Gurmit Singh Virk Chainchal Singh (born 24 March 1965; pa, ਗੁਰਮੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ, Gurmīt Siṅgh; ) 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 ...

actor, comedian,

presenter A presenter is a person or organization responsible for the running of a public event, or someone who conveys information on media via a broadcasting outlet. Presenter may refer to: People * News presenter, person who presents news during a new ...

, and television personality. He was prominently a full-time

Mediacorp 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 ...

artiste from 1994 to 2014. He is best known for his role as the titular character Phua Chu Kang in ''

Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd ''Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd'' was a Singaporean sitcom. The sitcom centres on an eccentric general contractor with his trademark yellow boots, curly afro hair and large facial mole. While it carries the traditions of a sitcom, many unusual element ...

'', ''

Phua Chu Kang Sdn Bhd ''Phua Chu Kang Sdn Bhd'' was a Malaysian sitcom and sequel to the Singaporean sitcom ''Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd'' that debuted on Mediacorp Channel 5. The series reprises Gurmit Singh and Irene Ang as Phua Chu Kang and Rosie respectively, and is p ...

'' and ''

Phua Chu Kang The Movie ''Phua Chu Kang The Movie'' is a Singaporean-Malaysian comedy film and sequel to sitcoms'' Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd'' and ''Phua Chu Kang Sdn Bhd''. The film was released in Singapore on 12 August 2010 and Malaysia on 26 August 2010. Plot Followi ...

'', for which he won 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 ...

prize for Best Performance by an Actor (Comedy) five times, from 1998 to 2001 and in 2003 for the former. From 2004 to 2005, he won the Highly Commended prize.

Life

Born to a

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

father, Chainchal Singh, and an

East Asian East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea a ...

(

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

–

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

) mother, Gurmit was brought up as a

, but converted to Christianity in 1985. Gurmit studied in

Outram Secondary School Outram Secondary School is a co-educational government secondary school in Singapore. Founded in 1906 as Outram Road School, and later Outram School, it is one of the oldest schools in Singapore. It is also the only government school in Singapore ...

during his secondary school years. Gurmit is married to Melissa, a Cantonese

. They have three children, Gabrielle (born 1997), Elliot (born 2001) and Mikaela (born 2013). Gurmit is an

alumnus Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...

National Police Cadet Corps The National Police Cadet Corps (NPCC) is one of the national uniformed group for youths between age 13 to 17 in Singapore. The organisation is supported by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Home Affairs. Established in 1959, it tra ...

, Singapore, and held the rank of Cadet Inspector.

Career

Making his debut in the variety show ''Live on 5'' in 1994, he then became the host and lead actor of sitcom ''Gurmit's World'', also debuted in 1994. The second season of ''Gurmit's World'', continued in 1995, in which Gurmit portrayed his 'relatives' in a series of skits (unlike the first season where he played a wide assortment of mostly non-recurring characters), featured the first appearance of a character named Phua Chu Kang. The

Singlish Singlish (a portmanteau of ''Singapore'' and ''English'') is an English-based creole language spoken in Singapore. Singlish arose out of a situation of prolonged language contact between speakers of many different languages in Singapore, incl ...

-based spin-off sitcom ''

'' in 1997 made Gurmit a popular icon, not only in Singapore, but also in neighbouring countries (especially Malaysia). This factor leads to having a spin-off sitcom sequel based in Malaysia, ''

'' (2009-2010). In 2013, Gurmit was nominated for the Best Actor prize at the 1st Golden Wau Awards, aimed at promoting Chinese-language Malaysian films, for his role in ''

'' (2010). In October 2014, the

Madame Tussauds Madame Tussauds (, ) is a wax museum founded in 1835 by French wax sculptor Marie Tussaud in London, spawning similar museums in major cities around the world. While it used to be spelled as "Madame Tussaud's"; the apostrophe is no longer us ...

Singapore museum unveiled a wax figure of Phua Chu Kang. In November 2014, Gurmit announced that he would leave the entertainment industry at the end of his full-time television career at

- after exactly 20 years. Gurmit shared that he planned to spend more time with his family and would take on engagements on a more selective basis. In August 2020, Phua Chu Kang was announced and signed as Shopee's first Singaporean brand ambassador.

Filmography

Film

Television

Skit & Entertainment

Others

Accolades

Discography

Albums

* ''Sing Singapore 2002 : One (We Are One)'' (2002) duet with

Tay Ping Hui Tay Ping Hui (born 10 November 1970) is a Singaporean actor and director. In 2014, Tay made his directorial debut with the basketball film ''Meeting the Giant''. Early life Tay attended Catholic High School (Primary and Secondary) and Catholi ...

* ''One Leg Kicking Original Soundtrack: 'Calling': "Into The House"'' (2001) * ''Moments'' Gurmit's debut album (2015) * ''Gurmit Goes Local'' (1995) comedy album

Compilations

* ''A Happy Journey Starts Like That!'' (2009) * ''The PCK Sar-vivor Rap'' (2003) * ''Love, No Boundaries: "Into the House"'' (2001) lbum single

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Gurmit Singaporean television personalities 1965 births Living people Singaporean Charismatics Singaporean people of Indian descent Singaporean people of Punjabi descent Singaporean people of Japanese descent Singaporean people of Chinese descent Singaporean male television actors Singaporean male stage actors Singaporean male film actors Converts to Christianity from Sikhism 20th-century Singaporean male actors 21st-century Singaporean male actors