'My acting wasn't going anywhere': Zhang Zetong was close to leaving showbiz before winning Star Award, Entertainment News
Winning Best Supporting Actor within five years of making your acting debut is no small feat.
Malaysian actor Zhang Zetong won the accolade at Star Awards 2024 for his performance in the Mediacorp drama All That Glitters, but has now revealed that he was about to throw in the towel on his acting career even before getting the role.
In a video uploaded to fellow actor Glenn Yong's YouTube channel on April 25, the 32-year-old said that he put a lot of pressure on himself to perform.
Zetong entered showbiz after winning the talent show Star Search 2019, and despite never feeling that the company and production teams' expectations of him were higher, had "distracting thoughts" in his own mind.
He said: "These thoughts — whether I'm enough or performing to the standards — were self-inflicted. These were the stresses I'd given myself and it really took a very long time for me to put down these thoughts."
It was only after landing his All That Glitters role and taking acting classes that he could "retract [himself] from Zetong" and stay in the character for a long time.
However, he treated it as his final role, and said he was "really this close" to leaving showbiz.
"I was thinking of nothing but just of this show and how I was going to perform," Zetong said. "At that point of time, I really told myself, 'My acting is not going anywhere, it's looking a lot to me like a guy who can study might not be a guy who can act'.
"So I'm thinking, 'This is the last good role that I'm getting, so I'll just do my best then it's goodbye'."
When asked by Glenn, 28, why he was so harsh on himself, Zetong compared himself to an aspiring Olympian swimmer who knew that no matter how hard they tried, they were never going to "clock that time trial".
"I felt that, as long as I put in my best effort but I can't clock it, that's fine. I've tried my best, so I can say goodbye to this, it's fine. I can take a step back," he added.
"I'll leave the industry altogether."
Glenn added that that "thankfully" All That Glitters turned out well for Zetong, who agreed.
[embed]https://www.instagram.com/p/DI3eMkxTAUe/?hl=en[/embed]
Despite his initial hesitations, Zetong admitted that his rapid growth and winning an acting award so soon after his debut, has been nothing short of "phenomenal".
When asked by Glenn if his career has panned out how he expected since the award, Zetong said: "No way, man.
"In terms of the growth... the recognition I'm getting, it's happening a lot faster than I imagined."
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B1irREFMw8[/embed]
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