Local actor Adam Chen had to power through an overnight shoot for his new series No Other Way, leaving him with only two hours of sleep before his next working day.
The 20-episode crime drama is about Chow Keying (played by Hong Ling), a prosecutor haunted by her past. As she investigates a string of brutal crimes – from domestic violence and a gruesome celebrity murder to a public slashing attack – long-buried truths from her life gradually come to light.
The series has a PG13 and M18 version, with the latter only available for streaming on Mewatch.
Adam, 50, plays seasoned police investigator Guo Yongming, and because he’s played a policeman often, he added to us: “One of the younger directors made an interesting comment. He worked with me when I played junior members of the police force right up to this point where I’m an ‘old bird’.”
He also talked about the scenes that stuck with him most, including a spine-chilling one.
Spoilers ahead.
“There was a beheading episode which prompted an islandwide scavenger hunt for the body parts, leading up to the head being slow-cooked in soup. Never expected the choice of soup to be mala,” he told us.
He recalled the shoot for another scene where a fire was set and the perpetrator caught.
“That overnight shoot had me questioning life choices, I’m too old for that,” he said.
“The shoot lasted till around 5am, and I had my bread-and-butter job in the morning, which meant only two hours of shut-eye before I had to start the day. I can’t seem to bounce back immediately compared to my younger days.”
No regrets leaving the F&B industry
Adam kicked off his acting career after participating in the 2001 Chinese talent competition Route to Glamour. He consistently starred in multiple shows a year until 2013 when he left Mediacorp. Afterwards, he noticeably began taking on less roles and ventured into the F&B industry.
Over the past decade, he has owned multiple F&B businesses including Japanese burger restaurant R Burger, Park Cafe, yakitori restaurant Birders, donburi restaurant Ebisu Bowls and rooftop cafe Sunset on 11.
In January, he revealed he left F&B in 2024 to help out at his wife’s marketing consulting firm, mostly involved in operations and human resources management.
While he no longer acts often, he told us his younger co-stars have said they saw him on TV in their primary school days.
“I don’t know if I should feel honoured or reminded of my age,” he joked to us.
In 2020, Adam had told 8Days he wouldn’t let go of his businesses until there was “really no alternative.”
Back then, he said: “If I give up now, it stops my losses. But it also means there’s no moving forward, no change for recovery. You lose what you’ve invested overnight.”
But it appears he’s choosing to view the closures in a positive light now.
He told us: “There’s a chance of recovery and moving forward when you quit. You can’t really move forward and recover when you don’t know when to give up and move on.”
As for regrets, Adam has none.
“I think F&B is something that can be taught and has to be experienced hands-on. The skill sets that you acquire are transferable, and when you run a small business, you learn to bootstrap like any other start-up. You become scrappy and that I feel is what can set you apart in other projects with a bigger resource pool,” he said.
‘You learn not to sweat the small stuff’
Adam married his non-celebrity Japanese wife in 2023 after a decade together. Working in her company, he says, has been less taxing.
“The stress level is definitely lower, and when the stress level is lower, you learn not to sweat the small stuff – at least for me,” he said.
We asked what he watches out for when working together, and he replied he tends to not impose his views.
Adam also shared that they were recently able to register their marriage in Japan, recounting how it took two days.
“We went to a local office but were redirected to the municipal building. We had to give up after that because they needed two witness signatures,” he said.
They got the signatures the next day and went back.
“We had to wait about two hours for the office to figure how to handle my name. The Japanese only have first and last names. My full name is Adam Chen Kim Chuan on documents so they were stumped.”
With their marriage documentation done and dusted, we asked if his past wish of retiring at his wife’s hometown in the Japanese suburbs in still in the cards.
“Definitely in the future,” he confirmed.
Acting is “still a passion project”, but he said his decision to take roles boils down to the amount of time and involvement needed.
He told us he recently did a cameo in a Channel 8 drama but also turned down an offer for another series in June for those reasons.
No Other Way, which also stars Nick Teo, Yvonne Lim, Pierre Png, Cynthia Koh, Zhang Zetong, Tay Ying and Sheryl Ang, is now airing every weekday at 9pm on Channel 8 and is available on demand on Mewatch in both PG and M18 versions.
[[nid:740074]]
syarifahsn@asiaone.com
No part of this article can be reproduced without permission from AsiaOne.
Read the full article here
