Zoe Tay facts for kids

Zoe Tay (born January 10, 1968) is a famous actress and former model from Singapore. People often call her the "Queen of Caldecott Hill" (which is where MediaCorp, a big media company in Singapore, is located) or "Ah Jie" (a special title meaning "Big Sister" for top actresses).

Zoe Tay has won the Star Awards for Best Actress four times. This shows how talented she is!

Zoe's Early Life

Zoe Tay is the sixth of seven children. Her parents were from the Teochew group. When she was three, her birth mother passed away in an accident. Her father later remarried.

Her father worked on a pig farm, and her stepmother was a housewife. Zoe went to Kay Hua Primary School and then Yuan Ching Secondary School. She also studied fashion design at the Baharuddin Vocational Institute.

When Zoe was 13, she wanted to use the English name "Jenny." This was because people often mispronounced her Chinese family name, Zheng. But her siblings didn't like the name "Jenny." Later, she found the name "Zoe" in a dictionary and decided to use it.

Zoe's Career Journey

Zoe Tay began her career as a model when she was 16 years old. In 1987, she was named "Model of The Year."

Becoming a Star

In 1988, Zoe won the first-ever Star Search competition. This led to a three-year contract with the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), which is now known as MediaCorp.

At first, Zoe didn't really like acting. But after her role in the TV show Crime and Passion in 1991, she started to love it. Her big break came with her role in Pretty Faces, where she played a young woman who cared a lot about money. This role made her very famous!

From 1994, Zoe won the Top 10 Most Popular Female Artiste Award at the Star Awards for ten years in a row. This showed how much her fans loved her. In 1996, she won her first Best Actress award for her role in The Golden Pillow.

Special Achievements

In 2004, Zoe Tay became the first actress to receive the special Star Awards for All-Time Favourite Artiste award. This award is given to artists who have won the Top 10 Most Popular Artiste award ten times.

Zoe was also the first female artist to release a special book called "Zoe's Coffee Table." This book was created by Mediacorp.

Movies and Collaborations

Besides TV shows, Zoe Tay has also acted in movies. In 2010, she starred in Love Cuts with Hong Kong actor Kenny Ho. She played a woman who was very sick with breast cancer. In 2013, she acted in her first movie entirely in English, Mister John, with Irish actor Aidan Gillen.

Zoe has worked with many other actors. Her strong connection with Li Nanxing in The Unbeatables and other shows made them one of the Top 5 Best Onscreen Couples at the Star Awards 25th Drama Anniversary show. In 2015, she worked with Huang Biren for the first time in The Dream Makers II.

Because of her big impact on Singapore's TV industry, a wax figure of Zoe Tay was made by Madame Tussauds Singapore. It has been on display in the museum since 2014.

Recent Awards

Zoe won her second Best Actress award at the Star Awards 2017 for You Can Be an Angel 2. This was 21 years after her first Best Actress win!

At the Star Awards 2021, Zoe Tay won her fourth Best Actress award for the TV drama My Guardian Angels. She was the first actress to win the Best Actress award two years in a row.

Zoe's Personal Life

Zoe Tay is married to Philip Chionh, who used to be a pilot for the Republic of Singapore Air Force. They got engaged in 1995 when Zoe was at the height of her career. They had their wedding in 2001. They have three sons named Brayden, Ashton, and Nathan.

Zoe is known for being very kind and often performs at charity shows to help others. She also loves dogs and has adopted and taken care of many rescue dogs.

Filmography

Television series

Film

Show hosting

Zoe Tay has also hosted these TV shows:

Music Albums

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Awards and nominations