Irene Ang

Irene Ang
Ang in September 2024
Born	(1968-09-01) 1 September 1968 (age 56) Singapore
Other names	Hong Ailing
Education	CHIJ Kellock Primary School Outram Secondary School Outram Institute
Occupations	Actress comedian entrepreneur host radio presenter fencer
Years active	1989–present
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	洪愛玲
Simplified Chinese	洪爱玲
Hanyu Pinyin	Hóng Àilíng

Irene Ang PBM (born 1 September 1968) is a Singaporean actress, comedian, host and entrepreneur, best known for portraying Rosie Phua on the Singaporean sitcom Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd, as well as on the Malaysian sequel sitcom Phua Chu Kang Sdn Bhd and the series' film adaptation Phua Chu Kang The Movie. She is also the founder and the CEO of Fly Entertainment, and additionally owns a maid agency, as well as a number of F&B and other entertainment-related companies.^[1][2]

Irene Ang was born into a family of four, consisting of her parents, an elder brother and herself. When she was growing up, she was taken care mostly by her paternal grandmother, and other relatives as well, as her mother was a drug addict and her father a gambler.^[3][4]

Her mother, a former nightclub singer, became a drug addict due to marital issues. Her mother once took her, who's her father's favoured child,^[3] to a girls' home with the intent of leaving her there, to spite her father over his philandering ways. The staff at the home dissuaded her mother from following through as Ang was protesting loudly against the action.^[5] After her mother was in and out of the prison system over her drug use for a decade, Ang and her brother managed to convince her mother stay clean with an ultimatum that if she was again, they would leave her in 1983. After released from the prison in 1984, her mother has kept herself clean since.^[4]

Irene Ang first studied in CHIJ Kellock Primary School,^[4] and then Outram Secondary School, choosing it only because it had a swimming pool. In secondary school, she was on the water polo team and was a trained lifeguard by then.^[6] She then went onto Outram Institute to study for Singapore-Cambridge GCE Advanced Level education certificate. However, she did not take the exams as she could not afford the examination fees.^[7] She subsequently took the exams thrice, but failed.^[3]

In 1989, after attending Outram Institute, she and her friends responded to an ad recruiting stunt swimmers for a television series.^[8][9] She eventually became the stunt swimmer for Chen Liping in Splash to Victory. She later was a stunt double for Zoe Tay in the 1990 television series, Navy.^[9]

After leaving school, Irene Ang was a receptionist and clothing store sales supervisor.^[5] Ang then a sales executive with American Express for a year.^[5] It was also here when she started training in fencing.^[10] She trained for eight months before presenting Singapore the 1991 SEA Games and won a silver medal.^[8] After winning the SEA Games medal, she was shortlisted for representation at the following year's 1992 Summer Olympics. However she declined the offer as she could not afford the expenses to travel to Spain.^[3]

Ang was then hired at Bloomdale, which specialised in floral arrangements and corporate gifts, and led a sales team there. Her team would outperform the rest in the company.^[5] She would eventually be head-hunted and joined the insurance industry for seven years.^[3][11] When her grandmother was hospitalised, Ang was saddled with a S$26,000 credit card debt. Her supervisor at AIA, David Ong, would paid off the debt for her as a loan. In return, Ang would then worked hard for the next three months, bringing in enough policies to make it to the Million Dollar Club.^[5]

She would also work as a warm-up comedian to warm up the studio audience on the set of Under One Roof.^[12] It was here she was spotted by Phua Chua Kang Pte Ltd's producers and was asked to audition for roles in the upcoming television series.^[12]

In 1997, Ang was cast in Phua Chua Kang Pte Ltd as Rosie Phua, the wife of lead character Phua Chu Kang, a general contractor. As the 10-year long television series eventually became a regional hit, she would reprise her character in a Malaysian spin-off, and a movie, all of which revolving around Phua Chu Kang. In the first season, Ang was paid S$975.00 a month.^[5]

In 2022, Ang launched the web application TADAA! Casting which serves as a local and regional casting platform for entertainers.^[13]

In 2023, Ang was named as one of the recipients of the Public Service Medal (PBM), for her work as a committee member of the SkillsFuture programme with the South West Community Development Council.^[14]

Drawing on her childhood experiences, she would lend her influence and voice behind projects such as the Fairy Godparent programme, an initiative by The Yellow Ribbon Fund and Industrial and Services Co-Operative Society (ISCOS) that would help children of ex-offenders acquire a good education and positive life skills.^[4]

In 1984, her parents would also file for a divorce.^[4] In 1996 her grandmother died, leaving behind a wish that Ang would take care of her parents. Irene Ang had since reconciled with her parents after finding faith through her religion, Christianity. Both her parents would then work for Irene in their later years, her mother a chef in one of Ang's restaurants; her father a driver in Fly Entertainment.^[15]

Ang has appeared in and/or produced the following programmes and films:^[16][17][18]

• Ah Kong’s Birthday Party (1998)
• PIE (1999)
• 1+1=3 (2003)
• Mardi Gras (2003)
• Phua Chu Kang - The Musical (2005)
• Beauty World (2008)
• Stand Up for Singapore (2008)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Irene Ang.

• Irene Ang at IMDb

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