'I secretly hoped she would change her mind': Zheng Geping didn't want daughter Tay Ying to enter showbiz

Local actor-executive producer Zheng Geping never expected his daughter Tay Ying to follow her parents' footsteps to become an actor.

"Since my children were young, we've never groomed them to enter showbiz," the 61-year-old told actor-host Allan Wu in the latest episode of the latter's YouTube talk show Call Us Daddy, released on Sept 5.

Geping is married to local actress Hong Huifang and they also have a son Calvert, 25.

He added that Tay Ying, 29, and Calvert grew up on drama sets with their parents and they "didn't like it".

Tay Ying also developed a "phobia" after she witnessed a stunt scene he performed at the now-defunct Tuas TV World when she was in primary school.

"I filmed at a long staircase where I had to light myself on fire and roll down the stairs. She was shocked [when she saw it]. This traumatised her and she said, 'Why papa had to do this kind of thing?'" he shared.

So, when she graduated from school and told him she wanted to be an actress, he was surprised.

Geping said: "I had no control over her choice, as long as she likes it. I told her, 'Let's find a time to sit down with Huifang and talk about it together.' So we talked about the industry and what the future might look like. [We also told her] our market here is small and she has to look beyond Singapore and it's not easy. She would also have to face the public.

"After we talked about it, I secretly hoped she would change her mind. But she was okay with it."

Tay Ying graduated from Temasek Polytechnic with a diploma in hospitality and tourism management in 2017 and made her acting debut in local Chinese drama While We Are Young in the same year.

She obtained a business marketing degree from Singapore Institute of Management Global Education's RMIT University in 2019.

In June, she married celebrity chef Wu Sihan, whom she's dated since 2021.

In the talk show, Geping shared he was also surprised when Calvert expressed his interest in becoming a singer.

"But I said okay, since he had his proper education. [But I also told him] while he is doing this, he also needs to explore other industries too... because our market is very small," he added.

Calvert, who also made his acting debut in While We Are Young, is a singer-songwriter who has been releasing music since 2021. In an interview in 2024, Geping revealed he studied finance.

[[nid:722327]]

yeo.shuhui@asiaone.com