Huang Yiliang doesn’t miss acting, worries about memorising his lines in new microdrama, Entertainment News

Huang Yiliang is making his comeback to acting after more than a decade and it’s due to mutual support for and from his celebrity friends.

In an interview with AsiaOne on Aug 21, the 65-year-old shared: “I was very grateful to them visiting my hawker stall to give me their greatest support.

“As we were chatting over a meal later, they mentioned they wanted to film a microdrama. I didn’t know what that is. I thought it was just a few good friends filming a few videos together. I didn’t expect they wanted to film 100 episodes.”

In June, local actors — some retired — including Cassandra See, Jason Oh, Cherie Lim, Apple Hong, Joy Yak, Amy Koh and Celine Neo visited Yiliang at his seafood zichar stall Old Fisherman at Circuit Road Hawker Centre and filmed a few videos to express their support for him.

Live commerce channel Bing Bing Biang Biang Squad, founded by Cassandra, Jason and Constance Song, announced on Aug 21 at Singapore Expo that they will be making a new microdrama titled BingBingBiangBiang Kopidiam, which is expected to premiere in mid-September on their TikTok and Instagram pages.

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Directed by veteran producer Michael Woo, known for producing sitcoms including Don’t Worry, Be Happy (1996 – 2002), the comedy series centres on first-time hawker Ah Liang (Yiliang), who rents a “cursed” stall at a neighbourhood coffeeshop to sell crab bee hoon.

Rumour has it that when the stall is occupied, the whole coffeeshop thrives. But when it’s empty, the rest of the businesses slow down too.

From day one, nothing goes according to plan at his stall, including staffing drama, nosy neighbours and a suspicious stall-owner convinced he’s having an affair with his own employee. Every small mishap pulls the whole coffeeshop into chaos.

Yiliang will be joined by Cassandra, Constance, Jason, Cherie, Apple, Joy, Jin Yinji and Tang Miaoling in the series.

Fated to return to acting

About returning to the screens, Yiliang said: “It’s like what [my friends said], I am making a comeback.

“I have done some livestreams previously to sell seafood, so I am not unfamiliar [with this aspect]. However, acting is something professional and I unexpectedly became a professional again… I am quite surprised.”

When asked if he missed acting in the years after leaving showbiz, he said: “I wasn’t bitten by the acting bug… but I don’t reject acting also.”

He added he was invited by Mediacorp multiple times over the past decade to act, but he wasn’t able to participate due to scheduling conflicts.

Yiliang’s last TV drama is The Golden Path, which aired in 2007. He also acted in his self-directed comedy movie The Ghost Partner, which was released in 2012.

He believes it’s “fate” to act in BingBingBiangBiang Kopidiam.

Filming for the microdrama has not begun officially, but Yiliang, who is expected to appear in many scenes, said the team agreed to film on his rest day every Monday.

“I think when it comes to memorising lines, the stressful part is that I am older and my memory is not that good. As for the acting aspect, I think I am okay because I’ve acted many years before. I am not stressed about that,” he added.

The teaser released on Aug 17 shows Yiliang in a parody about the incident with his neighbouring chicken rice stall owner which happened in May.

When asked how he felt about resurfacing the matter, he clarified that while he preferred not to bring it up again, any similarities to actual people and circumstances in the microdrama are purely coincidental.

Hawker as a retirement job

Our chat also moved to Yiliang’s hawker stall, and he shared that while business thrived after the incidents, the number of customers dipped recently.

However, he remains positive: “Friends who visited were honest in their opinion [about my dishes], whether it’s too salty or bland.

“This also gave me the confidence to stop selling other dishes and only focus on improving my signature dish (crab bee hoon) to make it better… As footfall declined recently, I should all the more focus on making crab bee hoon while waiting for business to recover again.”

As for whether he has considered opening a second stall, Yiliang said he has no plans at the moment.

“I am doing this for my retirement. If I really wanted to make money, I would have returned to work in insurance… but I don’t prefer to do so, because while I can make good money from it, I won’t feel like I’ve retired,” he said.

However, he admitted he is also facing a bottleneck recently as he had underestimated how difficult it is to hire an assistant for his stall, with considerations including the salary, work schedule and responsibilities.

“I realised the food is not the toughest thing about being a hawker, it’s hiring the staff. I am currently operating my stall alone now,” Yiliang said.

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yeo.shuhui@asiaone.com

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