Ordinary in extraordinary: He is local TV's first actor with Down syndrome

He might hold the honour of being the first actor with Down syndrome on local television, but for 20-year-old Timothy Lee, his present concern when he met AsiaOne was whether he could have his favourite chicken sandwich and black coffee for his next meal.

He shared as much as we walked through the hallways leading to one of Mediacorp's film sets. I asked whether he ate it often, to which he sheepishly replied, "Not every day," avoiding the watchful gaze of mum Joyce.

As we entered the room where our interview would be held, I paused to admire the set. Timothy, meanwhile, breezed past and made himself at home. Then again, he had been here dozens of times.

There's a stye in his right eye. His mother explained it's due to a lack of sleep of late, as a result of his busy work schedule — the longest day was filming 11 scenes. Even so, Timothy cheerfully waved it off, assuring us that it wasn't affecting him much.

Before the interview formally started, Timothy already struck me as an extraordinary individual surrounded by extraordinary circumstances, yet all the while still being as normal as the-boy-next-door.

Despite being a celebrity of sorts at his age, Timothy is refreshingly humble and modest. For most parts, he doesn't even seem to realise the extent of his popularity and, by extension, the impact he has on the audience by being the first representative of people with Down syndrome in local media.

Michelle Obama once tweeted after the release of the movie Black Panther:

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In the same vein, Timothy's onscreen presence helps those like him to understand that they are beyond what mainstream entertainment depicts. It helps to undo symbolic annihilation — the idea that if you don't see people like you in media, you must somehow be unimportant.

Since his debut in Kin, Mediacorp's current long-form drama, Timothy has received numerous comments on Facebook and letters from viewers thanking him for giving them confidence and allowing them to pursue their dreams.

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It's not a one-way relationship. The positive comments from the community make Timothy feel stronger and push him to work twice as hard as before, too.

Now that Kin is popular, he laughed and shared that he gets approached on the streets by people for photos pretty often. Still, he keeps his head down, firmly believing that he's not someone special just because he's an actor.

"I must be humble," he said firmly.

Being an actor while schooling doesn't come without a cost. While most people his age spend their time shopping, gaming or hanging out with friends, Timothy can usually be found with his nose buried deep in scripts. More often than not, when he's not in school, dancing or playing the cajon, he spends his time rehearsing his lines with his mother.

Yet, he has never once complained about the work, his motivation boiling down to one simple sentence: "Acting is my passion."

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Like Timothy, Joyce is full of smiles. The 59-year-old is a housewife and spends most of her time taking care of him. While some might find her lifestyle tiring, Joyce cherishes the opportunity to share every moment she has with him.

She related softly: "We're quite close. We do everything together. So he's like a part of me, you know what I mean?"

Indeed, the two of them bantered with and nudged each other like a pair of chummy best friends, though Timothy seemed slightly sheepish and hesitant to admit that. Joyce laughed at that, explaining that she still has to be strict with him lest he climbs over her head.

At home, he's just as close to the rest of his family. While his father Roger, 63, helps him with rehearsing whenever he can, his brother Justin, 27, isn't always home due to his hectic schedule as a financial consultant. Perhaps that is why Timothy particularly looks forward to their yearly family holiday.

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When asked where he'd like to go to for his next trip, he snapped up, looked me straight in the eye and said: "Australia."

His favourite animal happens to be the kangaroo.

In the same breath, he let on that he'd prefer to visit Australia only when it's cooler. I raised an eyebrow, and he directed me towards the weather in Singapore.

"It's way too hot!"

His mother and I laughed. To put it in millennial speak, what a big mood.

Somewhere down the line, without me realising, our interview seamlessly evolved into a regular conversation about the weather, his hobbies and other topics that would normally be considered mundane, if not for the fact that Timothy was extremely refreshing to talk to.

Despite my palpable sense of anxiety as a greenhorn, Timothy's infectious and cheery energy helped to soothe my strung-out nerves.

As if speaking my mind, Joyce shared with me about how much she learns from Timothy, who bears no grudges and feels no jealousy.

If there's anything that I've learnt about Timothy during our meeting, it's that he really is just a jovial guy who loves life the way it is.

Kin airs Monday to Friday, 8.30pm on Channel 5. The coming week's episodes will also be made available on Toggle every Monday.

A Kinship Special will air on Saturday, Sept 28, 8.30pm where the main cast of Kin get together and reveal behind-the-scenes secrets ahead of a big reveal on Monday, Sept 30.

rainercheung@asiaone.com