MAN OF ACTION

For actor and content creator Shawn Thia, change is nothing new. In fact, he welcomes it.

- AARON KOK

There’s something about Shawn Thia that puts you at ease immediately.

Perhaps it’s his demeanour—a mixture of boy-next-door good looks and approachability that feels like you may already know him before you actually do— or that he’s generally an easygoing chap.

Whatever it is, it is working, as evidenced by his over 150,000-strong fanbase on social media. Having acted since 2015, the 29-year-old is one of the growing group of celebrities who have mastered the art of social media, and using it to display his many talents for storytelling and character building.

“Honestly, what people don’t see about content creation is that it’s really a fulltime job,” Thia, who is wrapping up two new productions, tells us over a phone call. “There’s so much work that is involved in creating a piece of content for social media, and people don’t realise the amount of time and juice needed to make your content work. I think I’ve come to realise that there is no way to find true balance between my work on screen versus my content creation work, but I’m okay with that.”

On TikTok, Thia is often referred to as “that influencer who looks like the prime minister”, so much so that he has created a series of videos where he’s dressed like PM Wong, and has found viral fame with them.