Singer-actress Celest Chong plans to move back to Singapore after 13 years in Toronto

Celest Chong will return home for good in the middle of 2023. PHOTO: CELEST.CHONG/INSTAGRAM

SINGAPORE – Singaporean singer-actress Celest Chong is making plans to move back to Singapore after 13 years in Toronto.

In an interview with Shin Min Daily News on Sunday, she said she will return home for good in the middle of 2023 to take care of her elderly relatives, including her 80-year-old mother.

“It’s really time to go home and take care of the elders,” said the 43-year-old, who moved to Toronto in 2010 after marrying a Canadian. She revealed in 2021 that they had divorced, without divulging further details.

“Singapore has always been and will always be my home town and my roots,” she said, adding that she can work in Singapore as well as travel around the region to China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Chong also said she has changed her name to just Celest in English and from Zhang Yuhua to Si Lei in Chinese.

“I always felt that Celest Chong Zhang Yuhua is too long and awkward. Every time I fill in a form, I go beyond the allocated space. I love my new name – strong and easy to pronounce.”

The former model made her acting debut in 2000 in local film-maker Eric Khoo’s Stories About Love, and went on to star in Channel 5 and Channel 8 shows.

She released four albums in the early 2000s and subsequently moved to Taiwan to further her show-business career.

After her move to Toronto, she made guest appearances in superhero series The Umbrella Academy (2019 to present) and DC Comics adaptation Titans (2018 to present).

She is looking forward to her return, saying: “Of course I will act in local dramas and continue to sing. I want to say to my fans, ‘I love you. Now that I am returning, I will come back to you with new dramas and new songs.’”

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