In 2003, the young Aloysius Pang acted alongside Huang Biren as her ailing son in medical drama ‘A Child’s Hope’. 12 years on, the now hunky ‘duke’ will play her stepson in upcoming Channel 8 series ‘Tiger Mum’.
“In ‘A Child’s Hope’, she acted as my mother and I’ve always felt that it was because of her that I was nominated for the ‘Young Talent Award' (2003). It was she who brought out the acting in me,” said the 24-year-old actor.
“When we met for Tiger Mum, I actually asked her ‘I acted with you 10 over years ago, do you still remember?’ She thought for a while, but in the end she remembered me. I felt good because at least I left a little bit of impression in her.”
Stress turned to excitement whenever Pang had scenes with Huang, whom he calls a ‘very incredible actress’. He said: “The stress was on the first day because I didn’t know how was she going to perform… There were a lot of unknowns, but when she did her scene, I was kind of taken aback because of that ‘aura’ she has, but after the first couple of days when I got used to it, I was more excited because she’s incredibly good with her lines.
And when you meet an actor that can deliver smoothly, the entire scene flows very smoothly.”
In ‘Tiger Mum’, Pang plays Chen Haolian, the second son of four siblings where they learn to accept a ‘Mother Tigress’ (Huang) into the family. Playing the rebellious teenager, again, Pang is determined to kick it up a notch with his role, hoping viewers will really hate him.
“This role is pretty similar to my other rebellious teen characters I’ve done but I wanted to portray it differently. I pushed it to the extend that I want the viewers to hate me when they watch the drama, so as to show the contrasts between my father, brother and I - when there’s a stark contrast, there’s something to look forward to.”
He added: “ So I hope the public can see a different and hated character in Chen Haolian. If they really do hate me, I think I’ve succeeded.”
In the drama, Pang’s character falls in love with a redhead girl played by Jayley Woo, whom both have clarified rumours of any romance brewing between them. Though it is true that their friendship has grown stronger while working on ‘Tiger Mum’ and another upcoming drama, ‘Super Senior’, both said they are merely ‘really good friends”.
To prepare for her role as a teenage prostitute, Woo, who made several trips to Geylang to observe the women there, said she was thankful for her on-screen boyfriend Pang’s company.
“We were discussing our scripts when I mentioned to him that I wanted to go to Geylang. He immediately said ‘I’ll accompany you’. I was shocked at first because I didn’t expect him to do that, but I’m really thankful for Aloysius’ kind gesture la,” Woo said.
For Pang, accompanying a female friend to Geylang was ‘the right thing to do’. He explained: “I was a little worried when Jayley said she wanted to go to Geylang. We’ve heard a lot of nasty things happening in Geylang and when you know it’s not exactly a safe place to visit at night, you naturally want to protect the people around you - I’ll do that for any of my female friends too.”
Tiger Mum also stars Yao Wen Long, Julie Tan, Ian Fang, Bonnie Loo and Belinda Lee, debuts on 9 April, 9pm on Channel 8!