Jack Neo facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Jack Neo
Neo in July 2016
Born	(1960-01-24) 24 January 1960 (age 64) State of Singapore
Nationality	Singaporean
Education	Tanjong Katong Secondary School
Occupation	Film director film producer screenwriter host comedian actor
Spouse(s)	Irene Kng ​ (m. 1990)​
Children	4
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	梁志強
Simplified Chinese	梁志强
Hanyu Pinyin	Liáng Zhìqiáng
Hokkien POJ	Niû Tì-Kiông

Jack Neo Chee Keong PBM (born 24 January 1960) is a Singaporean filmmaker, comedian and actor who was a full-time Mediacorp artiste from 1983 to 2003. In the 1990s and early 2000s, he was best known for his roles as "Liang Po Po" (literally: "Granny Liang") and "Liang Xi Mei" (a woman homemaker in her 40s) in the long-running television comedy show Comedy Nite.

Since his debut as a feature film director, Neo has been one of the most commercially successful local directors who has also met with some success in Malaysia and Taiwan. He has shown a penchant for franchise series films. His most critically acclaimed film is I Not Stupid, which satirizes Singapore's streaming educational system in 2002. Critics have commented that his films had too much product placement which he justified by stating the expensive cost of making movies in Singapore.

Career

Neo wrote and acted in a comedy skit for Tanjong Katong Secondary School at the age of 14.

Neo started his career on television in 1980 and became one of the most successful and recognisable celebrities in SBC for his comedic roles on both film and television. His two most notable roles on film and television are Liang Po Po and Liang Xi Mei, both skits in the long-running comedy variety show Comedy Nite. Neo made his directorial debut in That One No Enough (1999) and he set up his own artiste management company, J Team Productions, whose members include comedians Mark Lee and Henry Thia, where the trio worked together in Comedy Nite and also in movies such as Money No Enough, That One No Enough, Money No Enough 2 and Where Got Ghost?.

Neo's films satirise several aspects about Singapore in comical ways, including societal issues such as negligent parenting and school corporal punishment, and foreign issues such as the water disputes between Singapore and Malaysia. Apart from his film and TV career, Neo has also recorded and produced a number of albums.

Neo received the Best Director Award at the Silver Screen Awards in 1998 for his short film, Replacement Killers, which led to him filming Hitman in the City in the same year as an extension of the original short film. Since then, he became a filmmaker and created his first film, Money No Enough, directed by Tay Teck Lock and released into cinemas on 7 May 1998. In 1989, Neo was awarded with the Lifetime Achievement Award in the following year in recognition of his contributions to Singapore's media industry. In 2004, Neo became the first filmmaker in Singapore to be honoured with the Public Service Medal. He also received the Cultural Medallion on 21 October 2005 together with musician Dick Lee.

In 2008, Neo and Mark Lee bought the Singapore master franchise rights for Old Town White Coffee, a coffee retail concept from Ipoh, Malaysia. Their first store at Big Splash opened on 30 March in that year.

In 2013, Neo announced the creation of J Team Academy, an educational institute which aimed to bring together industry experts to groom new film-making talent. The academy opened on 6 April 2013. In September, Neo won the Best Actor award for his role in Homecoming (2011) at the 1st Golden Wau Awards, aimed at promoting Chinese-language Malaysian films.

In October 2014, the Madame Tussauds Singapore museum unveiled a wax figure of Neo.

2015 saw the release of Neo's short film as part of the omnibus 7 Letters to commemorate Singapore's 50th year of independence.

Neo released the first two parts of his planned four-part film on the transition from village life to government housing in the first quarter of 2016, Long Long Time Ago and Long Long Time Ago 2.

Personal life

Neo married Irene Kng in 1990 and has three sons and a daughter.

Filmography

Film

Television series

Variety shows

Discography

Drama soundtracks

Awards and nominations