Gurmit Singh On His 9-Year-Old Daughter Telling People That He’s Famous & Why He Thinks Sunny Side Up's Portrayal Of Interracial Marriage Is Important (2024)

"It's been very, very, nice working with this whole group of people and chatting with everybody. I always joke that I don't see any prima-donnas or people who are hard to get along with on-set… at the moment,” Gurmit jokes.

"But the concerns were addressed very quickly 'cos they told me that depending on my involvement in the storyline, I may be very heavily involved, or I may not be involved at all,” says Gurmit.

8DAYS: You mentioned in a 2019 interview with us that you regret that your youngest child wouldn't know how it's like to have a superstar dad, since you stepped back from work when she was younger. So do you reckon Sunny Side Up to bethe project that will help her realise that her dad is still a superstar?

GURMIT SINGH: Yeah, but I have to say first, to correct you, I wasn't regretting that my youngest daughter wouldn't know how famous I was. I was kind of joking, if anything. My first two [kids] saw me at the prime of my career, but the third one saw me bumming around at home, doing nothing. But yeah, she's very aware that I'm famous, and she tells people that I'm famous. (Laughs)She's very cutelah.

So she goes up to her teachers and says: "You know, my dad's Gurmit Singh, he's famous?"

So far, the teachers and her schoolmates have been quite cool about it 'cos it's not like I go around, loiter around the canteen. I wasn't able to go into the school 'cos of COVID-19 [anyway].

At the moment now, I only do her drop-off at school and I stay in the car. So nobody really knows that Gurmit Singh is dropping off his daughter at this school (laughs). And I think it's kind of cool too lah'cos as I've said before, I want my wife and my children to have their own privacy.

I sacrifice my privacy 'cos of my job. I accept that as part and parcel of my job but I don't have to make my family suffer too.

Have your kids ever expressed an interest in showbiz?

Yeah, they've always had. I think it's in the bloodlah(laughs). They've dabbled in either theatre, or short films, or even doing behind-the-scenes, like editing, or sound, or visual effects. My son, Elliot, who just graduated from polytechnic, he took visual effects and film effects.

Is that something he wants to pursue in the future?

We're not sure. I mean, things can change all the time, we'll see how it goes. And I don't want to pin them down, and say: 'You must do this. I'm an actor, so let's continue the family tradition’.

I've always said: 'Look for something that you would be happy getting up in the morning for'. It may be editing, it may not be. It doesn't bother me if my child does something else.

How about your eldest daughter Gabrielle? Is she doing a theatre-related job now, since she studied theatre in university?

Yeah, she studied theatre in the UK, and fine arts too 'cos it was a mixed degree. She's back in Singapore and working now.

Your character on the show is a dad that tries his best to understand his kids and hear them out — is that your parenting style too?

Do your kids come to confide in you, like how your onscreen son does in Sunny Side Up?

Yeah, of course. I can't share with you [what they confide in me] 'cos it's very personal, but I think for every parent, you hope, or you want to have enough hope and faith that your child will come to you when they need somebody to talk to, or confide in, or share their thoughts with.

As a parent, the last thing I would want my child to do is to seek help elsewhere, and I'm left in the dark. I don't think any parent would want that. I think most parents, they would love it when the child comes and say, 'Eh, I have this problem, I need your help, I need your guidance’.

We feel validation, we feel like, "I'm useful as a parent!"

In the show, you’re married to Gina Tan’s character, and the topic of interracial marriage comes up. Are there any other things you hope the show will address?

The fact that we have an interracial marriage is going to raise awareness.

[When it comes to marriage], even if you're from the same race, when you come together, there's a whole lot of baggage from where you came from, in terms of your educational background, in terms of your upbringing, your parenting style… All these will have to be put on the table, and the couple will have to sort it out and agree on what's best for the family that they've created.

And then when you throw race into the mix as well... I love [that Sunny Side Up is showing this] 'cos I think there are more and more interracial marriages now, and I think a lot of people will find this dynamic very eye-opening, and that it can be done. It’s not all about who's right or who's wrong, but about coming to an understanding and letting things work out.

For you, this also comes from a place of experience, right?

Yeah, exactly. I'm also, you know, in real life, in an inter-racial marriage to my wife, she's Cantonese, she's Chinese, but I'm not Cantonese (laughs).

You mentioned previously that you had to wait seven years before you could propose to your wife?

Yeah, that's right. Oh, you did your homework (laughs). Yeah, we came from different backgrounds and everything, and finally the moment came when I thought: 'I have to. I have to do this now, this is the next step, and the worst that could happen is that I would get the answer:'No, cannot’.'

And as you can tell, there was very little resistance, and the rest, as they say, is historylah.

Resistance from either side of your families?

We weren't sure. We really were not sure ’cos my parents were hoping for me to marry into an Indian family, an Indian girl, and her side was looking for a Chinese guy.

But both our parents got to know us over the years, and they really liked us, and it was time for us to say: 'Eh, how much do you really like us?’ and if they could allow us to get married.

Photos: Mediacorp, Gurmit Singh/Instagram

You can catch Sunny Side Up every weekday on Ch 5 at 7:30pm, or binge-watch it on meWATCH here. The first episode is embedded below.