‘Deep, profound chemistry between us’: Tan Kheng Hua on acting with daughter Lim Shi-An

SINGAPORE – Local actress Tan Kheng Hua calls acting with her daughter Lim Shi-An an “easy” and “very organic” process that required little discussion or planning.

“There’s a very deep and profound chemistry between us. When I’m acting with her, it’s so easy to access my emotions,” says the 63-year-old veteran of her only child.

Tan was speaking to local media at Temasek Shophouse on Jan 22 at the premiere of A Singapore Dementia Story. The anthology of five short films, presented by philanthropic organisation Lien Foundation and social service agency Dementia Singapore, explores love, caregiving and the realities of dementia.

Curated and produced by local film producer Daniel Yun, A Singapore Dementia Story draws from real experiences, extensive research and conversations with caregivers and people living with dementia. Many of them are clients of Dementia Singapore.

Tan and Lim star in Another Go, a touching 19-minute drama about a family navigating the challenges of early-onset dementia.

Directed by Singaporean film-maker Gavin Lim, it also stars local actor Peter Yu as the loving husband and primary caregiver of his wife (Tan), a chemistry professor who suffers from dementia.

Lim plays the couple’s daughter, who is struggling with her mother’s ability to remember who she is.

The 27-year-old actress has appeared in English-language Mediacorp shows like family drama Come Closer (2023) and crime series Third Rail (2022), as well as independent film Amoeba (2025). Her father, local actor Lim Yu-Beng, 60, is Tan’s former husband.

While Lim Shi-An and Tan have been co-stars in several social media campaigns, Another Go is the first time they have shared screen time in a film.

Tan calls her daughter a “generous” actress because of how fully she gives of herself to her scene partners emotionally.

When asked if playing her character made her worry about someday having dementia herself, Tan says it is “about choosing how to live, and how to love, when control slips away”.

“I make it a point not to live in fear for things I cannot control,” she adds. “You can bet that if I had it, or if somebody whom I love had it, I will do my darnedest to just deal with it in the best way we all can.”

Sincere, honest love story

For local actor Andie Chen, who directed the short film What Day Is It?, the discussions about dementia with his Taiwanese actress-wife Kate Pang are rooted in practicality.

“We have had conversations about whether our marriage will survive if one of us gets it,” says Chen, 40. He married Pang, 42, in 2013.

He explains that the reality of caregiving is “very challenging” and is a “long, ongoing, everyday commitment”.

“We concluded that we are fine to put each other in daycare if the situation arises,” he says.

What Day Is It? is a debut work for both Chen and Pang – him as a film-maker, and her as a screenwriter.

It stars Alaric Tay and Oon Shu An as a loving couple who find practical ways to deal with his constant forgetfulness.

Going behind the camera presented challenges for Chen, who had a “big fight” with Pang after he tweaked the script without her knowledge.

Pang – who is based in Taipei with their two children, aged 11 and nine – was in Singapore for the first script reading and was unhappy that Chen had changed some parts of the story.

Chen jokes that he has no plans to collaborate with Pang in the future following their argument, but praises her creative mind.

He says she developed rich backstories for the characters of the 24-minute film, offering deep insights for each one, which made his job easier.