Daniel Ong Ming Yu (; born 27 December 1975) is a
Singaporean
Singaporeans, or the Singaporean people, refers to citizens or people who identify with the sovereign island city-state of Singapore. Singapore is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-lingual country. Singaporeans of Chinese, Malay, India ...
businessman, radio DJ and television host. He is the co-founder of
Twelve Cupcakes, a Singapore-based cupcake chain. He also entered the eateries business with ''Mischief American'' street food at Esplanade in 2015, and ''Rookery'' at Hong Leong building in 2014. He was a radio
deejay
A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile D ...
in Singapore's
MediaCorp Radio
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 ...
987FM and
television host
A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for people who garne ...
.
Media career
Ong is known for playing the role in Singapore's television
sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...
Mr. Kiasu
Johnny Lau (刘夏宗) is a Singaporean artist famous for his iconic comic series ''Mr Kiasu''. Since the 1990s, Lau has been appointed creative director or co-producer of a number of projects with various art and design forms, including publis ...
as Kiasee, as well as co-hosting the second season of
Singapore Idol
''Singapore Idol'' is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by MediaCorp Studios and FremantleMedia Operations BV. It began airing on MediaCorp Channel 5 on 9 August 2004, as an addition to the Idol fran ...
in 2006.
Ong joined 987FM since 1999.
Ong hosted the Dan and Young show on 987FM on weekdays, 5am to 10am with Mr Young (Young Leong). In 2004, Ong was suspended from on-air duties after making ‘lewd’ jokes that aired on Perfect 10 radio station. He also hosted National Day Parade 2006 and numerous other events.
Ong managed the station for 15 months and then stepped down due to the long working hours of juggling the morning show with managerial duties.
In January 2010, Ong resigned his full time position from 987FM and worked as a part time position to spend time with his family.
In September, he joined
One FM 91.3
SPH Media Trust (SMT), commonly known as SPH Media, is a media organisation with businesses in print, digital, radio, and outdoor media in Singapore. Legally a company limited by guarantee, it was incorporated on 19 July 2021, and begin esta ...
.
In 2011, Ong briefly hosted "The Wrong Way Home" on One FM 91.3.
Business career
In 2011, Ong and Jaime Teo started Twelve Cupcakes. The first outlet of Twelve Cupcakes was opened at United Square Shopping Mall, in
Novena
A novena (from Latin: ''novem'', "nine") is an ancient tradition of devotional praying in Christianity, consisting of private or public prayers repeated for nine successive days or weeks. The nine days between the Feast of the Ascension and Pe ...
. In January 2017, after the divorce of Daniel Ong and Jaime Teo in late 2016, the chain was sold to Dhunseri Group, an Indian tea company, which acquired it for
S$2.5 million.
In 2015, Ong started the Rookery Group, which has three Rookery outlets at
Capital Tower,
Hong Leong Building and China Square. Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore
The COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The first case in :Singapore was confirmed on 23 January 2020. Early cases ...
, all three outlets closed in 2020.
In 2015, Ong, alongside
Cynthia Koh
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.
Early life
Koh has one younger sister. Her father works i ...
and
Michelle Chong
Michelle Chong (, born 22 April 1977) is a Singaporean film, TV and digital content producer and director, writer and actress. She left the National Broadcaster Mediacorp in 2011 to set up her own media agency Left Profile and production hou ...
, opened Mischief, a restaurant serving American street food and alcohol, at the
Esplanade Mall.
In 2017, Ong with
Allan Wu started a Cambodia-brewed craft beer line, Brewlander,
In 2020, Ong faced 24 charges under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act connected to Twelve Cupcakes. Ong was charged with underpaying eight of its foreign employees from 2012 to 2016. Ong pleaded guilty to 10 charges and was fined S$65,000 in May 2021.
In 2020, Ong started Dan’s Steaks as a home-based business and expanded to a commercial kitchen.
In 2021, Ong expanded Dan’s Steaks to a restaurant in
Serangoon Garden
Serangoon Garden Estate is a residential estate in the Serangoon district of the North-East Region of Singapore.
History
Serangoon Garden is one of the oldest estates on the island, and was built during the 1950s.
The estate was upgraded in ...
.
Ong also operated an art school, Artfully Yours, at
Ang Mo Kio
Ang Mo Kio is a planning area and residential town situated in the North-East of Singapore. Located approximately north of the Downtown Core district, Ang Mo Kio is the 3rd most populated planning area in the North-East Region and ranks 8th ...
, as a replacement company for his wife's, Fay Tan, former home based art school, Art Chamber.
In 2022, Ong opened, Estuary, a
pescatarian
Pescetarianism (; sometimes spelled pescatarianism) is the practice of incorporating seafood into an otherwise vegetarian diet. Pescetarians may or may not consume other animal products such as eggs and dairy products. Approximately 3% of adul ...
restaurant and oyster bar at
Palais Renaissance
Palais Renaissance, or Palais (pronounced pa-lay) is a mall located at the shopping district of Orchard Road, Singapore.
Located beside the Royal Thai Embassy, Palais Renaissance comprises a 13-storey office block coupled with 4 storeys of retai ...
at Orchard Road.
Ong also has an events and marketing agency, DAGNC, and a construction business, ProGreen Systems.
Personal life
Ong had a short-lived marriage with his secondary schoolmate when he was 23. The marriage lasted only for months.
Ong announced his engagement to actress
Jaime Teo in July 2007 after dating her for two years and married her in September that year.
A wedding ceremony was held in April 2008. They had their 1st child in April 2010. On 31 December 2016, Ong and Teo announced on Instagram that they had formalized their divorce in August, and that they are both now co-parenting their child Renee.
Ong married for the third time on 2 February 2020 to art teacher, Fay Tan. In March 2021, Ong announced that he and Tan are expecting their first child. Ong also has a stepdaughter, Gretel, from Tan’s previous relationship.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ong, Daniel
1975 births
Singaporean people of Chinese descent
Singaporean television personalities
Singaporean male television actors
Living people
Singaporean DJs