COMPLETE MAN

A jock, a classical musician and an Ivy Leaguer, Ayden Sng doesn’t fit the profile of a typical media celebrity but this Vitruvian Man is an emblem for the values every August Man should aspire: style & substance

- JONATHAN HO

EFFECTIVELY BILINGUAL (our own late great Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew admitted in 2009 that “Nobody can master two languages at the same level”) & musically-gifted, it’s not common that a Raffles alumnus ends up on the business end of the camera in media. Typically, they’re producers or business developers and owners.

Here, the irrepressible Ayden Sng, graduate of Duke University (an Ivy, as befitting a man of his academic prowess) and former member of the Singapore Chinese Orchestra (what else is a high achieving and cultured Singaporean going to do) has gone on an unexpected career path of an actor-celebrity. Today, he finds himself on the eve of Lunar New Year, in the make-up chair, getting ready for a photoshoot with Balenciaga, while talking substantively about perpetuating Chinese culture and heritage, growing up in a system of academic achievement and having to work in an industry which didn’t have as many clearly defined rules for meritocratic achievement.

There’s this Singaporean adage that Raffles runs the country and ACS owns the country. Was a career in entertainment always on the cards, given how you grew up?

It’s safe to say it was never on the cards. I did music and did it quite fervently in school so that was also an option at one point. Some of my seniors and people that I knew are now full time musicians with a Singapore Chinese Orchestra, they went to music conservatories post college.