6 Facts About Brandon Wong, The Doctor Strange Lookalike Who Finally Won an Award After 27 Years

If there’s an award recipient that warmed everyone’s hearts during the Star Awards prize ceremony, it’s got to be Brandon Wong.

The actor, who turns 52 this year, snagged his first-ever Star Awards award at the ceremony yesterday (24 April), 27 years after he first entered the industry in 1995.

And while we may know that he has finally received his well-deserved award after spending more than half his life in the local television industry, here are some other things you might not know about him.

He Was a Contestant on Star Search

Yup, the same show that discovered well-known names in the local entertainment industry like Zoe Tay and Chew Chor Meng.

And while he entered the competition a little later than them, given that he took part in the 1995 edition, he still managed to achieve outstanding results by defeating thousands of candidates who had signed up for the competition as well.

Although he did not end up winning the competition, he still made it all the way to the finals, catching the attention of many audience members.

(Fun fact: The eventual male winner of the 1995 Star Search was Ix Shen, who has recently garnered much attention too due to his corresponding efforts in Ukraine.)

With his outstanding acting skills, the now-defunct TCS (the equivalent of today’s Mediacorp) soon offered Wong a contract to hone his talents, and the rest is history.

He Graduated From a Prestigious University and Was a Basketball Player

And while Wong only came to Singapore when he participated in Star Search, he was a smart student back in Malaysia as well, and it shows.

Prior to joining the entertainment industry, Wong graduated from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, a premier research-intensive university in Malaysia.

Right now, it is actually the top university in Malaysia, and is ranked 187th in the entire world.

As a student, he also represented his state in basketball, proving just how all-rounded this veteran actor is.

After relocating to Singapore, Wong eventually attained Singapore citizenship in 2009.

He Started “Working Part Time” When He was Six

Yes, six. Not Sixteen.

In an interview with The New Age Parents, he revealed this interesting fact about his childhood in Malaysia.

Wong’s hometown in Jelebu, which is a small Kampung in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia.

He mentioned how he would help his father with his newspaper business from the age of six, meaning that they had to set off from their home every day at 4.30am.

The father-and-son duo would take a 34km trip to the newspaper supplier to get the newspapers, and then returned back to their hometown to distribute the newspapers to the residents there.

As a young boy, Wong was tasked with bundling supplementary materials together with the papers, which made up his first “part-time job” experience.

While most of us would probably be exhausted after that, Wong would change into his school uniform after finishing his job and would go to attend school after that.

After being dismissed from school, he would go to his father’s store and helped man the store.

He continued this routine until his tertiary education.

He’s Received Four Other Star Awards Nominations Before

And although this may be Wong’s first time attaining an award at Star Awards, it’s safe to say that his efforts and talents have not gone unnoticed by the judging panel over the years.

In fact, he has been nominated for Best Supporting Actor thrice, and the coveted Best Actor award once.

Additionally, while many of us may remember him for his evil, villainous roles, his acting skills in comedies have left a deep impression on many of us as well.

In Wok of Life, his breakthrough drama, Wong was actually cast as a struggling comedian trying to get by in the 70s. The drama also earned him his first nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Later on, in 2007, he acted as Lai Guoqiang, a “professional scapegoat” for criminals in The Homecoming, which bagged him his second nomination for the same category.

In 2009, he took on the lead role of Chen Wei Bin, a taxi uncle, in Housewives’ Holiday. Acting alongside veteran actress Hong Hui Fang as his wife, he managed to portray the role successfully, bringing him his first nomination for Best Actor.

Besides that, Housewives’ Holiday was also the highest-rated drama on Channel 8 back in 2009, a testament to Wong’s performance.

More recently at the end of 2017, Wong also starred as Chen Xiaolong in My Friend From Afar, Channel 8’s featured year-end offering, which also allowed Wong to earn his third Best Supporting Actor nomination.

He’s Participated in a Channel 5 Show and a Musical Before

Even though we may be much more familiar with Wong’s work on Channel 8, he’s actually starred in a Channel 5 production as well.

Back in 2009, he actually played the lead role in Big Time In Little Street, a telemovie on Channel 5.

He has also performed in a musical titled The Peranakan Ball as well.

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He Didn’t Just Win a Top 10 Most Popular Male Artistes Award This Year

Lastly, while many of us may know him from his win in the Top 10 Most Popular Male Artistes this year, it actually isn’t his only win this year.

Earlier yesterday (24 April), he also won the My PICK! award for Most Hated Villain with his role as Qian Nanhua in Recipe of Life, edging out other fan favourites such as Chen Tianwen, Guo Liang, Jeffery Xu and Huang Biren for the title.

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Featured Image: Mediacorp