Why Richie Koh isn’t holding his breath to win Best Actor at Star Awards and 8 things you didn’t know about him

3. He’s a part-time foodie

When I’m not working, I start to think about food. Because food is everywhere. It’s on your phone, social media. But when I’m working, I don’t think about food. If I’m working every day, I start to slim down! Once I take a break, my manager looks at my photos and says, “Eh, you’re going a bit overboard.” I don’t mind so much because I feel like gaining and losing weight is part of being human. You might lose weight when you’re sick. And when you gain weight, it means you’re happy in your current stage of life. You enjoy food and companionship with family.

4. He’s Teochew, but he doesn’t care for png kueh (glutinous rice dumplings)

I don’t like png kueh because it’s full of rice. I prefer soon kueh (bamboo shoot dumplings). But if it’s rice with curry on it, I’ll eat it. If it’s porridge, I like it with preserved olive leaves. When it comes to noodles, I usually choose bee hoon or kway teow – the Teochew way!

5. To prepare to play the role of Tian Cai, he practised in front of the mirror at home

When I got the role, I was like, “The opportunity is here.” I started to experiment a lot in my room. I began with trying to get the speech pattern correct. Then, the walk. My parents would walk by outside my door and say, “What are you doing?” It was very awkward!