December 4, 2000 - Irin Gan and Quan Yifeng, two familiar faces among local television viewers, have joined Channel U, the Chinese television channel of SPH MediaWorks Ltd.

Irin Gan plays Vicky Tay in the popular English television drama series, Growing Up. The bilingual artiste has also appeared in Chinese television drama series such as The Choice Partner and Single Girl and was a finalist in the Most Popular Female Artiste category of the 1997 Star Awards. Her good looks and acting skills have endeared her to English-speaking and Mandarin-speaking audiences alike. Irin left the Television Corporation of Singapore (TCS) in February this year to pursue her studies.

Quan Yifeng is a household name among the local Chinese television audience and is recognised for her outstanding hosting skills. She hosted various successful Chinese variety programmes during her stint with TCS, which included Perfect Match, Star Search and President's Star Charity. She left TCS in 1996 and was later invited by TCS to star in a Chinese drama series Office Affairs. She also starred in sitcom Don't Worry, Be Happy and the movie Twelve Storeys.

At a media conference chaired by Mr Man Shu Sum, Chief Operating Officer for Channel U, he welcomed two new faces, Jeanette Aw and Eelyn Kok. The two were shortlisted from over 5,000 applicants in a talent search organised in Singapore and Malaysia.

Said Mr Man, "We are expanding our stable of artistes and there are many talented individuals waiting to express themselves. Besides recruiting popular artistes whom everyone is familiar with, we are also shortlisting suitable candidates that may be groomed into television personalities. We want to give our audience the best programmes featuring the best talents."

One of the candidates shortlisted from the talent search is Jeanette Aw a final-year undergraduate at the National University of Singapore (NUS). With a passion for drama, dance and music, Jeanette is the President of the NUS Dance Ensemble. Her sweet demeanor and attractive appearance give her the X-factor to succeed in the entertainment industry.

The other star-to-be is Eelyn Kok. Eelyn is fresh from NUS and was a part-time model during her school days and took part in several beauty contests. She was fourth runner-up in the Miss Singapore World 2000, second runner-up for Miss University and a finalist in the Miss Chinatown Singapore 1999. With her photogenic good looks, Eelyn is set to touch the hearts of many television audiences.

The talent search conducted by MediaWorks saw over 5,000 applicants vying to be the stars of tomorrow. In addition to its efforts to draw new blood locally, the talent scouting team also visited Malaysian cities like Sabah, Sarawak, Kuala Lumpur and Penang.

Shortlisted candidates were required to go through four rounds of the selection process, which included an audition where their acting skills were put to the test in a short skit. Apart from being photogenic, some of the other qualities that the selection panel looks for in the candidates are fluency in Mandarin, star quality and of course, the X-factor.


Issued by Singapore Press Holdings Limited.

SPH MediaWorks Ltd is a subsidiary of Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) Limited formed to lead the Group's foray into the broadcast industry, Listed on the main board of the Singapore Exchange, SPH is the national newspaper publisher in Singapore, with one of the region's most advanced printing assets. It publishes 12 newspapers in the four official languages, and six periodicals. SPH newspapers reach a daily readership of 3.1 million with a combined circulation of 1.3 million. Besides MediaWorks, SPH also holds stakes in MobileOne (Asia) Pte Ltd (M1), a mobile phone and paging service provider, and in Singapore Cable Vision (SCV), a cable TV and broadband access operator. Its public listed subsidiary SPH AsiaOne Ltd provides Internet portal services with online news and e-commerce facilities.