Actor Chen Hanwei to take on new role as live streamer, makes debut in May
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(From right) Chen Hanwei will be joining the live stream team of Patrick Low and Low's son Ryan Low.
PHOTO: PATRICK LOW/FACEBOOK
SINGAPORE – Mediacorp actor Chen Hanwei, in addition to being a host and radio DJ, has added another role to his resume.
The award-winning 56-year-old veteran announced his upcoming foray into live streaming during an appearance on host Patrick Low’s Facebook broadcast on April 28.
Tentatively starting on May 1, Chen will host daily live streams at 9.30pm – excluding Saturdays – on the 69 Home Live Mall platform on Facebook, where he is expected to introduce health supplements.
The Malaysia-born star said during the April 28 live stream that he has a keen interest in medicine and still spends time reading up.
He also frequently provides medical advice to those around him, earning him the nickname “Dr Tan” – his surname in dialect – within the local entertainment industry.
Chen and Low shared that they first met during a Chinese New Year gathering at local actor Mark Lee’s home. They later got to know each other better over a mahjong game and decided to work together.
Low then approached Mediacorp about the collaboration, and joked that securing Chen’s participation was like winning the lottery.
Chen said he will begin filming the fourth season of his home-transformation programme House Everything? in May and will occasionally host radio shows. He took on DJ-ing when he recently served as a guest DJ on Chinese-language radio station Love 972’s The Breakfast Quartet.
Chen had taken part in a live stream chat with fellow Malaysia-born actors Christopher Lee, Shaun Chen and Zhang Yaodong in 2021, but his upcoming gig marks his first time doing live selling.
“Live streaming today is no longer just about selling products; it’s more like a new form of content creation,” Chen Hanwei told Chinese-language daily Lianhe Zaobao in a report published on April 30. “You can share and interact with viewers at the same time, allowing you to get a closer sense of their reactions, so it’s a pretty attractive opportunity for me.”
The actor admitted that he had some concerns before taking on the task. “For example, I am worried I may not get the hang of it at first, or that I won’t be able to keep the right pace,” he said. “But then I told myself I don’t need to be perfect from the start. The key is to just begin and make adjustments and improvements along the way.”
Chen is preparing thoroughly for his May 1 debut. In addition to doing research on all the products, he has been practising introducing them and controlling the pacing. He has also discussed the workflow with the team, in the hope of a smoother launch.
He added that he will do his best to manage his schedule and balance both his acting and live-streaming gigs.
