Ex Mediacorp Actress Florence Tan, 45, Wants To Make Her Acting Comeback

With fellow former Mediacorp actresses Ann Kok and Phyllis Quek making their acting comebacks You can catch Ann in Healing Heroes, and Phyllis in upcoming Mediacorp drama Soul Detectives), could Florence Tan, 45, be the next ex star we’ll see on local screens again?

Well, according to this interview Florence did with Shin Min Daily News, that could very well be the case. The Star Search 1997 champ is currently based in Hong Kong with her Taiwanese businessman husband, Jack Liu, and their twin daughters, Viola and Novea, 14.

“If Mediacorp approaches me, of course [I’ll agree] to act. I’m an artiste under FLY Entertainment right now, and they’ve actually been helping me gather news about filming opportunities in Singapore. It’s just that things never really lined up,” said Florence, whose last Mediacorp drama was 2018's Mind Matters.

She went on to share that she’s still very much in love with acting, despite having stepped back from showbiz in the last few years.

“I like filming, and I like being involved in productions. I like breathing new life into a character, someone that’s totally unlike ‘Florence Tan’ in real life, it’s like bringing the shell of Florence into another’s soul, it’s interesting,” she went on to say.

Florence also revealed that she’s been keeping herself updated with the local media scene, and that she still watches local dramas.

A recent pick of hers would be Dark Angel, which stars Zoe Tay and Qi Yuwu. She added: “[Former actor] Nick Shen’s Titoudao - Inspired by the True Story of a Wayang Star as well, it was released on Netflix recently, I really like it too.”

Florence has been keeping herself busy with other pursuits outside of showbiz.

In 2020, she revealed that she’d enrolled in university. She’s currently halfway through a four-year distance-learning programme, pursuing a degree in Health Sciences with University of the People.

“It's stressful, this degree is quite challenging, and I have to work my brain every day. I can’t really focus fully on work ‘cos of school, and I don’t have time for social media too. Studying is really stressful, all my attention has been focused on school and learning latin dance in the past two years,” she said.

Florence shared that her degree requires her to write six papers every week, and that the toughest part is reading all the different research papers.

“The most difficult part is understanding and writing the papers, [especially] without the teacher standing in front of you to explain it. There’s too much research, I can’t finish reading them,” she said.

Florence also let on that she’s been reading poet Charles Simic’s works recently, as part of her coursework.

As for her daughters, Florence revealed that they’re currently studying in a school where all subjects, excluding Chinese and Chinese history, are taught in English. Both daughters are also learning ballet and piano.

“I’ve never seen them perform, but both of them have passed the grade 8 examinations for piano, and grade 7 for ballet. Viola loves playing music instruments, and can play the violin and guitar too, while Novea prefers voice acting,” she said.

Catch Florence in her last Mediacorp drama, Mind Matters, on meWATCH here, or watch the first episode below.