Tan Kheng Hua (simplified Chinese: 陈琼华; traditional Chinese: 陳瓊華; pinyin: Chén Qióng Huá; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tân Khêng-hôa; born 17 January 1963) is a Singaporean actress. She starred in the 2018 film Crazy Rich Asians and in the martial arts television series Kung Fu in 2021.
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Tan Kheng Hua | |||||||||||
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陈琼华 | |||||||||||
Born | (1963-01-17) 17 January 1963 (age 59) Singapore, Malaysia | ||||||||||
Nationality | Singaporean | ||||||||||
Alma mater | Indiana University | ||||||||||
Occupation | Actress | ||||||||||
Spouse | Lim Yu-Beng (m.1992-2017)[citation needed] | ||||||||||
Children | 1 daughter | ||||||||||
Chinese name | |||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 陳瓊華 | ||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 陈琼华 | ||||||||||
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Tan acquired an interest in acting when she took a theatre elective while attending Indiana University. After returning to Singapore, she took up a job in public affairs and acted in her spare time. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science (magna cum laude) from Indiana University School of Public & Environmental Affairs.
The first stage play Tan performed in was John Bowen's The Waiting Room, which was directed by her cousin Ivan Heng. It took almost a decade before Tan became a full-time actress.
In the theatre, Tan is in the original casts of landmark plays such as Beauty World, Lao Jiu, Descendants of the Admiral Eunuch, Animal Farm, Cooling Off Day and Falling, for which she won her second Life! Theatre Best Actress Award.
In television, Tan is best known for her role as Margaret in Singapore's longest running and most successful sitcom, Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd, for which she won an Asian Television Award for Best Actress (Comedy). Her first foray into Mandarin-language television, Beautiful Connection, earned her a nomination at the Star Awards.
On the international scene, Tan appeared in Serangoon Road, Marco Polo and Crazy Rich Asians.
In 2020, Tan was cast as a series regular in Kung Fu, The CW's modern reboot of Kung Fu.[1]
Tan also creates and produces for stage and television in Singapore including the critically acclaimed cabaret act, The Dim Sum Dollies;[2] the dramas 9 Lives and Do Not Disturb, the latter being the first local TV series to receive the maximum 5-star rating from Straits Times Life!, the Mandarin serial, Mr & Mrs Kok and lifestyle infotainment on The Asian Food Channel.
Tan also creates and produces theatre and festivals outside of Singapore including No.7, an original theatre piece commissioned by the Georgetown Festival 2011 in Penang. No.7 was sold out with a waiting list. In 2014, she brought 64 Singaporean and Malaysian artists together in The SIN-PEN Colony to Penang's Georgetown Festival celebrating the cities’ shared heritage of food, visual art, music, theatre and design. The theatre segment within The SIN-PEN Colony, 2 Houses, sold-out within four days. She conceptualized and produced The Twenty-Something Theatre Festival 2016 and Tropicana The Musical which opened to rave reviews in April 2017.
For her contributions to the arts, Tan was one of fifty local stage personalities in an exhibition celebrating 50 years of Singapore theatre and part of twenty contemporary artists chosen to represent Singapore in Singapore: Inside Out, a showcase presented by the Singapore Tourism Board in Beijing, London and New York City to celebrate Singapore's fiftieth anniversary.
Tan married fellow theatre actor Lim Yu-Beng but later divorced.[3] They have a daughter.
Year | Title | Role | Ref |
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1996 | Army Daze | Cavewoman | |
1999 | That One No Enough (那个不够) | ||
2005 | Cages | Ali Tan | |
2009 | The Blue Mansion | Veronica Wee | |
2012 | Sex.Violence.FamilyValues | ||
2016 | The Faith of Anna Waters | Charlotte Sharma | |
2018 | Crazy Rich Asians | Kerry Chu | [4] |
2019 | The Garden of Evening Mists | Emily | |
TBA | The Tiger's Apprentice |
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref |
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1994–1995 | Masters of the Sea | |||
1995 | Dick Lee with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra | Herself, as host | variety show | |
1997–2007 | Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd | Margaret Phua | 8 seasons | |
1999 | AlterAsians – Iris’ Rice Bowl | Iris | Miniseries | |
2001 | A War Diary | |||
2002 | Beautiful Connection | Mo Lan Ying | ||
2003 | The New Home | |||
2008–2009 | Sayang Sayang | Nellie Tan | 2 seasons | |
2013 | Serangoon Road | Artik | 1 episode | |
2014 | Marco Polo | Xie Daoqing | 8 episodes | |
2015 | The Pupil S2 | Shirley Woo | ||
2017 | BRA | Gloria Yap | 2 episodes | |
2020 | Grey's Anatomy | Vera Kitano | 1 episode | |
2020 | Medical Police | Bao Tsai | 1 episode | |
2020 | Magnum PI | Lynn Yang | ||
2021 | Kung Fu | Mei-Li Chen | Main role | [4] |
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