Richie Koh On His Acting Journey, Working Odd Jobs And Playing A Drag Queen

At the age of thirty, Mediacorp artiste Richie Koh’s boyish looks and demeanour may be surprising to some. With a knack for livening up the room, it’s a wonder how the actor was able to tackle characters with such depth, as seen in his breakout role as Zheng Tian Cai in the 2022 television series, Your World in Mine. His realistic portrayal of an intellectually challenged young adult secured him the Best Actor award at the 2023 Star Awards.

Following his big win, Koh was nominated for Best Actor at the 2024 Star Awards for his role in Cash on Delivery (2023). The star’s lucky streak continues as he has been cast to play a drag queen in the upcoming film, A Good Child by Ong Kuo Sin, who also directed Mark Lee in Number 1, a film that received a Golden Horse nomination for Best Actor for Lee. On his upcoming role, Koh enthuses, “I’m excited to see director Ong Kuo Sin’s style; and I heard that he trusts his team and has an eye for things.”

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Even though he’s on a diet for the role, Koh was gracious enough to take a few bites of the sugary treats we placed before him for our video, but he couldn’t resist cracking a joke about how he’s “consumed enough sugar for the month.”

Easygoing and a tad cheeky, Koh’s playfulness seeps into his outlook on acting. “Acting is playing. When we were young, we would play [house] with our brothers and sisters, pretend we were animals, or pick a toy and talk to it.” Koh believes that tapping into one’s inner child is the secret to more genuine and sincere acting.

However, Koh has had his share of challenges, both in life and in the industry. “I applied for university after completing National Service, but not even one accepted me. So I went on to do odd jobs, including being a waiter, cashier and a delivery man,” he shares. Koh then landed his first gig as an actor after six months, but it wasn’t until five years later that he finally found his footing in the industry. “Tian Cai was the turning point in my career,” he says.

Despite the cheery first impression he gives, Koh revealed that he found it quite difficult to “step out of [his] comfort zone” when he joined the entertainment world for the first time. “You cannot be introverted. You’ve got to really stand up and perform.”

Since his debut in 2017, Koh’s most meaningful moment thus far has been his Star Award-winning turn. “It would be [acting as] Tian Cai,” he says without hesitation when posed the question, “I think I shone a light on a group of people who require more attention from the public.” Koh received heartwarming messages from parents and siblings of the intellectually challenged, thanking him for his representation of their loved ones with special needs.

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In his upcoming project, Koh once again takes on a challenging role—that of a drag queen who returns home to take care of his dementia-stricken mother. When asked to describe the movie, Koh says, “It’s a story about love—love that a son lost after being abandoned.” He adds, “I think Singaporeans can relate to the emotions in it too, especially those who missed the opportunity to be with their family in their youth—whether it’s their parents who left them, or if they ran away from home, or even if they studied abroad and were away from their family. When you’re older, you realise that it’s more important to spend time with the people you love while you’re still young, and while they’re still in a good mental state.”

How did he prepare for the role? “I went for lessons from nine to six every day for a week, with a coach who taught me the body language of a drag queen. I also watched RuPaul and some Taiwanese films, like Marry My Dead Body. Sometimes we would even go to a park to observe people.”

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Koh continues, “I had to slim down, wear eight-inch heels, wear a skirt, a crop top, a bra... it’s fun. I’m very fortunate to have roles that a lot of actors want. It’s not common in Singapore for an actor to get a role like this.”

Regarding his personal style, Koh admits that he gravitates towards comfort. A t-shirt, a pair of shorts, and flip-flops are his go-tos on a casual day out. However, he does have a tendency of incorporating colours in his outfits, “That’s why I wore pink during the Star Awards, and for the recent press conference for A Good Child, I wore a woman’s jacket and flare pants.”

As for what he thinks of his fans, Koh shares, “I’m very thankful for them, but I still tell them that they have to focus on their life. We had lunch together before the 2024 Star Awards, and I promised them that if I won an award that night we could all eat bak chor mee. Unfortunately the award didn’t happen, but I will still make it [bak chor mee] happen.”

Editor-in-Chief: Kenneth Goh
Photographer: Wee Khim
Stylist: Jeffrey Yan
Fashion: Tommy Hilfiger
Makeup: Jen Lim/Makeup Entourage
Hair: Eugene Ong/Urban Hair
Producer: Cindy Ow
Photographer’s Assistant: Ivan Teo
Stylist’s Assistant: Caleb Lim