Photographer and social media star Chuando Tan, 54, is set to make his feature film debut in thriller Precious Is The Night.

The film, set to be released at the end of the year, features him as a leading man. Tan, who is also a model, model-agency owner, video director and recording artist who released an album in the early 1990s, set the Internet alight in 2017.

Pictures of his sculpted torso and unlined face had netizens wondering how a man just past 50 could look so youthful.

The Mandarin-language movie is set in 1960s Singapore. Tan plays a doctor in his 30s, who after making house calls at the home of a wealthy family, is "caught in a web of deceit", according to the press release from Singapore co-producer mm2 Entertainment.

It also stars model Nanyeli and actress Chang Tzulei, both from Taiwan. Also in the cast is veteran actress Xiang Yun, her daughter Tan Yi Xin and actor Tay Ping Hui, all from Singapore.

The film is a Taiwan-Singapore project directed by Wayne Peng, a Taiwanese documentary and music video-maker, and produced by Singaporean Lim Sau Hoong. The husband-and-wife team gained attention when their documentary, Burning Dreams (2003), about a dance troupe in China, was nominated for three Golden Horse Awards.

Precious Is The Night is their first feature film. It is in post-production.

Tan said on Instagram: "This is the debut film for the three of us - myself, together with renowned award-winning Taiwanese director Wayne Peng and producer Lim Sau Hoong.

"I want to thank you both for not only your kindness and patience, but also the golden opportunity to be involved in such a sublime production, to work with talented individuals like yourself and the entire production crew."