'Nostalgic' Aileen Tan shares 1991 poster of Top 10 Artistes Popularity Poll days before Star Awards

Lim Ruey Yan
The Straits Times
April 6, 2023

Nothing like a good old celebrity throwback with 2023’s Star Awards around the corner.

In a blast from the past, local actress Aileen Tan has taken television fans down memory lane with a popularity poll from more than 30 years ago.

Tan, 56, posted on Instagram on Wednesday a viral poster of the Top 10 Artistes Popularity Poll 1991 organised by Lianhe Zaobao and Singapore Broadcasting Corporation, which was what Mediacorp was known as back then.

Held once every two or three years, the poll picked the most popular male and female stars from Caldecott Hill, where the Singapore broadcaster was previously located.

“Nostalgic,” Tan, the first runner-up of the inaugural local talent contest Star Search in 1988, wrote. “How many 30 years are there in life!”

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by AileenTan 陳丽贞 - 招娣 - 我们的故事 (@aileentan80)

The poster featured 10 female artistes and 10 male artistes, some whom are no longer in the entertainment industry.

In addition to Tan, other female artistes on the list included Zoe Tay, the winner of Star Search 1988, Xiang Yun, Chen Liping, Lin Meijiao and Chen Xiuhuan.

Former female artistes on the list were Madeline Chu, Liu Qiulian, Jaslyn Theen and Zeng Huifen.

The 10 male artistes on the list were Li Nanxing, Zhu Houren, Chen Shucheng, Li Wenhai, Edmund Chen, Huang Yiliang, the late Huang Wenyong, Desmond Shen, Sean Say and John Hong.

Among them, Edmund Chen, Huang Yiliang, Say and Hong are no longer acting. Shen recently returned to star in the ongoing drama Silent Walls, while Huang Wenyong died at the age of 60 in 2013.

According to media reports in 1991, the top five male winners were Li Nanxing, Sean Say, Edmund Chen, Huang Wenyong and Zhu Houren, while the top five female winners were Chen Liping, Zoe Tay, Chen Xiuhuan, Zeng Huifen and Liu Qiulian.

Meanwhile, Tan is up for three awards at Sunday’s Star Awards.

She is nominated for Best Supporting Actress in the legal drama Dark Angel, Best Evergreen Artiste and Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes.