Singaporean actor Andie Chen, who played lawyer Hong Dang Yong and Felicia Chin’s onscreen husband in Channel 8 drama The Journey: Tumultuous Times will be reprising his role in The Journey: Our Homeland, the third and final instalment of the SG50 trilogy.
Andie, 30, revealed that his character will leave behind his impulsive and high-strung nature to become a good husband and a mature father of four in the new season.
In his interview with Toggle, he shared, “Thankfully, I recently became a father as well, so I am able to apply how I truly feel towards my son to my role in the show.”
Andie explained that he is very similar to his character because they are both strict, but loving fathers. The moment we mentioned his son, he broke into a huge smile and continued, “When my wife is too strict, I will become the compassionate one, but when my wife doesn’t seem to care, I will take on the role of a strict father.”
The actor also shared that he’s not one who’d spare the rod and spoil the child. “I personally don’t think that kids should be spared from that kind of treatment,” he said, emphasising that it is important to have a good reason behind it.
“I think it’s important to let the child be able to decipher right from wrong. If they have done something bad, they should accept the punishment for it. But… if I have a daughter in future, then I can’t say for sure!” continued Andie with a laugh.
Due to abnormalities with her foetus’ chromosomes, Andie’s model-actress wife Kate Pang suffered a miscarriage in April, less than a month into her second child’s pregnancy. When asked if they intend to try for another child soon, Andie hesitated before he replied, “At the moment, we will be going with the flow… However, my wife’s health is of utmost importance.”
Calling himself a very doting husband, he joked, “Most of what I earn is all hers now… (laughs)” and added that he would only start adding new members to his family after buying a house and settling down.
On the topic of money and fatherhood, Andie admitted to being worried initially about having sufficient to get by with the arrival of his son Aden, but told us that the year-old child has brought him wealth and good luck so far. Indeed, when he was six months old, Aden filmed his first commercial with his father for MasterCard in Taiwan.
Given his son’s popularity on social media, Andie added that he has no objections should Aden pursue a career in acting in future and revealed that Aden has been asked to cameo in a film.
“After my wife (model-actress Kate Pang) and I discussed, we decided to let him try it out, but we’re not sure if it really is to happen because my friend and I were just chatting and said it in passing,” he shared.
The Journey: Our Homeland premieres July 16, every Monday to Friday at 9pm on Channel 8.