Moses Lim

Moses Lim
Moses Lim
Born	12 December 1949 (age 75); Colony of Singapore
Education	Maris Stella High School
Alma mater	Anglican High School ; Ngee Ann Polytechnic
Occupation(s)	Actor, television host, comedian, food connoisseur
Years active	1994– present
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	林益民
Simplified Chinese	林益民
Transcriptions
Transcriptions
Website	moseslim.com

Moses Lim (born 12 December 1949^[1]) is a Singaporean actor, television host, comedian and food connoisseur, best known for playing Tan Ah Teck in the Singaporean sitcom Under One Roof (1995–2003).

Early life and education

Lim was born in Singapore to a businessman and housewife.^[2] He has one brother and two sisters.^[2]

Of the Chinese Henghua dialect group, Lim grew up speaking Puxian Min at home. He learned English and Mandarin from his neighbours.^[2] He could also speak Malay, some Tamil and many other Chinese dialects.

Lim took his primary school education at Catholic High School,^[2] secondary school education at Maris Stella High School^[2] and Pre-University education at Anglican High School.^[3] He later studied commerce at the Ngee Ann Polytechnic.^[2]

Career

Media

Lim started learning crosstalk at the age of eight from a priest, who had come from Harbin, China at his primary school, Catholic High School.^[2] During the early 1970s, Lim performed crosstalk at his first television appearance.^[2] While working at other jobs, Lim would take on freelance entertainment jobs with the radio stations and occasionally made a few television crosstalk appearances.^[2]

In 1994, Lim was once one of the co-hosts of the multinational Asian talent program Asia Bagus along with fellow Singaporean Najip Ali.^[4]^[5]

In late 1994, Lim joined the Singaporean sitcom Under One Roof (1995–2003)^[5] on Mediacorp Channel 5, making him the first crossover artiste from Mediacorp Channel 8, after collaborating with Jack Neo,^[5] Mark Lee, Henry Thia, Marcus Chin, Jimmy Nah and John Cheng in Comedy Night/Comedy Nite (1990–2000, 2003–2004).^[2] Lim's famous tagline from Under One Roof is: "This reminds me of a story! Long before your time, in the Southern province of China...". For his effort in Under One Roof, Lim became the first Singaporean actor to win an award at the Asian Television Awards for Best Male Actor in a Comedy.^[6]

Robert Chua, a Hong Kong producer, took note of Lim's success and invited Lim to Hong Kong to work.^[7] According to Lim, who was considered a part time actor with Television Corporation of Singapore (TCS), TCS tried to get him to sign a contract as a full time artiste which he declined due to disagreement on how management worked at TCS.^[7] Lim also claimed TCS tried to persuade him to sign a contract not to work overseas which he declined also and which he claimed rejected in TCS blacklisting him from any work with TCS.^[7]

In 2011, Lim also starred in the Okto television series Zero Hero as Grandpa Magnificent.^[8] He played Eric Tan in the Singaporean film Just Follow Law (2007). He performed at the 2012 stage play, Happily Ever Laughter.^[9]

In 2015, Lim starred in Our Sister Mambo, a commemorative film for Cathay Organisation's 80th anniversary.^[10]

Gourmet

Lim's gourmet career started in 1993, when a film agency asked him to host a thematic gourmet tour, to which Lim agreed.^[8] He is the founder and manager of the Moses Lim Gourmet Club, which organizes gourmet tours on a bi-annually basis.^[11] Lim also serves as brand ambassador for Singaporean porridge restaurant Zhen Zhou Dao, which is run by his son-in-law and eldest daughter.^[12] Zhen Zhou Dao eventually closes after just 3 years of operations.^[13]

Other

In 1975, Lim's father died of a heart attack and Lim joined the automotive spare parts import-export firm which his father co-owned.^[2] Lim eventually started his own spare parts trading company.^[2]

Lim serves as chairman for a bridal store and a real estate company. Lim left the entertainment industry and hence he was not nominated for Top 10 Most Popular Male Artistes.^[3]

Personal life

During one of his business trips while working for his own company, Lim met Monica.^[2] They got married in 1977 and have two daughters together.^[2]

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1995–2003	Under One Roof	Tan Ah Teck	Sitcom	^[2]
2011	Zero Hero	Grandpa Magnificent		^[8]

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2007	Just Follow Law	Eric Tan		^[14]
2015	Our Sister Mambo	Mr Wong		^[10]

Awards and nominations

Year	Ceremony	Category	Nominated work	Result
2001	Star Awards	Top 10 Most Popular Male Artistes	—	Nominated
2002	Star Awards	Top 10 Most Popular Male Artistes	—	Nominated
2003	Star Awards	Top 10 Most Popular Male Artistes	—	Nominated
2004	Star Awards	Top 10 Most Popular Male Artistes	—	Won
2005	Star Awards	Top 10 Most Popular Male Artistes	—	Nominated

References

^ "Moses Lim 林益民". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o "Morphing of Moses". AsiaOne. 26 March 2014. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
^ ^a ^b Yong, Shu Hoong. "Battle of comperes". POSbank. Archived from the original on 8 September 2008. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
^ "Pregnant Tomoko drops out of show". The New Paper. 14 July 1994. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Moses Lim's Roll of Honour". The New Paper. 8 November 1994. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
^ Toh, Christopher (7 July 2009). "Wholly Moses!". Channel News Asia.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Moses Lim recalls how he was blacklisted from TV for 4 years after Under One Roof's success". AsiaOne. 8 September 2020. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c Seah, Dapne (30 October 2011). "I don't eat pets: Moses Lim". Yahoo!. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
^ "Funny gang's worst moments". The Business Times. 8 June 2012. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
^ ^a ^b "InSing Review: Our Sister Mambo". Sinema.SG. 24 July 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2024.
^ Guo, Wei Ho (9 June 2012). "HAPPY EVER LAUGHTER: MOSES LIM". Fever Avenue. Archived from the original on 18 November 2013. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
^ Quek, Eunice (17 November 2012). "Celebrity-fronted eateries roll out chic concepts". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
^ Migration (26 April 2015). "The hit and miss of celebrity restaurants | The Straits Times". www.straitstimes.com. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
^ Noh, Jean. "Cathay returns with Our Sister Mambo". Screen. Retrieved 9 May 2024.