Ken you believe he’s Masked Singer star? Larger than life judge was quiet nerd, old pal reveals
The Masked Singer judge, 50, was a “chubby, quiet, nerdy” kid, according to a school pal.
And he looks completely unrecognisable in Talk TV’s exclusive picture from his high school yearbook as a teenager.
Hangover star Ken appears in the hit ITV show, which sees celebrities perform while wearing strange costumes. Ken alongside Davina McCall, Rita Ora and Jonathan Ross, has to guess who is behind the mask.
Ex-EastEnders fave Patsy Palmer and politician Alan Johnson have been among the shock reveals, dressed as
Butterfly and Pharaoh. But while Ken comes across as larger than life and has the audience in stitches, his old classmate Charles Wright says it couldn’t be further from the young man he knew.
Ken graduated from Walter Hines Page Senior High School, in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1986 before going on to train as a doctor.
But he decided laughter was a better medicine and turned to comedy instead, eventually finding worldwide fame as drug lord Leslie Chow in the hit Hangover movies. He was also in the original Korean version of The Masked Singer as well as the US one.
It has become a global sensation, with the bonkers UK show watched by more than five million viewers last Saturday. Donny Osmond is standing in for Ken for a couple of episodes.
Charles also told how Ken became a comic to blow off steam as he studied medicine.
He said: “Ken was a super-quiet guy – nothing like what he is like on TV or the Hangover movies.
“He was the best kid. Super smart and hard-working, very nerdy, a little bit chubby. He was incredibly popular with everyone but he could not sing a note.
“If he appeared on The Masked Singer in costume I’d know him straight away because he’d sound like a strangled cat, and I don’t mean that disrespectfully.”
At least he’s keeping us tuned in.
says his cameo in Doctor Who made him feel like a film star.
He plays Nevi in tonight’s episode – a very different role from potty-mouthed Jay in Channel 4’s The Inbetweeners.
“Usually everything I do is shot in suburban Britain,” said James, 32. “You want to be on these big sets with fun props, make-up, costumes. It’s why you dream of being an actor as a kid when you do a project like this.
“It felt like making a big sci-fi movie. There’s special effects, there’s explosions, there’s action and there’s chasing.”
Dr Who is on tonight, BBC■■One, 7.10pm
“I’d like to think I’d have a child in the future – or children,” she said on her YouTube channel.
“Not sure how many. Who knows?”
Tyrone Dobbs better get some more shifts down the garage…