Star Awards for Best Variety Show Host award
Star Awards for Best Variety Show Host award | |
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Authority control databases
Sharon Au | |||||||
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| Born | 13 August 1975 Singapore | ||||||
| Alma mater | Waseda University | ||||||
| Occupation(s) | Host, actress | ||||||
| Years active | 1995–2018 | ||||||
| Agent | Mediacorp | ||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 歐菁仙 | ||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 欧菁仙 | ||||||
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Sharon Au (simplified Chinese: 欧菁仙; traditional Chinese: 歐菁仙; pinyin: Ōu Jīngxiān; born 13 August 1975[1]) is a Singaporean former actress and host. Having joined the TCS during the mid-1990s, she won many awards as an artiste with MediaCorp before taking a sabbatical to pursue university education in 2005 on a scholarship. She returned to MediaCorp to serve her scholarship bond upon graduation in 2011, taking up an office executive position. Nonetheless, she was still invited to host at televised events and theatres.
In February 2018, she resigned amicably from MediaCorp. In October 2018, she found an overseas job as an investment director in a private equity firm based in Paris, France.
She said in an interview that she grew up in a humble and modest apartment, and she is very close to her mother. She also said that she has moderate scoliosis since young, and needs a medical bed at home for her spinal condition.[2]
Au attended CHIJ Saint Nicholas Girls' School (Secondary) and Hwa Chong Junior College in Singapore. She graduated from Waseda University in Tokyo with a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree in 2011.[3]
Her first job after her GCE 'A' levels was a flight stewardess with Singapore Airlines,[4] Au's career in the entertainment industry began when she was talent-spotted from a Toy Factory Productions English remake of a Hong Kong stage musical I Have A Date With Spring. During the late 1990s she was best known for co-hosting City Beat with Kym Ng and Bryan Wong.[5] She played numerous roles ranging from a cabaret girl in the stage musical, Beauty World to an enthusiastic radio presenter in the sitcom Right Frequency, each receiving rave reviews.
Effectively multilingual, Au established herself amongst top emcee-hosts in Mediacorp alongside Quan Yi Fong and Guo Liang. This is further endorsed when she clinched the Star Awards for Best Variety Show Host for four consecutive years from 2000 to 2003.
Au took a break during the peak of her career and went to Japan for her undergraduate studies in 2005 in the School of International Liberal Studies, Waseda University in Tokyo on a MediaCorp scholarship.[6] She also went to Jean Moulin University Lyon 3 in France for a year as part of Waseda University's One-Year international Exchange Program. Au is multilingual, as she speaks English, Chinese, Japanese, French and basic Spanish.
Au was invited back on a few occasions to be host for some key events, including being the host in Beijing for Singapore Prime Minister's first state visit there and Star Awards 2007. In April 2011, she went back to MediaCorp to serve her 6-year bond. She played host for President Star Charity show in 2012. She made a significant mark in her forties, being one of the 3 key hosts in SEA Games in Singapore's home ground. However, she had been accused of mimicking an Indian accent during the SEA Games opening ceremony. She responded the next day on her Facebook page and apologised the following day.[7] In the same year; she played the female lead, Madam Kwa Geok Choo, in The LKY Musical, alongside actor Adrian Pang, for 37 shows in the Marina Sands Theatre.[8]
In 2012, she started and led styleXstyle.com (a property of MediaCorp Pte Ltd), focusing fashion, beauty and lifestyle.[9] In 2016, she co-founded the Style by Style Vibes cafe when the new Mediacorp campus opened.[10] In 2017, she was appointed as the Publisher for ELLE Singapore as part of Mediacorp's move from print to digital for its print medium.[11]
On 4 January 2018, it was announced that her last day of service in Mediacorp would be on 1 February 2018.[12] styleXstyle.com was later absorbed in 8 Days and ELLE Singapore end January of the same year.[13] Intending to take a year of sabbatical, she instead applied for a job at a private equity firm after spending two months in Paris, France.[14] Since October 2018, she is currently an investment director with the private equity firm in Paris.[15]
