31-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
My Perfect Weekend with actor Jamie Aditya
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Who: Jamie Aditya, 55, is an Indonesian-Australian presenter, actor and radio host.
A popular MTV Asia VJ in the 1990s who used to be based in Singapore, he starred in local Malay-language war drama Operandi Gerhana (Phantom Squad, 2023) alongside Malaysian actress Carmen Soo.
It won Best Drama Series at Mediacorp awards show Pesta Perdana 2025 in May, where he also clinched Best Supporting Actor – Drama Series for his role as antagonist Aqsad, a former soldier who seeks revenge. The show is available on Netflix and mewatch.
Aditya was also in local series Grisse (Grey, 2018) and Indonesian film Asmara Dua Diana (The Love Of Two Dianas, 2009).
He is married to Nathalie Widyanti, a 51-year-old fashion stylist. The couple have two sons, aged 22 and 18.
Actor Jamie Aditya with his wife Nathalie Widyanti, a 51-year-old fashion stylist.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF JAMIE ADITYA
'My family is in Melbourne, while I am working in Jakarta, so I always have to fly back and forth between the cities . I cherish the weekends when I am with them, boxing with my sons or driving to the beach with a picnic basket.
But I usually spend most of my weekends alone, hiking in the great outdoors. I treasure my own company.
When I was younger, I especially enjoyed hiking up Pigeon House Mountain in Australia's Budawang National Park with my father. We woul d t ry to hike together every weekend back then. I am now more hesitant to take m y c hildren deep into the Aussie bush for walks, for fear of a fire breaking out, so we stick to two-hour trail walks.
Before I left Singapore in 2001, I tried to visit Pulau Ubin as much as I could on the weekends. I would rent a bicycle, ride around and drink fresh coconut juice. That was my idea of an enjoyable weekend, along with swimming laps at Farrer Park or the Yan Kit pool before devouring sliced fish soup or ban mian at a foodcourt.
In my free time, I watch English biologist-host David Attenborough's nature documentarie s. He knows more about our fragile planet's biodiversity than anyone else. M y fav ourite is his most recent show, Ocean (2025). It changed the way I look at seafood.
In this day and age, the world has become a scary place. I do not spend my time watching hollow dramas, as they feel like mere distractions from what we need to be thinking about – saving our planet and humanit y . '
