Thomas Ong plays Yang Haotian, a male home nurse in upcoming
Channel 8’s drama The Caregivers, is not only helping patients onscreen,
he is seen as a helpful mentor off-screen among these rising stars.
In the drama, Ong makes house calls to old and feeble
chronic patients to provide regular home nursing services. Cheery in
nature, he brings his medical team of nurses to house visits and spreads
joy to his patients.
“Thomas is really very kind. He keeps
helping me jump into character and guides me along the way”, said Cheryl
Wee who plays Liu Xuewen, a part of Haotian medical nurse team. The
Caregivers marks Wee’s first Mandarin drama after her stint at Channel
5’s Mata Mata.
“He will say ‘Eh, this is Cheryl Wee, not something Xue Wen will do!’.”
She
also revealed that Ong invited a bunch of the cast members over to his
house to go through lines with them despite the long hours spent on set.
Even co-star Jayley Woo agreed that Ong felt like a ‘big brother’.
“He’s
really good in nurturing our emotions for the scenes and makes the
whole atmosphere very happy and enjoyable. Although he is on set almost
everyday for most of the scenes, he will still maintain that smile on
him”, quipped the actress.
“I was really, really happy when I heard that Thomas Ong would be playing my elder brother in the drama”, she added.
Ong
explained that he felt there was a need to pass on acting tips and
skills to these upcoming actors and it was what he received when he was
new to the industry. He said, “I was humble enough to learn from those
veteran actors and now that I have these juniors who are willing to
learn, I am also willing to teach.”
For that script-read at his
house, Ong invited Wee, Woo, James Seah and Chris Tong whom he asked her
to ‘just join for food’. “There were a number of scenes of us as a
family and I felt that we had to understand each other better and there
was a need for some communication among us. So I invited them to my
house for food and to do a script read”, Ong continued.
On set,
Ong is also seen as the ‘stress-reliever’, often seen cracking jokes and
breaking into laughter. “There’re all very hardworking and give
themselves too much stress, that’s why I will try my best to help them
to relax by telling jokes and all”.
Starring Thomas Ong,
Chris Tong, Terence Cao, Xiang Yun, Cheryl Wee, James Seah, Jayley Woo
and Yuan Shuai! Debuts 12 March, Mon - Fri, 9pm, Channel 8!