Meet The Top 3 Winners Of Star Search 2019

By Wei Yin on 05 Nov 2019

Digital Editor

We are pretty sure most Singaporeans are familiar with Star Search (才华横溢出新秀), a competition by MediaCorp to scout for new Chinese-speaking talents.

Star Search 2019 returned bigger and better after a nine-year hiatus with a whopping number of 1200 hopefuls attending the audition and the competition concluded just two days ago.

The finals was graced by popular Hong Kong actors - Carina Lau, Simon Yam and Stephen Fung, who is also a film director. The three of them were part of a panel of five judges who decided on who would emerge as the Top 3 of the competition.

Photo from MediaCorp

The Top 3 winners were decided after going through a series of activities on stage live. Read on to find out who they are and what they have to say!

Photo from MediaCorp

Teoh Ze Tong (middle), was crowned the champion of Star Search 2019 alongside Herman Keh (left), first runner-up and Ye Jia Yun (right), second runner-up.

The trio sat down for a press conference after the competition and shared more about how they felt emerging as the Top 3 and their future plans.

Photo from GirlStyle SG

Ze Tong especially stood out with his good looks and stable acting. He has always had a passion for acting and decided to pursue it despite already having a full-time job. He touched everyone when he shed tears of joy upon being crowned the champion.

Still looking visibly shocked and overwhelmed, Ze Tong, the 26-year-old who has a full-time job at Carousell, mentioned that he really did not expect to win the competition and sincerely relayed his thanks to everyone who helped make his dream come true.

Photo from MediaCorp

During the dance segment, Ze Tong received compliments from one of the judges to his surprise as he had no prior experience in dancing. When asked what kind of roles he is most looking forward to act in, he humbly explained that he is fine with playing any main or supporting roles as he wants to gain as much experience as possible first.

Besides acting, Ze Tong also enjoys hosting and would like to venture into hosting if given a chance.

Photo from GirlStyle SG

Herman wowed everyone with his natural yet comical acting in the acting round of the final competition.

The 23-year-old shared that when he first entered the competition, he wanted to play some comical roles and just do his best. He also said, "My mentor, Christopher Lee, has changed my life and I am very happy to have met him." Now that he is the first runner-up, he assured everyone that there is no longer time to 'play' anymore and that it is time to get serious.

Photo from GirlStyle SG

Herman likes putting his comical side to good use so acting in "weird or quirky roles" is something he would really love to try out in the future. He also really enjoys dancing and cheekily told everyone to check out his Instagram page for videos of him dancing!

Photo from GirlStyle SG

The youngest in the Top 12 of Star Search 2019, 17-year-old Jia Yun explained that while her Chinese is not the best, she will try her best to "read more Chinese books" to improve and be able to "communicate with everyone more smoothly in Chinese in the future".

She shared that she is willing to try out any role that is assigned to her and try her best to "fit into the role" and get herself "into the character".

Photo from GirlStyle SG

Jia Yun also really enjoys playing sports such as frisbee and softball and sweetly added that her favourite thing to do now is to hang out with the Top 24 contestants of Star Search 2019!