A Tribute to the King

I first notice 李南星in the drama serial 边缘少年in 1988. I may be only 5 years old then, but I was won over by his 叛逆-ness in the show. Not to forget the scene where he literally crushed 严丙量's fingers outside the Subordinate Court.

In 1993, Li appeared in the classic "The Unbeatables" and cemented his status as the King of Caldecott Hill with his performance as 言飞. Alongside with Zoe Tay, they were the golden couple of SBC-TCS Mediacorp in the 1990s.

However, his fate took a sharp turn after his performance in "The Magnate". Not only he lost the Most Popular Male Artist award to Chen Hanwei, he appeared in mostly telemovies for the next 3 years, not before making a comeback in "The Unbeatables II".

Due to the nature of his character, he was often perceived as uninterested in his career. However, he did not give up on acting and in 2002, he mesmerised the audience with another award winning outing in 豹子胆 as an ex- convict who was caught in a dilemma on whether to seek revenge or to turn over a new leaf. Once again, 南星showed that Christopher Lee was not even close in replacing him as the King.

Earlier this year, 南星was successful in enticing tens of thousands of Singaporeans who have not tune in to Ch 8 to follow a drama serial in years with his outing in "The Golden Path". Although age has caught up with him, he certainly proved that he was not called Singapore's Chow Yuan Fatt for nothing. Who can forget the way he looked when he cycled Felicia Chin along the streets in Geylang in a particular scene? Also the way he curled his last finger when he was nearly arrested by Tay Ping Hui?

南星has disappeared from our tv screen for almost 9 months since the final episode of "The Golden Path". However, I believe that he will be back sooner or later with another unforgettable performance (not the one in "十三鞭, of course).

Long Live the King! Long Live 李南星!