Huang Biren (born Wee Pat Ling on 7 March 1969) is a Singaporean actress and television host known for appearing in numerous MediaCorp Channel 8 television series. She was a full-time Mediacorp artiste from 1988 to 2008.
To date, Huang has received five Star Awards for Best Actress, a record for the most wins in that category.
Career
Huang joined the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (now MediaCorp) in 1988 after completing its Professional Drama Performers' Training course. She was due to study at Hawaii Pacific University in the United States but chose to go into acting when SBC offered her a contract, much to the initial disappointment of her parents.
Having been in the industry for 10 years, Huang won her first Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes award in Star Awards 1997. In 1998, Huang went on to star in the hit Chinese drama series Stand By Me, which recorded rocketing viewership ratings (defeating the high-profile series Return of the Condor Heroes), despite very little promotion done prior to the drama's telecast. She played a patient and caring wife of a paraplegic (played by Xie Shaoguang), which won her the Best Actress Award at the 1998 Star Awards. She was also the first Singaporean actress to receive a Best Actress nomination in the 1998 Asian Television Awards for Stand By Me. Her performance in this drama had touched the hearts of many audience – since then, she has become a household name for numerous Singaporeans.
Other award-winning lead roles other than the one in Stand By Me include Kelian, where she played an old-fashioned and cowardly woman who was always being abused by her mother in Beautiful Connection (2002), and Lucky, where she played a gambling addict in My Lucky Charm (2005). She, Ivy Lee and Chen Liping are the only actresses to be crowned Best Actress three times at the in-house Star Awards.
In 2003, Biren was nominated for the Best Drama Performance by an Actress award in the Asian Television Awards for her role in A Child's Hope. In the same year, Huang was listed in People at The Peak – The Who's Who of Singapore. Her name was once again listed in the second edition of the book, which was published in 2006. The books were sold globally.
Since 2005, Biren has filmed an average of only one serial per year, compared to three drama series per year between 2002 and 2004. Rumours circulated that she feigned illness so that she need not take up roles that did not cast her in good light. Biren came out strongly against these rumours and attributed the drop in drama serials filmed to an asthma attack she suffered after filming The Undisclosed, granting her medical leave for a period of a year. Another reason cited by the local media was the media merger which took place in December 2004, which led to less dramas produced as competition from SPH MediaWorks ceased to exist.
Biren did not film any serials in Year 2006. The suspense thriller The Undisclosed, which was telecast in 2006, was filmed in 2005. Instead, she ventured into hosting or appeared as a guest in various variety shows. Though her drama serials reduced significantly, Biren was still able to maintain her popularity levels, as attested by her popularity award wins at the Star Awards ceremonies.
In June 2007, Biren was chosen as one of the 10 TV mentors for the Star Search 2007 Reality Talent Show contestants. In the same year, she was again nominated for the Best Actress award in the Asian Television Awards (ATA) and Star Awards 2007 for her role as a fat, naggy and fierce housewife in Mars VS Venus. Though she did not manage to clinch both of the awards, she was tipped the hot favourite to win by many media, audience and industry watchers. After she lost the ATA Best Actress award to Filipino actress Gina Pareño, Biren spoke to reporters from Channel News Asia:
A nomination out of so many countries – you're talking about the whole of Asia – is already something to be proud of. So, I think it's already something that I feel is a great achievement.
In the Star Awards 25th Anniversary Show, Biren won the coveted My Favourite Actress Award, defeating hot favourites Zoe Tay and Fann Wong. She was the first female artiste to win this prestigious award, which was given out in commemoration of 25 Years of drama productions.
An interview conducted by 8 Days magazine in November 2007 stated that Huang had been the lead actress in seven of the eleven dramas with the annual highest viewership since 1997. (8 Days reference: 7 Nov)