Star in dramas or stay at home with the kids?
In a recent interview for her upcoming drama series No Other Way, local actress Yvonne Lim told AsiaOne she frequently struggles with this dilemma.
Yvonne, 49, has been married to Taiwanese former boy band B.A.D member Alex Tien, 46, since 2014. They have two children Alexa, nine, and 12-year-old Alex Junior (AJ).
“If I do more [dramas], it means sacrificing my time with my family,” she said before going into how she experiences “mum guilt” when given offers.
“I would think, ‘I don’t think I’m spending enough time with my kids. It’s their holiday [but] I’m not bringing them anywhere,'” she explained.
“That’s why, whenever I have a break, no matter how tired I am, I will still cook for my kids. I’ll make sure that I’m around and try to plan family outings.”
She said her Taiwanese actress friends Vivian Hsu, 51, and Alyssa Chia, turning 52, are her role models.
“I’m glad that they’re my friends because they push me. Sometimes I would be like, ‘I have this role. What should I do? I think I need to take care of my family.’ And Vivian would say, ‘Hey, Yvonne, look, go for it. How many chances do we have? Just go for it,'” she said.
Yvonne and her family lived in Taipei for nearly a decade before returning to Singapore in January 2025.
She revealed that Vivian was also the one who pushed her to star in The Grind (2026), her first local drama since coming home.
“I think it kind of helped me because I had just moved back and I was getting into the rhythm of going back into this industry… I’m thankful to her,” she said.
Contrary to how she feels, Yvonne said her husband and kids are supportive of her acting career.
When she seeks Alexa and AJ out for their thoughts before taking on a drama, she said their only question would be, “Does this mean you’ll be at next year’s Star Awards?”
“I think the reason my husband is asking me to go to work is so that I will not micromanage my kids so much,” she joked to us.
In the 2025 edition of the local annual acting award ceremony where she received the All-Time Favourite Artiste trophy, Yvonne walked down the red carpet with her husband and two kids. In a backstage interview, she admitted feeling nervous as she hadn’t been on stage for 10 years but felt more assured having them with her.
‘No longer taboo’
No Other Way is a 20-episode crime series 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.
Yvonne plays Susan Su, a forensic psychiatrist who joins the investigation to assess the suspects’ mental states.
To prepare for the drama, Yvonne said she spoke to psychiatrists and watched documentaries to learn how they react in sessions with their patients.
The challenging part for her was learning the professional terms in Mandarin.
“For example, borderline personality disorder, delusional disorder — what are they all about? Saying those terms in English is much easier,” she explained.
Outside of the role, Yvonne said she has considered seeing a psychiatrist before but “never really got down to it”.
She added: “I do think that seeing a psychiatrist is no longer a very taboo thing. Some people say, ‘If I see a psychiatrist, does that mean that something’s wrong with me?’
“But I think seeing a psychiatrist helps in getting to know yourself better and what you can do to de-elevate situations.”
‘Baking is my therapy’
When asked about funny moments or bloopers she had filming the drama, Yvonne pondered for a while but couldn’t think of any instances.
“Because of the heaviness and importance of this role, I did not let myself get too carried away. Every time I was on set, I made sure that I was ready,” she said.
Playing roles with heavy emotional weight used to affect her but over the years, Yvonne, who debuted in the 1997 drama Starting Point, found ways to handle them.
“Now I have a family, I have kids, so every time I get home and see their smiley faces, everything just goes back to normal. I try not to carry those emotions with me,” she shared.
She de-stresses through cooking for her family and baking on her own: “Baking is my therapy. I like to do it really late at night. That’s when I can do my own things and really think.”
Her fans would already know this as she often shares photos of her bakes on social media.
For Chinese New Year in 2024, she made pineapple balls and financiers for her friends. Her passion for the hobby has extended to her newly renovated home in Singapore where she installed a bigger oven.
Most recently, she baked cakes for a drama crew member’s birthday and also for Father’s Day.
‘We don’t let age define us’
Yvonne’s career kicked off after Star Search 1997 when she was offered a full-time artiste contract with Mediacorp despite her elimination in the finals.
She went on to star in local dramas such as The Return of the Condor Heroes (1998) and Stepping Out (1999), before joining Anita Yuen, Kent Cheng and Felix Wong in the 2002 Hong Kong series Innocently Guilty.
Last October, she revealed she took on a cameo role in the Taiwanese drama The Resurrected — which lasted five minutes on screen — to broaden her horizon, calling it “the shortest and fastest role” she had ever filmed in her acting career.
With over 40 dramas under her belt as of press time, Yvonne, who turns 50 in September, told us how her past decade has been.
“I’ve been spending time with my family, and getting to know myself better, like what I can achieve and what I can do… I’m more certain about what I want and when things don’t go my way, I just let it pass,” she shared.
“Sometimes I don’t even feel that I’m 50. I think having a young mentality and a young heart do help because it keeps you going.”
Michelle Yeoh was 60 when she became the first Asian woman to win Best Actress at the Oscars in 2023 for her work in Everything Everywhere All at Once, and Yvonne thinks she’s a good example.
“We don’t let age define us,” she said.
As for whether she would be supportive of her children taking on the same career path, Yvonne said she is letting nature take its course.
While AJ has no interest, Alexa is “very curious” about showbiz — she is currently learning the piano and dance.
“I was very honest with them. I said, ‘If you really want to be in this line, you need to be really good at a lot of things, and you need to work hard on it. It’s not so easy,” she said.
“We just try to support them from the sidelines and let them know that if anything happens, they can always turn to family.”
No Other Way also stars Nick Teo, Guo Liang, Pierre Png, Cynthia Koh, Zhang Zetong and Sheryl Ang. It will be available on demand for free on Mewatch from June 29 in PG and M18 versions, and premieres the same day at 9pm on Channel 8.
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