My Perfect Weekend with actress Sharon Au

Who: Singaporean actress and host Sharon Au, 50, returns to the screen in Cendol, a short film helmed by actor-turned-director Qi Yuwu making its world premiere at the 36th Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF). SGIFF is part of the Singapore Media Festival 2025, hosted by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA).

In the film, she plays Sarah, an award-winning interior designer who returns to Singapore to visit her mother. Au is a former Mediacorp star, who hosted the infotainment show City Beat from 1998 to 2002 and starred in the sitcom Right Frequency from 1998 to 2000. She has lived in Paris since 2018, where she works as a finance professional. She is single and lives with her cat.

“Paris never changes – every day here feels like the perfect weekend. You don’t leave things to do over the weekend because you just seize the day.

I usually get up when dawn breaks. My alarm clock is my cat, Rudon. He wakes me up whenever he decides. When I feel motivated, I try to jog near the river. There are 37 bridges, and while some friends try to conquer them, covering one bridge is enough for me.

You cannot experience Paris without breathing in the aroma of freshly made bread. It is buttery and intoxicating, and invites you to stop jogging. I always walk in for a cafe allonge (long black) and a pain au chocolat (chocolate-filled pastry).

Sometimes, I take Rudon along so I don’t feel guilty that I am enjoying my breakfast while he is alone. He happily hops along. He has a French passport, after all.

I spend the rest of the morning with my friends, not because I like them, but because I love their pets. I will take their dogs out for a run and walk in the park while I read my papers. I realised I am more at ease with pets because they offer unconditional love without the need to negotiate, unlike in my past career.

After that, I proceed into the ‘meditation with myself’ phase by visiting a museum. I don’t go to the Louvre or places where tourists flock to. I go to museums which are quiet. I love places like the Fondation Louis Vuitton because the scale is so big – giant murals and sculptures – that it makes you feel that life is so much more. In the artistic sphere here, it is so open that you feel equal and nobody tries to teach you how to see a work of art.

Lunch follows the museum visit. I eat lightly – maybe cheese, ham or salad – because I save room for wine. Wine is important to me and it is my only splurge. Cotes du Rhone is my go-to. It is smooth enough for every day and expressive enough for special nights.

If it is winter, I head to the Grand Palais after lunch. The central hall of the Grand Palais is transformed into a temporary ice-skating rink with disco lights. I get to be young again there, twirling and navigating past the tourists until night falls.

My evenings often end at the home of a close Singaporean friend, Pearlyn Lee, who runs a restaurant called The Hood. She is a musician, so she teaches me the piano, guitar and drums. Dinner is usually simple. I might grab a hachis parmentier (a type of shepherd’s pie with duck meat) from a traiteur (delicatessen). I drink more than I eat, so good wine is always on the table.

On some weekends, I take a train to Chamonix with my cat, before the ski season. We stay in a chalet apartment and play in the snow. My weekends are spent with pets, selected friends, little food, but plenty of wine and music. It reminds me that I’m so lucky to call this place home.”