Yao Wenlong

Yao entered the local television scene after winning the Star Search 1993 (Male category) organised by then Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (now MediaCorp). Within a year, he won the Most Popular Newcomer award in Star Awards 1994 and the Best Supporting Actor award in Star Awards 2001 for his role as a sissy in drama Looking for Stars.[2]

Besides television dramas, he appeared in the popular sitcom, My Genie alongside Fiona Xie and Huang Yiliang. Yao starred in the 80 episode long Kinship series in 2007, where he collaborated with Jesseca Liu, Elvin Ng, Ann Kok, Cynthia Koh and Xiang Yun. In 2008, he played butcher Liu Yidao in the highly acclaimed serial The Little Nyonya, garnering him yet another Best Supporting Actor nomination.

Yao is married to Jenny Tsai, who is 12 years younger than him.[3] They have a son, Jianyu, and a daughter, Luohui.[4] In November 2022, Yao and his family bought and moved into a double-storey townhouse in Johor Bahru that was worth SGD$400K.[5]

Yao is also involved in numerous business ventures in Malaysia including the F&B business Sun Gourmet Kitchen which sells pao fan and also a defunct mobile phone shop and tarot card business, among others.[6][7][8]

Yao has changed his Chinese name twice − from his birth name "姚文龙" to "姚玟隆" in 2001, and to "姚彣隆" in 2017, of which he still uses to date. All his Chinese names have the same pronunciation, though with different meanings in Chinese. Yao said that he had changed his Chinese names to better his work prospects.[8]

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