“I’m so sorry that we’re doing the interview this late. It’s been a busy day,” says Shaun right off the bat. At the same time, we hear one of his daughters chattering excitedly to Shaun in the background from the other end of the line. We try to ignore at first — it’s all a part of the whole Work-From-Home package — but it soon becomes clear that whoever it is isn't about to give up so easily.

“Give me a moment and I’ll talk to her,” the actor apologises before disappearing. When he returns, he says: “That was my younger daughter [Neia]. She's quite sticky to me, while my older daughter sticks to my wife. She brought in all her stuff and wanted me to give her some attention. I told her that I’ll play with her after I’m done with work.”

He later tells us that the pandemic has allowed him to spend time with his wife, Celine, 31, and their daughters, Nellie, five, and Neia, three. And he thinks it's why the latter demands more attention from him these days.

“I’ve been ridiculously busy for the past couple of years. It’s good to be able to spend time with the family, but at the same time, it came with a price,” he sighs. “There were three dramas and a movie that I was supposed to shoot in Malaysia this year, but they either scaled down on production or cast someone else in my roles because of COVID-19.”

He declines to reveal the names of the projects because he's "afraid that someone might feel hurt if [he] reveals too much." Shaun also politely refuses to mention how much money he lost, and would only say that it was a “pretty large amount”.

“You know, I even did imaging for this drama that I was supposed to have a five-episode cameo in. It would have been a great experience because I would have been working with an international team," he laments. 

Despite all that, Shaun still considers himself very lucky. Recipe Of Life, which started production a couple of months ago, will continue filming until next March. By then, he hopes that the pandemic situation will be better and that he would be able to work on more projects both in Singapore and overseas.

Not that Shaun, who says he's been pulling 12 to 18-hour work days almost every day, has any time to spare on mulling about what-ifs. “It’s a blessing to be busy,” he chuckles. “It’s important to look on the bright side of things. I’m very happy with this drama, because I feel that my character has a very interesting story arc. Some people might think that he’s a bad guy, but I beg to differ. The way I see it, he’s got a legitimate reason for whatever nasty things he has to do.”

The biggest challenge on Recipe Of Life for Shaun though is having to call Biren mum. The actress, at 51, is only 10 years older, than Shaun. “I’ve been trying my best to look as young as possible. Biren looks so good, which makes things harder for me. Plus, I’m usually wearing a suit, which makes me look even more mature,” he says.

“But what’s even tougher is the mental hurdle that I have to deal with. I was so taken aback when I first found out that she was going to play my mother," Shaun laughs. "That’s why I’m conditioning myself to constantly refer to her as my mum even when the cameras aren’t rolling, and it’s become less awkward to think of her as my mum after working on this series for some time. After all, what will the viewers think if the actor himself isn’t confident in his role?”

Recipe Of Life debuts Nov 2, 7.30pm on Ch 8.
Recipe Of Life will be available on meWATCH from Nov 2.

Photos: Shaun Chen’s Instagram, Mediacorp

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