Cambridge Graduate Xander Pang Shares Dad Adrian Pang’s Love for Acting… and His Struggles With Mandarin

We saw Adrian Pang's younger son, Xander, in a play with his dad six years ago. But now, someone is finally ready to take on the big screen.

Xander, now 24 years old, will be playing the role of Preston — a popular food YouTuber — in Annette Lee's directorial debut Dream Stall. The comedy film also stars the local influencer herself as well as Mark Lee, Yahui and Xixi Lim.

Though he’s no stranger to performing — having previously acted in musicals, including Late Company, a Pangdemonium production directed by his mother Tracie Pang, in which he played Adrian’s son — Dream Stall marks Xander’s first venture into film.

Adrian and Tracie’s elder son, Zachary, 25, is also a theatre actor.

For Xander, stepping onto a film set was a brand-new challenge and more nerve-racking than he expected.

“The biggest challenge was acting in front of the camera. It captures every detail on your face — and it’s preserved forever,” he said in an interview with zaobao.sg.

“But being afraid means you’re pushing yourself, and that excites me.”

Like his father, who starred in Mandarin dramas like 2005's Portrait of Home before returning to theatre, Xander admits that Mandarin isn’t his strongest suit.

The budding actor studied psychology at the University of Cambridge after completing his schooling in Singapore, where the predominantly English-speaking environment left him less confident in Mandarin.

“I get really nervous when I have to speak it, but I can understand it,” he said.

To make things easier during filming, Dream Stall's production team even tweaked his role.

“My character was rewritten to have poor Chinese skills,” he revealed. “Annette taught me how to say my lines in ‘bad Chinese’, like using the wrong tones and mixing English and Mandarin.”

While his Mandarin may not be perfect, Xander’s culinary skills certainly are.

Like his Dream Stall food critic character, he’s a bona fide foodie — a trait he credits to his grandmother.

He said his family gathers at his grandma’s place for meals every weekend.

"She prepares a whole table of dishes and can cook anything — rendang beef, marmite chicken. My favourite is her handmade mee hoon kueh,” he said.
“I’ve always wanted to learn from her, but she just goes by agak-agak (rough estimates).”

Recently, he even filmed her making fried shallots, the dish he most wants to master. 

Xander has his own specialty too: egg fried rice with luncheon meat.

“The key is adding bak kwa and fish sauce. First mix the rice with egg yolk and stir-fry, then add egg whites at the end," he proudly shared.

As for whether he’d ever open a restaurant, Xander said in a separated interview with vibesby8world that he envisions it only as a joint venture with his older brother Zack.

“He’s a lot more practical. He can handle the money side, and I’ll do all the cooking. He can help me with everything else except cooking,” he laughed. “We’ll keep it in the family.”

And what about their dad?

"You know, his taste buds are not as good as they were. Not as good as back in the day lah," joked Xander.

Jokes aside, his heart lies firmly in acting.

“I want to be an actor for life,” he said earnestly. “If I can combine my passion with my work, that would be incredibly lucky.”