SINGAPORE – Local actor Peter Yu is up for his first performance award at Mediacorp’s annual Star Awards.
The 55-year-old veteran was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Cash On Delivery, a drama about delivery workers during the Covid-19 pandemic. This is his first nomination for a performance at the national broadcaster’s annual ceremony to celebrate Chinese entertainment.
It also marks his return to the awards show after 26 years, when he was last nominated for Top 10 Most Popular Male Artistes in 1998. He won the title in 1997.
The Star Awards nominations were unveiled on Feb 22.
The awards ceremony, which will hand out performance and popularity awards, will be held at The Theatre at Mediacorp on April 21. It will air live at 7pm on Channel 8 and Channel U, as well as online on mewatch and Mediacorp Entertainment’s YouTube channel.
A separate, non-televised gala honouring creative awards such as Best Director and Best Screenplay will be held on April 15.
Other notable nods in 2024 include local actor Andie Chen, 38, who is based in Taiwan with his Taiwanese actress-wife Kate Pang. He scored a double nomination for Best Actor (for the thriller Silent Walls) and Best Supporting Actor (for the dialect drama Whatever Will Be, Will Be).
Chen has been nominated before in both categories, but has never won.
In the Best Actor category, he will be competing against seven-time Best Actor winner and Whatever Will Be, Will Be co-star Chen Hanwei, 2023’s Best Actor recipient Richie Koh (nominated this time for Cash On Delivery), as well as the leads of blockbuster drama All That Glitters, Desmond Tan and Jeremy Chan.
All That Glitters, about the rags-to-riches story of three childhood friends, leads the awards with eight nominations, including one for Best Drama Serial.
Ayden Sng, playing one of the trio in All That Glitters along with Tan and Chan, was snubbed in the category.
Aside from Yu and Andie Chen, Star Search 2019 winner Zhang Zetong, veterans Darren Lim and Zhu Houren will also be competing for the Best Supporting Actor trophy.
A fresh face in the Best Actress slate is Star Search 2019 alumna Jernelle Oh, 29, who has been nominated for her turn in Cash On Delivery as a delivery worker with cerebral palsy, who is based on a real person.
For the same role, Oh took home the Singapore win for Best Actress at the Asian Academy Creative Awards in September 2023.
At the Star Awards, Oh will be up against her seniors in the industry, such as Joanne Peh and Rui En, nominated for Shero and Oppa, Saranghae! respectively. Rising starlet Chantalle Ng and veteran presenter-actress Kym Ng round out the slate.
The Best Supporting Actress slate looks to be a fight between beloved and seasoned stars, with nominations going to Aileen Tan, Chen Liping, Hong Huifang, Jin Yinji and Ya Hui. Of the five, 36-year-old Ya Hui is the youngest nominee.
A new award making its debut is Best Audio Personality, which honours the broadcaster’s radio deejays. Nominated in the category are radio presenters Chen Ning, Dennis Chew, Hazelle Teo, Lim Leng Kee and Zhong Kun Hua.
The Best Evergreen Artiste award, introduced in 2016 for stars above 50 years old with more than 25 years of performing experience, has been scrapped from the awards list in 2024. Mediacorp says this is to underscore “the belief that artistic excellence transcends age”. Since its inception, the award has gone to Xiang Yun four times.
The awards ceremony will also be giving out its Top 10 Most Popular Male Artistes and Female Artistes, which is partially based on audience votes. Voting will commence in March, with more details to come.
Actresses Ann Kok and Jesseca Liu, who both received their 10th Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes award in 2023, will be given the honour of the All-Time Favourite Artiste at the upcoming ceremony.
