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It's almost impossible to not have heard of "Ah Girls Go Army" (AGGA) if you've been on TikTok (and basically the internet) in recent months.
I was given the privilege of watching Part 1 of the series in a media preview, and let's just say I publicly opined that I wasn't the biggest fan...
...which made my conversation with Glenn Yong, the lead actor of the Jack Neo film, just a little bit awkward.
"I read the Mothership review," he said to me, with a sheepish grin.
After I profusely apologised out of embarrassment (I still stand by my original review, though), the 26-year-old graciously laughed it off and assured me that it was totally ok.
"It's also a chance for me to improve because if everything is positive, I wouldn't know what to improve on," he said.
Debut in 2019
If you've not watched AGGA or simply can't recognise Yong's name yet, that's because he is a relatively fresh face in the entertainment industry.
He made his small-screen debut in 2019, appearing in several Mediacorp Channel 8 drama series like "The Good Fight".
Yong gained prominence in 2021 after he scored a lead role in the idol drama series "Live Your Dreams" alongside fellow starlet Chantalle Ng.
A quick scroll on his Instagram page with over 103,000 followers looks as if Yong indeed is living his dream, sharing behind-the-scenes of his past productions and even posing for big brands like Dior, Montblanc and Coach.
Worked several jobs while acting
However, he was quick to acknowledge that getting to where he is now has taken a few "pretty dry" years.
Coming from an average Singaporean family, he said that while his parents encouraged him to pursue a career in acting, they wanted him to get a degree as well.
Respecting his parents' wishes, he would work during the day and go to university classes by night, pursuing a part-time degree in marketing.
Not wanting to impose on his parents, Yong also decided to pay the tuition fee, which was "about S$20,000", himself.
He worked several odd jobs, including waitering, events photography, and ushering just, so he could sustain himself and pay for his degree.
He laughed as he told me:
"The worst part was when I was being a waiter for an event, and my other actor friends were attending the event as VIPs. Honestly, that felt terrible then, but I had no choice."
As awkward as that experience sounds, it was clear that Yong was aware of his priorities.
He added: "To me, there was no choice... I had no money and needed to survive. It was the kind of state whereby I wasn't even sure if I was going to have enough money to eat next month."
Catapult to fame
After playing several bit roles and hard labour, Yong credited "Live Your Dreams" as the series that kickstarted his career.
"People started knowing me as the blue-haired guy," he chuckled.
A couple of months after the series aired, he recounted how "lucky" he felt to have been chosen to play the lead role of Sergeant Chow in AGGA.
"I wasn't actually thinking about auditioning because I thought it was only for girls. I was lucky that Apple (Chan) contacted me and asked if I was coming to audition for the show. I said, 'Are you crazy? It's a female show, why are you asking me?' That's when she told me there might be some male roles."
Photo from Glenn Yong.
Initially, Yong auditioned for a calefare role that only required three days of filming.
He shrugged his shoulders as he said: "I wasn't expecting anything. If I can do a movie, why not right?"
He must have left an impression on director Jack Neo, since Neo called him the very next day and casually told him that he was cast as the male lead.
Yoo Shi-jin of Singapore?
If you've watched the movie, you would notice that Sergeant Chow is a strict leader who mostly shouts bloody murder commands at the recruits.
Photo from Glenn Yong.
"The character was supposed to be a very dashing, very charming Yoo Shi-jin (played by Song Joong Ki) from 'Descendants of the Suns' kind of character," he revealed, much to my surprise.
He said that they tried delivering lines as a charming sergeant at first, but Neo felt that the character would appear "too nice".
At that moment, Neo asked him to shout more.
"I shouted and he loved it, so he said: 'Ok, let's do this all the way.' [chuckles] What did I get myself into?"
Thankfully, he never did lose his voice over the two months of filming.
Suggested minor changes to avoid cancel culture
Viewers would also notice that unlike the other characters in AGGA, Yong's character, refreshingly, had little to no lowbrow humour.
This, he shared, was after he carefully offered some minor suggestions to change the script.
"What you see in the movie is actually different from the script we had [...] Maybe because I'm one of the younger ones [among the cast and crew], I'm quite aware of the cancel culture. I realise that some of the things that we say may be offensive. When we run through rehearsals, I would notice that certain things may go out of hand if they were shown in the cinema. So I would suggest nicely if we can say it another way or maybe we shouldn't say this joke because the younger crowd may not get it."
Pretty bold moves for a newbie in the industry, I must say.
He quickly explained: "Of course, I was afraid of making such suggestions. But my end goal in mind is that I didn't want this movie to not do well. Jack also made it comfortable for me so I really got to respect Jack for that."
Didn't want to embarrass his parents
Alas, AGGA did receive several negative reviews from local critics.
"The first two weeks were scary. I didn't know what to feel, actually," he said.
However, Yong revealed that he was more worried that his parents would feel paiseh (embarrassed) following the backlash than he was for himself.
"They read the reviews. My dad sat me down, he was quite serious. He said: 'Son, I saw all the comments. Are you ok?' They knew it was a dream for me to do a movie so they were worried I would be disappointed or depressed."
The gesture, of course, touched Yong and made him feel thankful that the family was just encouraging each other to feel better.
On the bright side, AGGA did really well at the box office not just in Singapore, but in Malaysia and Brunei as well.
The swoon-worthy actor also gained many new fans following the movie, he's been receiving a lot of interesting requests in his Instagram direct messages.
"I received a lot of DMs telling me to scream or shout at them... Some secondary school students also asked me to shout at them to do their homework."
We have to clarify that while Yong truly appreciates his fans, he did not respond to any of these requests, unfortunately.
Path towards bigger dreams
It was halfway into the interview when I asked Yong: "Actually, why did you want to become an actor?"
That's when he told me that it's just a step he has to take to achieve his lifelong dream to become a ambassador.
"Acting is kind of like a bonus. It helps me do what I want to do, which is to be an activist... I believe they (underprivileged kids) deserve a shot in chasing their dreams or doing well in life. So I hope that I can stand up for causes like these."
In the meantime, Yong is taking this year to focus on his music career.
"I'm working on two songs currently, one English and one Chinese," he said.
And of course, you'll get to see more of him in AGGA Part 2 in June 2022.
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Top image from Glenn Yong.