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Alaric Tay Liang Hoong (born 26 June 1979) is a Singaporean actor, comedian, host, director and producer.

Early life

Tay was born in Singapore and raised in religiously legalistic family. He would later passionately pursue entertainment as the career of his choice and graduated with a degree in film studies from Griffith University in Australia.

He began his career in the film and television scene as an actor at the age of seventeen. Tay was given a supporting role in a made-in-Singapore feature film called That's the Way I Like It, which was picked up for North American distribution in 1998 by Miramax.

Acting career

Tay has taken on diverse roles over the years, including leads in tele-movies like Ang Tao Mui, Adventures of Holden Heng, and a well-received comic turn in the dramedy, Money. Tay also played lead roles in the sitcom, The Yang Sisters season 1 and 2 which ran on Mediacorp's Channel 5 as well as Random Acts, which was aired on Arts Central. His amusing physicality has provided shows like Whizzes of the Void Deck. He also played the role of a Chinese prisoner in a Lion TV production of The Great Wall of China and the role of Daniel in the film Carrot Cake Conversations.

He is famously known for his role as nasal-voiced field reporter Andre Chichak in the MediaCorp Channel 5 satirical sitcom The Noose. He appeared as Kang in the 2013 HBO Asia series Serangoon Road and as James in the Singapore Police Force-commissioned series C.L.I.F. 3 in 2014.

Filmmaking career

With various performance credits to his name, Tay is also an award-winning filmmaker. His film When We Were Bengs snagged 3 prizes at the 2007 ReelHeART International Film Festival, for Best Experimental Film, Best Sound and Best Editing, while his short documentary Journey of Change has garnered critical acclaim from audiences at its special screenings in Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, and the U.S.

In 2011, Tay started developing his first sci-fi action film, Final Defect. The 12-minute short film, a sci-fi tale about the dangers of playing God, stars his fellow Fly Entertainment artistes US-born actor Jimmy Taenaka and veteran actress Janice Koh and is slated for a 2012 release.

In 2016, Tay's boutique production company, Very Tay was commissioned by HBO Asia to co-produce its first original 8-part comedy series Sent. Tay was also its Showrunner and series director.

In 2017, Tay co-directed FAM! A 13-part comedy series for Mediacorp MeWatch about a media-shy girl growing up in a social media family. The series starred Award-winning comedians Gurmit Singh, Vernetta Lopez, and Singer-Actor-Influencer Benjamin Kheng. It was nominated for an International Emmy for Best Comedy Series.

In 2018, Tay co-produced Zombiepura with film director, Jacen Tan from Hosaywood Studios and fellow co-star Benjamin Heng under the company, JAB Films. The acronyms of their first names combined (Jacen, Alaric, Benjamin) make up the company name - JAB. It is Tay's first starring role in a horror themed movie and it was theatrically released across Asia since October 2018. The film is regarded as Singapore's first wide-release zombie movie.

Throughout 2019, Tay collaborated on two more series projects for Mediacorp - I Am Madam and Cheerific. Serving as Series Co-Director and Showrunner, respectively.

During the height of the Covid pandemic, Tay connected with Pedring Lopez from Black Ops Studios Asia and formed a cross-border alliance to produce a slate of genre films, including Action and Horror titles. Development for several titles are underway and the first of these will go into production in early 2025.

Other interests

A student of the late John Spencer, and a former artiste of the Singapore Armed Forces Music and Drama Company (SAF MDC), Tay is an active member of the entertainment community. He has served as Vice-President of the Ngee Ann Polytechnic Film, Sound and Video Alumni Chapter and continues to maintain his association with Breaking into Hollywood.

Tay is also an orator. He has hosted a variety of road shows to Dinner and Dances, to high-profile banquets involving national statesmen, politicians and ambassadors.

Personal life

Tay and his wife have a son, Elijah, who was born on 23 May 2013; and one daughter, who was born in 2019.

References

1. Alaric Tay, Alaric Tay's Bio, 29 December 2011, "Source 2", 29 December 2011
2. Mediacorp Studios, The Noose, 27 December 2011, "Source 3 Archived 6 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine", 27 December 2011
3. Xinmsn, Behind the scenes with Alaric Tay, 15 December 2011, "Source 4 Archived 27 September 2014 at the Wayback Machine", 16 December 2011
4. Han Wei Chou, Andre Chichak makes a film!, 16 December 2011, "Source 5", 16 December 2011
5. Victor Loh, 7 years in the making, local zombie flick Zombiepura was born out of an army camp, 23 September 2018, "Source 6 ", 23 September 2018
6. Amazon, Alaric Tay, 1 November 1990, "Source 6", 4 January 2012
7. "First photos of Alaric Tay's new baby!". TODAY. Retrieved 11 September 2023.

External links

• Alaric Tay at IMDb

• 20th-century Singaporean male actors
• Singaporean film producers
• Singaporean film directors
• Living people
• 1979 births
• Singaporean people of Chinese descent
• Griffith University alumni
• 21st-century Singaporean male actors
• Singaporean male film actors
• Singaporean male television actors