugh: "You must ask him. I didn't know that but okay, let's see what happens."
Additional reporting by Kwok Kar Peng.
bryanlim@asiaone.com