Biography
Neo found his calling when at the age of 14, he wrote and acted in a comedy skit for Tanjong Katong Secondary School.
Neo started his career on television in 1980 and became one of the most successful and recognizable celebrities in MediaCorp for his comedic roles on film and television - His two most notable cross-dressing roles on film and television are that of Liang Po Po and Liang Xi Mei. Neo started directing features in That One Not Enough (1999) and he set up his own artiste management company, J Team Productions, whose members include comedians Mark Lee, Henry Thia and John Cheng.
Neo's films satirize several aspects about Singapore in comical ways, including societal issues such as negligent parenting and school corporal punishment, and foreign issues such as the water disputes between Singapore and Malaysia. Apart from his film and TV career, Neo has also recorded and produced a number of albums.
Neo received the Best Director Award at the Silver Screen Awards in 1998 for his short film and was also awarded with the Lifetime Achievement Award in the following year in recognition of his contributions to Singapore's media industry. In 2004, Neo became the first filmmaker in Singapore to be honoured with the Public Service Award. He also received the Cultural Medallion on 21 October 2005 together with musician Dick Lee.
In 2008, Neo and Mark Lee bought the Singapore master franchise rights for Old Town White Coffee, a coffee retail concept from Ipoh, Malaysia. Their first store at Big Splash opened on 30 March in that year.
Read more about this topic: Jack Neo
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