Actor Richie Koh on the hardest part of playing a drag queen in upcoming film A Good Child

SINGAPORE – For his latest role, Richie Koh had to don thick make-up, oversized wigs and even a corset.

To portray a drag queen in his new movie A Good Child, which opens in Singapore cinemas on Oct 9, he also had to lose 11kg.

But it was all worth it to capture the nuances of his character Jia Hao, who is estranged from his family but returns home to care for his mother (played by Hong Huifang) when she is diagnosed with dementia.

When he mischievously reconstructs her memory to make her believe that he is a daughter of hers and not a son, he confronts his childhood traumas along the way.

The heart-warming drama is written and directed by Singaporean film-maker Ong Kuo Sin, who helmed the comedy-drama film Number 1 (2020) and its sequel Number 2 (2025). In those films, home-grown actor-comedian Mark Lee played an out-of-work middle-aged man who accidentally becomes a nightclub drag queen sensation.

A Good Child is based on the life of local full-time drag queen Sammi Zhen, whose real name is Christopher Lim.

Koh told The Straits Times in an interview at GV Suntec City on Sept 24 that the movie’s storyline and themes touched his heart.

The 32-year-old Mediacorp artiste, who won a Best Actor Star Award for his critically acclaimed role as a man with autism in the Channel 8 series Your World In Mine (2022), said: “My character is not physically at home, but wants to go home. Other characters are physically at home, but they don’t want to be there. As for his mother, she is at home, but nobody else is there for it to be a home.

“When I understood the deeper meaning of this story, it made me want to give it my all.”

And with make-up and hair taking more than three hours to complete, the role presented many physical challenges.

On days when he filmed in full drag, he would report to the set at 3.30am, so all preparations – including putting on fake fingernails – could be done by 6.45am.

The production team would then film for about 12 hours, before vacating the location by 7pm.

Koh recalled: “We shot there for two days, and it was the most intense part of the filming. We just kept changing costumes the whole day, since my character had many scenes in the bar.”

He also had to put on a full corset, typically worn by drag queens to create a curvy silhouette, which was from his waist to under his private parts.

“Every string had to be tied one by one, and it was very troublesome when I wanted to go to the washroom. For me, wearing the corset was the most physically tiring part of the transformation.”

When asked if everything “down there” was tucked, he replied: “Yes, everything is real. We don’t do fake (things) for this role.”

The 1.7m-tall star also dropped from 70kg to 59kg in two weeks to realise his character’s slim frame. He achieved this by going on 24-hour fasts, and eating nothing but soup and a few pieces of wonton and vegetables a day.

“I tried to push myself to see if I could lose even more weight, but my body told me to stop. It was hard. I did it for work, and would not recommend it to anyone else who is not familiar with fasting.”

Now at 64kg, he said: “I think this is a good weight to be. When I was 70kg, I felt I was a bit plump.”

Practising Jia Hao’s feminine mannerisms required lessons from an acting coach. One task he found difficult to do was balancing in heels, so he requested platform shoes with a wider heel.

He admitted: “If I wore stiletto heels, I would struggle to walk.”

And to embody his on-screen persona, he had long chats with Lim, 45, meeting for lunch whenever time permitted.

Koh said: “Sammi is funny, friendly, just full of love – going all the way to help others, giving so much and being so open to share.”

He also followed Lim to the latter’s drag shows, helping backstage and observing the actual performance.

Koh recalled: “While lip-syncing, Sammi opened an umbrella and confetti fell out from underneath it. It was very nice, and it was my first experience seeing how drag queens perform.”