Local actor Wang Yuqing may be playing all the dad or even grandpa roles in dramas these days, but did you know that the now 63-year-old star used to be one of the biggest heartthrobs in Singapore back in the ’80s?
In a recent interview with Chinese media 8world, Yuqing shared that, though he’s famously known for his breakthrough role in 1983 swimming-themed drama The Flying Fish, his popularity actually already skyrocketed after his first drama Army Series, which was also aired in 1983.
According to the actor, the promotional events for Army Series would always be filled with fans.
“Especially since we were newbies at that time, it can be quite uncomfortable having so many people surrounding you. But of course we were very happy too,” he recalled.
In fact, the show was such a big hit that Yuqing and his cast mates would get mobbed by fans, and they ended up needing more than 10 bodyguards to escort them at every event.
“The most memorable time was when we had an event at Chinese Garden. When we wanted to leave, we were really stuck because there were too many people. I think there were close to 4,000 fans present that day,” he gushed.
On top of that, Yuqing’s fans would write him letters — about 200 to 300 — every month, some of them were love confessions.
“The fans would include their photos in the letters. They all look like young girls and there was no way I could respond to [their confessions]. At that time I treated my fans as my friends and would write back to them personally. But for those that included romantic interests, I would avoid replying,” he recounted.
Yuqing, who was once said to resemble Hong Kong veteran actor Adam Cheng, also chatted about the time he had to wear swimming trunks in The Flying Fish.
He said he ended up wearing the ‘unsexy’ swimming trunks in the show because there was no other option considering how conservative people were back then.
He also shared that going topless and wearing trunks for a drama was a really big breakthrough for him, and that was also the most revealing he ever was on TV.
Yuqing then laughed that the actors in the past were more innocent, and he had to do whatever his bosses wanted him to as he was a contract staff.
That said, would Yuqing be game to show off more flesh on TV if he were told to do so?
“I think so! Just that that didn’t happen back then,” he chuckled.