EDMUND CHEN ROOTS FOR SON: Actor Chen Yixi, son of celebrity couple Xiang Yun and Edmund Chen, is in the running for the upcoming Star Awards Top 30 Most Popular Male Artistes award - and his dad is his biggest supporter.
In a major throwback photo going back 26 years posted by Edmund Chen, 60, last week, the father-son duo are seen in the audience of the Star Awards 1995.
Chen Yixi was just four years old at the time and his parents had taken him to the ceremony as his mum was receiving a Special Achievement Award.
"Very grateful to the TV station for giving him the opportunity to learn and complete several projects. Even more grateful to friends for their support and encouragement," Edmund Chen wrote, referring to broadcaster Mediacorp, before exhorting his followers to vote daily for his son.
Chen Yixi, 30, most recently appeared in dramas Kin and Terror Within last year, and has been acting since 2015.
This is his first nomination for the popularity prize, which is now open for public voting.
According to the awards' website, a poll of 1,000 people representing a wide demographic across Singapore's population was used to identify the top 30 male and female artistes.
Fifty per cent of the final results will be determined from this pool of 1,000 people, with the other 50 per cent made up of online voting as a measure of voters' fan support.
The 60 male and female artistes on the list, which was unveiled last week, have been posting on social media to thank their fans and ask them to vote.
Notably absent from the list were promising fresh faces such as Ayden Sng and Zhang Zetong, who also took to Instagram to console their fans.
In an Instagram Story last week, Sng, 27, wrote: "In all honesty, I'm not that affected. In fact, I'm really quite heartened to see the waves of messages coming in. At the end of the day, if being a 'popular artiste' equates to receiving unconditional love and support from fans, I feel like I succeeded already."
Star Search 2019 winner Zhang, 26, who is nominated for Best Newcomer even though he missed out on the popularity award, thanked his fan club and said: "On things we can't control, just sit back and chill la."
