Selena Tan

In this Chinese name, the family name is Tan.

Selena Tan
Born	(1971-07-29) 29 July 1971 (age 53) Singapore
Nationality	Singaporean
Other names	Chen Meilin
Education	Fairfield Methodist Secondary School Raffles Junior College
Alma mater	National University of Singapore
Occupations	Executive producer director writer actress businesswoman former lawyer
Agent	Dream Academy (founder)
Spouse	John Pok ​ (m. 2005)​
Children	1
Parent(s)	Charles Tan (father) Daisy Lim (mother)
Musical career
Member of	Dim Sum Dollies
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	陳美廩
Simplified Chinese	陈美廪
Hanyu Pinyin	Chén Měilǐn

Selena Tan (born 29 July 1971)[1] is a Singaporean executive producer, director, writer, actress, businesswoman and former lawyer. She is best known as one of the cabaret trio, the Dim Sum Dollies.[2][3] In 2000, Selena founded Dream Academy, which produced a variety of performance shows.

Early life

Tan was born in 1971 in Singapore, to army officer Lieutenant Colonel Charles Tan, of the Singapore Armed Forces, and gold broker Daisy Lim. As the eldest of her siblings, she had two brothers and two sisters. She studied at Fairfield Methodist Secondary School, Raffles Junior College and graduated with a law degree from National University of Singapore.

She started acting at age 14 and was taught by the late theatre actress and director Christina Sergeant.[4]

Tan also appeared in school productions and community theatre pieces until her undergraduate years. She also acted in plays and performances while working full-time as a general litigation lawyer.[5]

Career

Tan left the legal profession in 1997 to fully immerse herself full-time in the local arts and entertainment scene.[6]

In 1998, Tan staged her own standup with Selena Exposed! [7] Theatre company Action Theatre subsequently restaged Selena Exposed! for its comedy festival in 1999 and reinterpreted her piece as Broadway Baby Kailan. Dr Low Guat Tin, then a teacher-trainer director with the National Institute of Education (NIE), was so impressed with Selena's performance in Broadway Baby Kailan that she invited Selena to stage a show for Teachers' Day – The Other Side of the Teacher's Table. The three-night show enjoyed mild success.[8]

In 2000, Tan utilised her life savings to set up Dream Academy, an independent arts and entertainment company. Dream Academy has since produced the Crazy Christmas series, Happy Ever Laughter, Broadway Beng, Meenah and Cheenah, The Hossan Leong Show, Kumar's standup comedies at the Esplanade and later the Dim Sum Dollies in 2002.[9]

In 2011, Tan opened a restaurant, Daisy's Dream Kitchen, showcasing her mother Daisy Lin's Peranakan food in Sinagpore. It is currently located at the Tamasek Club.[10] In 2022, Tan set up an affiliated stall known as Daisy's Dream at Urban Hawker in New York City, a hawker center that sells Singapore-themed dishes. She manages the restaurant and stall along with her and mother and brother, Roy.[11]

Personal life

Tan has been married to lawyer John Pok since 2005. They have one son.[12]

Filmography

Film and television

• Rogue Trader (1999)
• Under One Roof (1999-2003)
• Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd (1999)
• I Not Stupid (2002)
• Homerun (2003)
• Daddy's Girls (2004-2005)
• Living with Lydia (2005)
• I Not Stupid Too (2006)
• Just Follow Law (2007)
• Gone Shopping (2007)
• Rojak (2016)
• Crazy Rich Asians (2018)
• Shotgun Wedding (2022)
• I Not Stupid 3 (2024)

Theatre

• Godspell (1993)
• Into The Woods (Singapore Repertory Theatre) (1994)
• Ang Tau Mui (1995)
• Sing to the Dawn (1996)
• Chang and Eng (Action Theatre) (1997)
• Kumar: A Life Alive (1997)
• Selena Exposed! (1998)
• Ah Kong's Birthday Party (1998)
• Broadway Baby Kailan (1998)
• Kumar: A Life Alive (1998)
• The 2nd Broadway Baby Kailan (1999)
• The Other Side of the Teacher's Table (1999)
• Medicares (2000)
• PS21 + Positive Signs (2000)
• Maybe Knot (2000)
• Cabaret: A Single Woman (2002)
• Animal Farm (2002)
• Pillow Talk (2002)
• Dim Sum Dollies® in Steaming! (2003)
• Animal Farm (2003)
• The Revenge of the Dim Sum Dollies®! (2004)
• Chang and Eng (2004)
• Wanton Me (2004)
• Animal Farm (2004)
• Aladdin (2004)
• It Takes Two (2005)
• Dim Sum Dollies®! Singapore's Most Wanted (2005)
• The Snow Queen (2005)
• A Twist of Fate (2005)
• The Little Shop of Horrors (2006)
• Broadway Beng®! (2006)
• A Crazy Christmas (2007)
• Kumar The Queen (2007)
• Broadway Beng® Returns (2007)
• Dim Sum Dollies®: The History of Singapore (2007)
• Selena Tan: One Singular Sensation (2008)
• Dim Sum Dollies®: History of Singapore (Re-run) (2008)
• Broadway Beng®: You can't keep a good Beng down! (2008)
• Another Crazy Christmas (2008)
• Sing Dollar! The Musical Comedy About Money (2009)
• The Jungle Book (2009)
• Kumar: Stripped Bare & Standing up (2009)
• The Hossan Leong Show (2009)
• Broadway Beng®: Jiak Liu Lian! (2009)
• Crazy Christmas® (2010)
• The Hossan Leong Show 2010 (Episode 2) (2010)
• Cinderel-lah (2010)
• Kumar: Stripped Bare & Standing up (2010)
• Aladdin (2011)
• Into The Woods (2011)
• Kumar’s Amazing Race (2011)
• The Hossan Leong Show 2011 (Episode 3) (2011)
• Crazy Christmas® (2011)
• Kumar’s Amazing Race (2011)
• Happy Ever Laughter® (2012)
• Kumar’s Amazing Race (2012)
• Pillow Talk (2012)
• Kumar’s Amazing Race (2012)
• Crazy Christmas® (2012)
• The Hossan Leong Show 2012 - Flying Solo (2012)
• Crazy Christmas® Ting Tong Belles! (2013)
• Broadway Beng®! Benging you back to basics (2013)
• Kumar: What makes a man a man? (2013)
• Dim Sum Dollies® - The History of Singapore Part 2 (2014)
• Kumar: What makes a man a man? (2014)
• Happy Ever Laughter® - Standup Comedy Madness! (2014)
• Dim Sum Dollies® - The History of Singapore Part 1 (2015)
• Crazy Christmas® A Groundnutcracker (2015)
• Report Cuts (2015)
• Broadway Beng: 10th Anniversary Concert (2016)
• Meenah and Cheenah (2016)
• Detention Katong (2017)
• Charlie and Chocolate Factory (2017)
• Blithe Spirit (2017)
• Haunted (2017)
• Army Daze (2017)
• Company (2018)
• Blithe Spirit (2018)
• Nunsense (2018)
• Animal Farm (2018)
• Meenah and Cheenah (Rerun) (2019)
• BALLS! (2019)
• Love Calls (2020)
• Broadway Beng Last being standing (2021)

References

1. "Selena Tan". Facebook. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
2. A blast from the past for the Dim Sum Dollies
3. Model child
4. Mayo, M. (2013, February 23). Drama teachers group to hold a memorial for Christina Sergeant. Today Online
5. Kwok, Y. (2005, March 28). Laws of attraction. The Straits Times, p. 2. Retrieved from NewspaperSG
6. Yong, S. C. (2002, July 30). A flair for transformation. The Straits Times, p. 25, Retrieved from NewspaperSG
7. Chia, C. (2006, July 31). Selena exposed. The Straits Times, p. 4. Retrieved from NewspaperSG
8. Oon, C. (2000, January 26). The world's now her stage. The Straits Times. Retrieved from Factiva.
9. About us. Dream Academy website
10. "Daisy's Dream Kitchen". Time Out Singapore. 7 March 2019. Retrieved 23 January 2025.
11. Cole, Kirstin; Jondonero, AJ (28 September 2022). "Daisy's Dream serves up Singaporean favorites at Manhattan's Urban Hawker". WPIX. Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
12. Singapore, National Library Board. "Selena Tan | Infopedia". eresources.nlb.gov.sg. Retrieved 2018-05-04.

External links

• Selena Tan at IMDb