Another big difference is the eye on celebrity. I wouldn’t say I’m unrecognizable in Singapore, but as a person, I guess I’ve never really taken cele… - Tan Kheng Hua

My parents are the coolest parents ever. From the minute their children became adults, they have always looked at us as the "experts" in the household, simply because both my mum and my dad never had a high education. They always trusted us. And in return, we never asked them for much and always made sure our decisions worked for us. So when I told my mum and dad I was going to quit my corporate high paying, big benefits job to act for awhile, they basically said "Good. Now you have more time to rest and to go on holiday with us."

I’ve never felt weak. I’ve never felt not seen. I do feel seen and heard, but I also have a responsibility to make all sorts of layers of representation work—myself as a woman, an older woman, a Chinese woman, a Singaporean in Los Angeles, an Asian actress in Hollywood. Bring it on, because all of them are so Kheng. This is who I am. I’m not an older woman wanting to be a younger woman. I’m not a Chinese woman wanting to be any other race.

Maybe I feel more sexual and you come to realise that you don’t need to be a particular shape to be sexy. If we allow ourselves this lens—and not just women, but men—to understand that sexuality is so much a part of our lives in all the different degrees and forms, then we will all feel at peace with it.