Vivian Lai Yi-ling (born 18 December 1976) is a Taiwanese-born Singaporean actress, television host and businesswoman.

Vivian Lai
Lai at the Star Awards 2017
Born (1976-12-18) 18 December 1976 (age 47)
NationalityTaiwanese
CitizenshipSingaporean
Occupations
  • Actress
  • television host
  • businesswoman
Years active1999-present
Spouse
Alain Ong
(m. 2001)
Children2
AwardsFull list
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese賴怡伶
Simplified Chinese赖怡伶
Hanyu PinyinLài Yílíng
JyutpingLaai6 Ji4 Ling4

Life and career

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Born in Taiwan, Lai migrated to Singapore with her Taiwanese family when she was still a student. She joined Star Search Singapore 1999 and was the winner in the Singapore edition and the overall champion in the female contestants' category.[1]

Lai started out as an actress, making her debut in Knotty Liaisons, and won good reviews. She eventually diversified into hosting and has hosted various kinds of programmes ranging from food reviews to travelogues. In 2012, after numerous nominations, she won her first professional award, the Best Supporting Actress award, at the Star Awards 2012 for her role as a Chinese immigrant in Love Thy Neighbour.

Lai is also the brand ambassador for Pokka beverages, Kirei Kirei soap, Samsung electrical appliances and Osim massage.[2]

Personal life

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Lai is married to Alain Ong and the couple have two daughters, Vera and Ariel.[3] Alain Ong is the CEO of Pokka International and Deputy Group CEO of Pokka Corporation which Lai has been brand ambassador for multiple years from around 2008. This has thus attracted its fair share of controversy, amid allegations of conflict of interest which in 2012, she was paid S$1 million to continue endorsing the brand.[4]

In September 2018, her husband, Ong, was suspended from his posts by Pokka Corporation following an internal audit and would later take up a new appointment offered by Kimly, which he was a non-executive director of Kimly.[5] Lai's contract as an ambassador was terminated in the following month, despite claims by Mediacorp that her contract would remain unchanged.[6]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes Ref.
2008 Money No Enough 2 Zhou Yanyan
2009 Where Got Ghost?

Television series

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Year Title Role Notes Ref.
2000 Knotty Liaisons Jiaxuan
Adam's Company Elaine
Dare To Strike
2001 Looking For Stars Piggy
The Hotel Lai Meiling
Three Women and A Half Xiaoping
2002 Bukit Ho Swee Wang Qing
Kopi-O II Shuyun
The Unbeatables III Dong Meiyao
2003 Holland V Mo Rourou
2004 Double Happiness Luo Jiaqian
Double Happiness II Luo Jiaqian
2005 Love at 0°C Liu Siqi
2006 Time to Heal
2007 Live Again Jenny
Making Miracles Xu Xiuyuan
The Homecoming Qianyi
2008 Just in Singapore Jinyan
Love Blossoms II Fan Fan
2011 Be Happy Mable
Love Thy Neighbour Shanshan
2014 World at Your Feet Mo Lihua
2015 Super Senior Ivy Ji Shanzhong
2016 The Queen Zeng Jing [7]
2019 My One In A Million (我的万里挑一) Vivian Lai
The Good Fight (致胜出击) Rourou
A World of Difference (都市狂想) Rui En
2021 Soul Old Yet So Young (心里住着老灵魂) Cindy Yen
The Heartland Hero Lexi

Variety shows

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Year Title Notes Ref.
2006 Property Classified
2007 On the Beat II
My Beautiful Life
Star Awards Post-Show Party
2008 The NTUC Show
Lunar New Year Eve Celebration
Dialect Delights
Bioskin Dreams Come True II
On the Beat III
Amuse Me
DIY My Home
2009 My House Husband's Journal
小男人周记
Amuse U
2010 You Are The Man
2011 Sizzling Woks 3
Ladies Nite
Home Makeover 2
2012 My Fair Ladies
Silver Carnival
Simply Exquisite
Dessert Time
2013 Say It!
Laughing Out Loud
2014 Eat and Be Merry
Black Rose 2
Style: Check-In 4 Guest Host
Say It! 2
Style: Check-In 5
Ladies Nite 3
2015 Hey Chef!
Hey Gorgeous 2015
The Successor
2016 Touch Screen Cuisine
What's In The Fridge?
2017 A Gift for Mum
2019 The Destined One Guest Matchmaker

Discography

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Compilation albums

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Year English title Mandarin title
2012 MediaCorp Music Lunar New Year Album 12 新传媒群星金龙接财神
2018 MediaCorp Music Lunar New Year Album 18 新传媒群星阿狗狗过好年
2019 MediaCorp Music Lunar New Year Album 19 新传媒群星猪饱饱欢乐迎肥年
2020 MediaCorp Music Lunar New Year Album 20 裕鼠鼠纳福迎春了

Accolades

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Year Ceremony Category Nominated work Result
2000 7th Star Awards Ceremony Best Newcomer Nominated
2001 8th Star Awards Ceremony Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes Won
2003 9th Star Awards Ceremony Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes Won
2004 10th Star Awards Ceremony Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes Won
Best Supporting Actress Double Happiness
(as Luo Jiaqian)
Nominated
2005 11th Star Awards Ceremony Best Supporting Actress Double Happiness II
(as Luo Jiaqian)
Nominated
2007 13th Star Awards Ceremony Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes Won
2009 15th Star Awards Ceremony Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes Won
2010 16th Star Awards Ceremony Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes Won
2011 17th Star Awards Ceremony Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes Won
2012 18th Star Awards Ceremony Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes Won
Best Supporting Actress Love Thy Neighbour
(as Shan Shan)
Won
2013 19th Star Awards Ceremony Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes Won
2014 20th Star Awards Ceremony Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes Won
Best Variety Show Host Finding U Nominated
2015 21st Star Awards Ceremony All-Time Favourite Artiste Won
Star Awards for YES 933 Best Speech Won
Asian Skin Solutions Most Radiant Skin Award Won

References

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  1. ^ "Female Star Search Finalist Vivian Lai (right) who won the Female Star Search prize during the All-Asian Star Search grand final held in Television Corporation of Singapore TV Theatre". National Archives of Singapore. Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts Collection, courtesy of National Archives of Singapore. 25 April 1999. Archived from the original on 29 July 2018. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  2. ^ "Awkward age? Not for 'aunty' Lai". The New Paper. 2 December 2012. Archived from the original on 29 July 2018. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  3. ^ Ong, Sandra (22 September 2009). "Vivian Lai Gives Birth". theAsianParent Singapore. Archived from the original on 24 June 2016. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  4. ^ "Vivian Lai, Alain Ong, and Pokka Corporation through the years". sg.news.yahoo.com. 27 September 2018. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  5. ^ Tan, Angela (1 December 2018). "Seller of Asian Story to Kimly had links to Pokka". The Business Times. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  6. ^ hermesauto (28 September 2018). "Pokka CEO Alain Ong suspended in management reshuffle". The Straits Times. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  7. ^ "刘子绚招认新恋情 徐彬和谢韵仪演床戏直冒汗". Archived from the original on 6 February 2016.
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