A Method To His Manness

Handsome, brooding and killer sexy. Desmond Tan tells us how his dedication to method acting took him to some dark, dark places, and then back again into the light as the newly-crowned Best Actor.

- Celine Tan

Desmond Tan is holding a blowtorch in one hand and a steak knife in the other, a faint maniacal smile playing on his lips, and we’re legit getting worried. Behind us, the marketing manager for Hotel G looks on in fascinated horror. “Actor sets fire to himself and loses finger to steak knife.” Not exactly the kind of headline you want your hip boutique hotel to be associated with. In the hands of any other actor, these would just be props, but this is Desmond Tan we’re talking about. Yes, he of the enviable bone structure, inimitable smirk and death-defying dedication to method acting. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to hand him an open flame and a serrated blade. After all, he’s kinda fresh off playing a psychotic serial killer on the fourth season of Ch 5’s Code of Law. What if he forgets this is just a magazine shoot and slips into killer mode? After all, isn’t that what method actors do — live in their roles? What if Desmond decides to method act? He turns on the blowtorch and smiles at the sharp blue flame. Everyone around him simultaneously moves back half a step. Hey, you can’t be too careful.