My Perfect Weekend with actor Xu Bin

Who: China-born, Singapore-based actor Xu Bin is known for his roles in Channel 8 dramas, such as Doppelganger (2018) and My Star Bride (2021). He is now starring in the thriller Kill Sera Sera, which is Mediacorp’s first M18 Chinese-language series and is streaming on mewatch.

Xu will perform in Mediacorp’s Lunar New Year’s Eve Special 2024, which airs on Feb 9 at 10.30pm on Channel 8, mewatch and the Mediacorp Entertainment YouTube channel. The 34-year-old NoonTalk artiste will soon be embarking on another local Chinese drama project, tentatively titled If Tomorrow Comes.

He is married to Evelyn Wang, a 33-year-old housewife who is from Wuhan, China. The couple have two kids – son Ethan, five, and daughter Elyse, two.

“My weekends are mostly spent with my kids, who have various enrichment classes. If I am free, I will accompany them to these lessons.

Saturday mornings are for their Heguru classes, which is for early childhood brain development. When my son was very young, the teachers would show flashcards to him. It was so fast, I wondered if he registered any of it. But now that he is older, I feel that it has probably subconsciously trained him to memorise and learn things faster.

Our Saturday afternoons are usually free, so we fill the time with activities such as going to an indoor playground or having playdates with other parents who have young kids.

Our family recently visited The Live Turtle and Tortoise Museum at Lorong Chencharu in Yishun with (fellow NoonTalk artiste and actress) Kimberly Chia’s family. She has a son who will be two in 2024.

There were many tortoises and turtles of different sizes and our kids got to feed them. My son likes animals, so he enjoyed it. But my daughter was a bit scared when the tortoises and turtles crawled towards her. 

Sometimes, we go to the Singapore Zoo. We recently went to the newly opened Bird Paradise in Mandai, which was really nice.

On Sunday mornings, my kids have swimming lessons at Little Splashes Aquatics. I think swimming is a sport where they are least likely to be injured and it is a full-body workout, which is good for them to train and strengthen their bodies.

I also think swimming is a no-fuss sport that you can do alone, unlike, say, basketball, which requires you to get a team together to play.

In the afternoons, my son goes for drawing lessons. He is being taught by my wife’s cousin, who lives in Singapore and has won drawing competitions in China.

Then in the evenings, he has basketball lessons with some of my neighbours’ kids.

People have asked me why I do not teach them personally, but I think it is actually quite hard to teach your own children. They are so familiar with you that they do not take the lessons as seriously. 

As for this festive weekend, I will be spending Chinese New Year Eve working. My wife and children will celebrate at home, with some friends who might come over. 

My wife’s and my family are in China. I recently visited my home town in Fujian, while my wife will head to Wuhan with the kids after the Chinese New Year weekend. We are not spending the first and second days with either side of our family, although we will video-call them to send our greetings.

Instead, our family will be going to (NoonTalk Media co-founder and presenter) Dasmond Koh’s place, just like we do whenever we spend Chinese New Year in Singapore. Usually, the entire roster of NoonTalk artistes will gather at his home for a hotpot meal. He’s my family here.”