Collin_Chee

Collin Chee

Collin Chee

Singaporean businessman and actor (born 1967)

Collin Chee (born 24 January 1967) is a Singaporean businessman, actor and former Singapore national football team assistant manager.[2]

In this Chinese name, the family name is Chee.
Quick Facts Born, Other names ...

Early life and education

Chee is of Hainanese descent.[1] He has a sister who is three years younger. His father was a restaurant manager and his mother, a homemaker who used to run a hair salon.[3]

Chee was educated at St. Teresa's High School where he took his N-levels.[4][1] In his teenage years, Chee was an aspiring football player. While he was advised not to pursue the sport competitively due to childhood asthma, he has played club football for Labrador Juniors in the Singapore National Football League.

Career

Media career

Upon finishing National Service, he did some modelling and ran a modelling agency before becoming a finalist in SBC's Star Search in 1993.[5]

Chee left showbiz in 1996 after making headlines a year prior for his controversial performance in the local series The Teochew Family. In an interview several years later, Chee recalled that he had "screwed up big time" and once had to repeat a scene for more than 30 times until a cameraman from Hong Kong shouted at him in Cantonese - "What's wrong with you? Film all finished up already!" (sic). His co-star, late veteran Hong Kong actor Kenneth Tsang, was also "super" critical of him to the press upon the release of the series. Chee also revealed that on the set, Tsang had initiated conversations with him and questioned him if he had any intention to make acting his lifelong vocation at that point in time.[6]

Chee then switched his focus to running Talents and Models, a sports event company which was converted from a modelling company, and Wembley Steak House, a football concept restaurant that was located in Northpoint Shopping Centre.[6] He also co-hosted two Mandarin programmes on NTUC Radioheart with Lin Youfa and Renee Yip and made occasional guest appearances on Capital 95.8FM to speak on soccer, and was a part-time football columnist for Lianhe Wanbao.[7][8]

On 20 June 2023, it was announced that Chee was cast in the film I Not Stupid 3, directed by Jack Neo.[9] He will also appear in the Kelvin Sng film King of Hawkers, scheduled to be released during Chinese New Year in 2024.[10]

Football career

Around 1993, Chee was also Singapore national football team's assistant manager on a volunteer basis and coached football at Chung Cheng High School (Main) and St. Gabriel's Secondary School, and was also the assistant secretary of the Singapore Soccer Coaches Association.[1][11]

In the late 1990s, he was president of Tampines Rovers in the National Football League (NFL) Division One and a council member of the Football Association of Singapore (FAS). He also managed the Singapore National Under-19 squad and coached soccer at Temasek Polytechnic.[8][6] In 1999, he left FAS and dissolved his business ventures. Shortly after, he established TouchWood, an official football pub for Liverpool F.C. supporters located at Maxwell Road, and launched Football Update (足球至尊), a bilingual magazine that published tips for punters which ended its operations in 2006.[6]

In the 2000s, Chee was involved in the controversial Sporting Afrique venture, which was proposed by him to Ho Peng Kee, then Football Association of Singapore president. The team was made up of players with African descent to participate in the 2006 S.League but the players allegedly received ill-treatment where a local media outlet labelled the venture as "slavery". Chee later had to turn to bank loans and mortgaging his house in order to keep the club afloat. The club was eventually rejected by the FAS to participate in the 2007 S.League and subsequently dissolved.[6][12][13]

In August 2015, Chee was asked by a former footballer from Tampines Rovers FC to set up a football team for the movement Dads for Life, which he managed and launched in June 2016.[2][14]

Business career

In 2007, Chee decided to leave the football scene and later began a job at an international headhunting firm, SearchWorks. He left three years year and moved to Medan, Sumatra, Indonesia in 2009, working in the marketing department of food distribution company PT Alamjaya Wirasentosa.[6]

In recent years, he started Spikes of Love with his two sons, which organises outings for people to sample durians together.[15][16]

Chee was a partner with international trade company Alliance Experts from August 2017 to January 2019.[6][17]

Personal life

Chee resided in Medan in Sumatra, Indonesia for six years, from 2009 to 2015, to help managed his father-in-law's food business.[2]

In November 2016, he released an autobiography book, Roots - Memoirs From Two Cities, a collection of 21 short stories about his life and experiences in Singapore and abroad.[18]

Chee was married to Indonesian-Chinese Irene Rahardja, a public administration officer, from 1997 to 2020.[19][20][21][22] They have two sons and two daughters.[2][23]

In an interview in October 2023, Chee revealed that he has been in a relationship with a Ipoh-born finance consultant since 2021, who is also divorced and has two sons.[24]

He plays badminton and is a durian lover.[2]

Filmography

Chee has appeared in the following television series and films:[25]

Television series

  • That Moment In Time (1993)
  • Twin Bliss (1993)
  • Dr Justice (1994)[3]
  • Dreams Come True (1994)
  • The Teochew Family (1995)
  • Dr Justice II (1995)[3]
  • Beyond Dawn (1995)
  • Of Cops And Men (1996)
  • The Gentlemen (2016)

Film

  • The Strike Back (1994; telemovie)
  • War Roses (1996; telemovie)
  • Dark Obsession (1996)
  • Second Chance (2016; short film)[26][27]
  • I Not Stupid 3 (2024)[9]
  • King of Hawkers (2024)[28]

Bibliography

  • Roots - Memoirs From Two Cities (2016)

References

  1. [1]
    "Street-smart Collin". No. Page 6. The Straits Times. 5 April 1993. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  2. [2]
    Syazanna, Mirta (16 June 2017). "Happy Father's Day to the world's 2nd most important parent". The Pride. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  3. [3]
    "NewspaperSG - Like when love dies". eresources.nlb.gov.sg. No. Page 22. The New Paper. 10 July 1996. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  4. [4]
    "学生被帮派骚扰 校长当"老大"谈判 | 早报". www.zaobao.com.sg (in Simplified Chinese). 24 September 2016. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  5. [5]
    "NewspaperSG - THE 12 STAR SEARCH FINALISTS". eresources.nlb.gov.sg. No. Page 17. The New Paper. 8 March 1993. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  6. [6]
    Tan, Kenneth (10 March 2019). "Turning full circle: Family man Collin Chee opens up on abrupt departure from Singapore football and coming back with Dads for Life". Junpiter Futbol. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  7. [7]
    "NewspaperSG - 钱翰群负笈英伦学习足球管理法". eresources.nlb.gov.sg. No. Page 21. 联合晚报 (Lianhe Wanbao). 4 January 1996. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  8. [8]
    "NewspaperSG - 7 days in the life of... COLLIN CHEE". eresources.nlb.gov.sg. No. Page 9. The New Paper. 28 June 1998. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  9. [9]
    "I Not Stupid 3: Jack Neo reveals cast comprising Collin Chee, Terence Cao, Patricia Mok, Glenn Yong". AsiaOne. 21 June 2023. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  10. [10]
    林, 家豪 (24 October 2023). "27年后复出连拍两部电影 钱昶均也乐意再拍本地剧". 8world Entertainment Lifestyle (in Chinese (Singapore)). Retrieved 29 October 2023.
  11. [11]
    "COLLIN CHEE". The New Paper. 13 March 1993. p. 37. Retrieved 18 July 2023 – via NewspaperSG.
  12. [12]
    "Hopes dashed in Singapore". BBC. 14 June 2006. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  13. [13]
    "Sporting Afrique set to disband". BBC. 10 November 2006. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  14. [14]
    "Football team's goal: Being dads for life". AsiaOne. 20 June 2016. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  15. [15]
    "Hugo Ng, Cherie Lim and Collin Chee reunite 29 years after 1990s telemovie Strike Back". AsiaOne. 21 April 2023. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  16. [16]
    "Zhu Houren meets ex-TV idol Madeline Chu: Which former celebs can you also follow on Instagram?". AsiaOne. 26 March 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  17. [17]
    "Collin Chee". LinkedIn. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  18. [18]
    "Chee backs Lions to surprise". The New Paper. 17 November 2016. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  19. [19]
    "NewspaperSG - The Straits Times, 22 May 1997, Page 1". eresources.nlb.gov.sg. No. Page 1. The Straits Times. 22 May 1997. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  20. [20]
    "父子兵组公司 钱昶均"卖"榴梿团 | 早报". www.zaobao.com.sg (in Simplified Chinese). 13 January 2019. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  21. [21]
    "Navigating the Teen Years Workshop – Centre for Fathering Ltd". Centre for Fathering Ltd. 12 January 2017. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  22. [22]
    "提防熟龄婚姻隐形杀手". www.zaobao.com.sg (in Simplified Chinese). 9 May 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  23. [23]
    "Centre for Fathering honouring dads with month-long campaign". The New Paper. 18 May 2018. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  24. [24]
    "57岁钱昶均结束22年婚姻再觅第二春 | 联合早报". www.zaobao.com.sg (in Simplified Chinese). 7 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  25. [25]
    "Colin Chee". mewatch. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  26. [26]
    "Second Chance by Ellie Ngim - Singapore Drama Short Film". Viddsee. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  27. [27]
    Xu, Terry (12 February 2016). "Second chance: A second try at love". The Online Citizen Asia. Archived from the original on 18 July 2023. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  28. [28]
    "Local CNY 2024 movie King of Hawkers to star Hugo Ng, Liu Lingling, Dawn Yeoh". AsiaOne. 29 September 2023. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
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