‘Maybe they gave me a pity award’: Aileen Tan named Star Awards 2024 Best Supporting Actress

It’s been eight years since her last Star Awards acting accolade.

Aileen Tan won the Best Supporting Actress honours – the second in her career – for her role in Shero at Star Awards 2024 tonight (April 21), but she admitted she felt ambiguous about it.

“If you ask me if I’m happy, I would say, somewhat, because I questioned why the rules changed to this. So when Dennis Chew told me not to cry if I didn’t qualify (for the Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes award), I thought it was hilarious,” said the 57-year-old in an interview backstage.

This year, as a result of a change in the judging criteria, the list of nominees for Top 10 Most Popular Male and Female Artistes had an eye-popping 94 names in total, all vying for 20 spots. Aileen was not nominated.

This led to criticism from netizens who complained that there were many nominees who are “unknown to the public.”

Adding that she experienced “emotional ups and downs” due to the changes in rules, Aileen told reporters: “I thought, ‘Oh maybe they pitied me and gave me a pity award, feeling bad about the 30 years that I’ve struggled and worked hard.”

She attributed her win to the cast members of Shero, which included Joanne Peh, Romeo Tan, Carrie Wong and Nick Teo..

“My zodiac sign is the horse and I’ve kept my head down and worked for all these years. There’s been many moments of disappointment. Today, being able to win this award is to the credit and support of many as without good actors in the show, I would not have been able to get such a good role or perform so exceptionally.”

Aileen also admitted that she “didn’t expect to win” an award this year and that she was “quite ill” during the rehearsals.

“The doctor told me I’d be fine going to work with medicine. I thought I would just go for the awards ceremony given that I’m just the bridesmaid and not the bride,” she said.

“If you’ve seen my previous interviews, you would know that I had no confidence in winning at all as all the nominees are such exceptional actresses and have been in the industry for so long. I believe that the chances of winning an award comes down to luck, and I’m thankful that my luck was due today.”

The other nominees for Best Supporting Actress were Chen Liping (The Sky is Still Blue), Hong Huifang (Strike Gold), Jin Yinji (Cash on Delivery) and Ya Hui (Family Ties).