Richard Low, 72, Earns His First Acting Nom For Playing A Villain And It’s For A Tamil Drama

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Fans of local showbiz would know that veteran Mediacorp actor Richard Low is an expert in playing characters everyone loves to hate. 

There’s a reason his uncouth ‘Limpeh’ in Jack Neo’s I Not Stupid (2002) is still so loved after more than two decades, right?

But did you know that the 72-year-old star, who has been acting for more than 40 years, has never been nominated for an award for playing a villain before?

Until now.

Richard has been nominated for his role as a ruthless Japanese World War II general in Tamil Mediacorp series 1943 in the Best Performance In An Antagonist Role category at the upcoming Pradhana Vizha.

He is the first non-Indian actor in the past decade to be nominated at the annual Indian entertainment awards ceremony.

Also up for the award are Tamil actors Karls Karthikeyan (Ayya Veedu) and Sathiyaselan Sivalingam (Vilangu). 

When 8days.sg got on a call with Richard, he tells us that he was both happy and surprised about the nomination, no not because it's an Indian awards ceremony but because it's the first time he’s getting recognised for playing a villain.

The actor has played many memorable antagonists over the years, including Ouyang Feng in The Return Of The Condor Heroes (1998) and cult leader Ren Woxing inThe Legendary Swordsman (2000).

He says he's unsure about his chances of winning as he’s never watched the shows of the actors he’s up against.

"The shows are all in Tamil and I don’t understand the language, so I don’t know anything about their roles," he explains.

Even though 1943 is a Tamil drama, Richard didn’t actually have to learn Tamil as his lines were all in English.

But that was still no easy feat for the actor, who says he isn't fluent in English.

"I had to force myself to memorise the script but I wasn’t able to remember some of the lines no matter how hard I tried as they were not words we would use on a daily basis," he says. 

Thankfully, 1943’s director-cum-scriptwriter K.S.I.Sundar helped Richard by altering his lines on the spot until the actor was finally able to recite them. 

"He also helped me a lot in terms of communicating with the other actors and understanding the plot. If I really do win, he's the one I would specially want to thank," he gushes. 

The actor also says he knows not to take awards too seriously after being in the industry for so many years. 

Throughout his showbiz career, Richard has only won one award. For his role as a frivolous jobless man in The Silver Lining, he was named Best Supporting Actor at the 1997 Star Awards.

"All I want now is for the audience to like the roles I play. I do hope that my characters would have more screen time too, because that would mean I have more opportunities to make a difference," says Richard. 

While he acknowledges that awards are a form of recognition, he feels having the audience enjoy his performances is "more fulfilling" and "satisfying".  

That said, Richard admits he used to question his own acting abilities whenever he doesn't get nominated at the Star Awards for well-received roles he thought stood a chance. 

"I started asking myself: 'Why? Why was I not even given a chance to compete? Did I do such a bad job playing the villain that I couldn’t be nominated?’," he says. 

As for what roles he's talking about, Richard says he doesn't remember them anymore as him being snubbed has happened so many times.

Richard now sees it as a motivation to work harder.

"After I entered my 70s, if I get a nomination or win an award, that’s a bonus. If I don’t, it’s fine too, I’ll just continue to do my job well," he says.

Richard’s only wish now is to "keep acting until [he] is 80."

"When I turned 70, I only dared to say that I would act until I’m 75 because 10 years [to 80] is too far away. Now that I’m 72, I might as well say 80," he laughs.

Does the actor still have any awards that he really wishes to win though? Like, say, Best Actor?

The only time Richard was nominated for that category was for playing the titular character in 1999's Mr OK. The award eventually went to Xie Shaoguang for his breakout performance in Stepping Out.

"I don’t really have many opportunities to play the lead anymore," he admits, though he is a main character in upcoming Mediacorp dialect drama We Are Number 1. 

"I really like this drama and it allowed me to put my Hokkien proficiency to good use, but I don't think about getting a nomination for it," he laughs, adding that he’s not sure if dialect dramas can be considered as front-runners for the Star Awards. 

Well, Chen Hanwei did get a Best Actor nomination last year for his performance in dialect drama Whatever Will Be, Will Be… 

So, fingers crossed? 

Pradhana Vizha will be aired live on Feb 15 at 9pm, on mewatch, the Mediacorp Entertainment channel on YouTube, and Vasantham.

Photos: Mediacorp, The Celebrity Agency/Instagram