Emerald Hill, the follow-up to 2009’s The Little Nyonya and the hit drama of 2025, unsurprisingly won big at the Star Awards this year, taking six awards including Best Drama and Best Original Song.

Leading lady Jesseca Liu took home her first Best Actress award for her role as the long-suffering Second Young Mistress in the drama, while other Emerald Hill actors Tyler Ten and Chen Liping were named Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress, respectively. Child actress Ivory Chia also took home the Young Talent Award for her work in the show.

A tearful Liu likened her 22-year acting career to “riding a unicycle”, with falls and injuries along the way. In the end, she said, “I know this is not through my effort alone”.

In the Best Actor category, Desmond Tan beat out hot favourite Chen Hanwei, clinching the trophy for his work as troubled twin brothers in Devil Behind The Gate. Tan’s last Best Actor win was for 2018’s When Duty Calls.

Held on Sunday night (Apr 19) at the Mediacorp TV Theatre, the Star Awards 2026 took the theme “Born to Glow”, with a total of 19 awards given out.

Hosted by Guo Liang, Zhang Zetong and Cheryl Chou, the awards ceremony was graced by international guests including Hong Kong’s Bowie Lam, Julian Cheung and Ada Choi; Taiwan’s Kevin Tsai, Jasper Liu and Hsieh Ying-xuan; and Chinese actor Luo Yunxi, who performed a song on stage.  

Guo Liang had his hands full as he also took home the Best Programme Host award for his on-stage skills at last year’s Star Awards ceremony, celebrating his second win in the category after being nominated “20 times, I think”. In his speech, he acknowledged the rise of artificial intelligence in the entertainment industry, telling his fellow artistes to “believe in yourselves. Even if AI comes for us, we have real vitality”.

It was a good night for the veteran host as he also clinched...