Character Studies

Actor Ng Chin Han can talk at length about the roles he plays on screen. But what happens when he’s asked to pull the veil back on himself?

- Wayne Cheong

Ng Chin Han is late for our interview. Eight minutes slightly over the scheduled timing. Nothing earth-shattering. It is a slight that’s easily overlooked, forgiven even. But he gets lost. Even with the GPS switched on, his navigation around the Orchard area proves fruitless.

To the Los Angeles-based actor, Singapore remains a cypher. The contours, shifts and the landmarks are in a flux of development, and every time Ng returns home, he has to reacquaint himself with the lay of the land. He knows his way around—the memory burns bright with each appearance of a childhood haunt—but the further he ventures away from his parents’ place, the familiarity dims.

Back in Los Angeles, Ng enjoys going for long drives. One of his favourite things to do is driving up to Malibu and beyond for the beaches. He welcomes any opportunity to gallivant outside the City of Angels.

“I have always enjoyed wandering,” the 51-year-old says. “There’s this book, The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles and there’s this line that’s very evocative about how the tourist has a destination, whereas the traveller doesn’t.”

The full line is, “Whereas the tourist generally hurries back home at the end of a few weeks or months, the traveller belonging no more to one place than to the next, moves slowly over periods of years, from one part of the earth to another.” Ng identifies with the totemic traveller, the pilgrim without a destination.