Cynthia Koh (born 25 March 1974), also known as Xu Mei Zhen 许美珍, is a Singaporean actress. She is best known for acting in many television dramas produced by

MediaCorp Channel 8 Channel 8 ( zh, 8頻道) is a Singaporean free-to-air television channel, airing in Mandarin Chinese. It was created by Mediacorp, Television Singapura on 31 August 1963 with experimental broadcasts, before going official on 23 November that ye ...

Early life

Koh has one younger sister. Her father works in the

Singapore Civil Defence Force The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) is an uniformed organisation in Singapore under the Ministry of Home Affairs that provides emergency services such as firefighting, technical rescue, and emergency medical services, and coordinates nati ...

while her mother is a housewife. Koh received her education at

Saint Anthony's Canossian Secondary School St. Anthony's Canossian Secondary School (SACSS) is a government-aided autonomous Catholic girls' secondary school located in Bedok, Singapore. It is part of the Canossian family of Catholic girls' schools in Singapore. The school is well regarded ...

Career

While still enrolled in

Singapore Broadcasting Corporation Mediacorp Pte. Ltd., doing business as Mediacorp and stylised as mediacorp, is a media conglomerate in Singapore. Owned by Temasek Holdings—the holding company of the Government of Singapore—it owns television, radio, and digital media prope ...

's (now MediaCorp) 10th Drama Artiste Course, Koh started acting at the TV station at the age of 18 in May 1992. Having acted in almost 46 dramas to date, Koh made her debut on stage in the critically acclaimed ''Men at Forty-Eight'' in 1997. Later, she won the Best Actress Award in

Star Awards The Star Awards (Chinese: 红星大奖) are awards for artistic and technical merit in the media organisation Mediacorp of Singapore where Mediacorp recognises entertainers under their employment for outstanding performances of the year. The ...

1999 with her breakthrough performance in '' Stepping Out'', in which she played a long-suffering woman fighting against her fate. This role earned her a nomination in the same category at the

Asian Television Awards The Asian Television Awards (launched in 1996), is an appreciation to recognize and reward programming and production excellence in the Asian television industry. Held every December, the Awards comprises 56 categories across news, documentarie ...

. Koh was also part of the cast in three of

MediaCorp TV Channel 8 Channel 8 ( zh, 8頻道) is a Singaporean free-to-air television channel, airing in Mandarin Chinese. It was created by Television Singapura on 31 August 1963 with experimental broadcasts, before going official on 23 November that year. The ch ...

's long-running dramas. The 3 long-running dramas include: '' Holland V'' (Year 2003, 125 episodes), ''

Portrait of Home ''Portrait of Home'' () is a Chinese language drama serial which was filmed for and broadcast on Singapore's Mediacorp TV Channel 8 in 2005. It stars Adrian Pang, Xiang Yun, Louise Lee, Richard Low, Pierre Png and Felicia Chin as the casts of ...

'' (Year 2005, 100 episodes), ''

Kinship In anthropology, kinship is the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of all humans in all societies, although its exact meanings even within this discipline are often debated. Anthropologist Robin Fox says that ...

'' (Year 2007, 86 episodes). Koh's role as Fu Baozhu (傅宝珠), a greedy and bossy woman in

granted her another ''Best Actress'' nomination in the

Star Awards 2005 Star Awards 2005 was the 12th Star Awards ceremony, held on 4 December 2005. It was part of the annual Star Awards organised by MediaCorp for MediaCorp TV Channel 8. Following MediaCorp's merger with SPH MediaWorks on 1 January 2005, the nominees ...

. Unfortunately, she lost the award to veteran

Huang Bi Ren Huang Biren (born 7 March 1969) is a Singaporean actress best known for appearing in numerous MediaCorp Channel 8 television dramas. She was prominently a full-time Mediacorp artiste from 1988 to 2008, but continues to film on an ad-hoc basis. ...

. While filming

Mediacorp Channel U Channel U (marketed as U頻道, formerly named 优频道) is a Singaporean free-to-air television channel owned by Mediacorp. It was launched on 6 May 2001 by SPH MediaWorks. On 1 January 2005, the channel was transferred to Mediacorp after a ...

's blockbuster drama ''Show Hand'' in December 2011, it was reported that Koh delayed an

ovarian cyst An ovarian cyst is a fluid-filled sac within the ovary. Often they cause no symptoms. Occasionally they may produce bloating, lower abdominal pain, or lower back pain. The majority of cysts are harmless. If the cyst either breaks open or causes ...

operation to finish filming the series. In 2012, after not receiving an award for 15 years at the annual

, Koh made her comeback, winning her second Top 10 Most Popular Female Artiste Award. Koh has gotten 3 out of 10 Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes from 1997, 2012 and 2022 respectively.

Filmography

Compilation album

Accolades

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Koh, Cynthia Singaporean people of Teochew descent Singaporean television personalities Singaporean television actresses 20th-century Singaporean actresses 21st-century Singaporean actresses Living people 1974 births