If you've been keeping up with the local entertainment scene in recent weeks, you've probably come across clips of this Mediacorp actor thanking his dog in his Star Awards speech.

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This speech was in fact the first James Seah has ever delivered at the Star Awards, across his 10 years in the industry.

The 33-year-old took home his first Star Award that night, as one of 10 winners under the Top 10 Most Popular Male Artistes category.

This highly coveted award saw 94 nominees across both male and female categories this year — the greatest number of nominees in Star Awards history.

10 trophies won under this category would earns an artiste the title of "All-Time Favourite", an honour currently held by stars like Fann Wong, Christopher Lee and, just recently, Yvonne Lim.

So, what took Seah this long to win his first award?

Outside he's smiling, inside he's sweating

In an interview with Mothership, Seah recalls the Star Awards season as a stressful one.

"For the whole month, [my] fans and my loved ones — my family, my friends — they're all voting for me," Seah explains. "[And] you never know the results until the end."

When asked how he feels about the win, Seah said he was happy, but mostly relieved.

After all, it meant that everyone's efforts had paid off.

"When I was on stage, I was… quite nervous. Even though, like on screen, it [seemed] like I was very calm. But actually, my pits were, like, sweating, and [I was] trying to remember my thank you lines for everybody."

Seah had written his awards speech beforehand, just in case.

But by the time the sixth or seventh name was announced, the actor had started to give up hope. He didn't think he had a chance.

As it turns out, Seah's name was the ninth announced.

"I was like, “Huh? Seriously?” At that point of time, it was… shock lah. I didn’t expect it, honestly. So that’s why on the way up, walking up the stage, my face was very stoned. I was trying to remember, [...] trying to complete the structure of my thank you lines."

"Wow... it's been a journey," Seah mused with a smile.

His pillars of support

Though Seah's wife didn't physically attend the show, she was hosting a watch party back home with a few close friends.

"[She's a] loving wife," Seah remarked with affection.

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According to him, the first thing she did after his win was text him asking what he wanted to eat, so food would be ready on the table by the time he got home.

His answer? A double filet o' fish.

The couple owns a Chihuahua, named Moonstone (endearingly called "Moon Moon") Seah's honorary mention in his Star Awards speech.

To him, Moonstone is family.

@mothership.nova moon moon is our favourite, sorry james 👀💘🐶 @谢俊峰 James Seah #tiktoksg #singapore #starawards #dog #dogs #dogsoftiktok #whattoplay #whattowatch ♬ MAESTRO - SEVENTEEN

The two are also active participants in a Chihuahua club, where Seah found some of his greatest supporters: the owners of a few dogs Moonstone particularly gets along with.

"Power of Chihuahuas. Let's go," Seah laughed.

Ten years for one moment of glory

Now for the big question: why did it take Seah 10 years to snag his first award?

When we posed him this question, he answered that he believes everything happens for a reason. To him, nothing ever comes "too late".

"Things [come] to you when you are [ready to receive them]. I feel that, maybe, before that I wasn’t [ready], in a way?"

The actor admits that he was focusing more on his craft at the beginning of his career, and ended up paying less attention to his fans in the process.

"I feel that I neglected that part of [the job]. [...] I didn’t really try to improve that bond with [my fans].

In recent years, I felt that it was time for me to be [more] connected [to] them. I feel that actually helped, in a way? With the support of my fans, it actually kept me going all this while."

After the awards show, the first text Seah sent was to his fan club, thanking them for their support.

He also has plans for a karaoke session with them in the near future, as an expression of his gratitude.

Moving forward

Seah may have won his first popularity award, but the journey towards the title of "All-Time Favourite" has only just begun.

When we asked how he felt about that, he replied lightheartedly:

"Wow, it feels like a very long journey ahead. It means 10 years. 10 trophies means 10 years. Let’s just go with the flow and try lah! We see how lah!"

Top photos by Livia Soh and from James Seah's Instagram page.