COVER PERSONALITY – FOO FANG RONG
Foo Fang Rong, the female lead in Dick Lee’s hit musical Fried Rice Paradise, might be a starlet on the rise, but she keeps it real – with a little help from her canine companions.
The rising star shares her touching pet ownership journey — and how being a dog owner keeps her grounded
fair-faced with a sunny disposition and a honeysuckle voice, Foo Fang Rong is every bit the sweet girl-next-door. She dances, sings, plays the guitar, and certainly knows how to flirt with the camera in a girlish, effortless manner, never mind the uncooperative coastal wind sweeping her tresses across her face and the merciless tropical sun threatening to scorch her porcelain skin.
Though only 23 years of age, she is a veteran by standards — Fang Rong has starred in more than 30 drama series and movies since entering the industry as a four-year-old child model.
She recently struck gold with the opportunity to play the female lead in the small-screen adaptation of home-grown musician and playwright Dick Lee’s popular stage musical Fried Rice Paradise. Yet she is not your typical self-possessed celebrity. Instead of preening herself, she fusses over her dog in between sets, refilling its portable water bowl and feeding it snacks. And yes, she is also the responsible dog owner who cleans up after her pooch.
Fang Rong is neither spoilt nor pampered, and certainly not a child-star-gone-wild. Beneath all that floozy girlishness are grit, guts (by the way, she also practices Brazilian Jiujitsu) and a whole load of well-grounded sensibility. And the dogs in her life have a big role to play in it.
A Leading Role
Fang Rong was 12 years old when her family welcomed Snowie home through adoption.
The two-year-old potty-trained shih tsu was a breeze to integrate into the family. “It was very simple with Snowie really. Her favourite toy was a tennis ball and she would get the crazy ‘zoomies’ whenever we picked up the ball,” shares Fang Rong fondly.
The family of five — Fang Rong has an older brother and sister — would also bring Snowie out on car rides, and make an effort to go on regular weekend outings to East Coast beach as a family. “Having Snowie definitely brought us closer together, for she bridged the age gap between everyone and gave us a common reason to go out together as a family,” she shares. Such healthy bonds certainly went important in grounding her as a young actor who was getting more than a child’s usual share of attention as a star in television dramas like School House Rockz.
Snowie was also a source of comfort to
Fang Rong during trying times. In 2013,
Fang Rong made the difficult decision to quit her studies at Saint Andrews Junior College. Being dance captain in charge of preparing the team for Singapore Youth Festival (SYF), while simultaneously filming I’m In Charge for Channel 8, became too overwhelming too fast. A typical weekday for Fang Rong would see her attending school from 7am to 3pm, then heading to a two-hour dance practice, and wrapping up at the studio at 1am. “By mid-year of level one in junior college, my grades were falling. Everything was snowballing to a point where it got really bad,” recalls Fang Rong.
Then, she would often take nighttime walks with the shih tsu to clear her head.
Those moments of clarity helped Fang Rong steel herself for a route less orthodox: instead of attempting to complete her ‘A’ Levels, she enrolled in a full-time Bachelor of Arts psychology course by University of Buffalo, under the Singapore Institute of Management. The flexibility to schedule her classes meant she could take Friday and the weekends off for filming, and the US-style curriculum, with its focus on understanding and application of content, was also easier to digest than the memorise-and-regurgitate style of our local system. “Through that experience, I learnt a lot about myself – and how to let go of things even when I am not ready to do so. It made me grow up a lot,” says Fang Rong.
Even so, some things are just more difficult to let go of, and it was heart-breaking moment when she had to say goodbye to Snowie earlier this year. The family dog had developed liver problems and spent most of her last three months in the vet’s clinic — until Fang Rong’s mother made the decision to keep Snowie at home in her last few days.
“It was hard to see Snowie becoming very weak in her last few months of life,” says Fang Rong. The actress recalls the exact moment she learnt of her pet’s passing — at exactly 12 noon, as she was waiting to board her flight home from Malaysia after wrapping up the filming for Fried Rice Paradise. “I was in the waiting area bawling my eyes out.” She adds, “A part of me still feels guilty because I have not been spending as much time with Snowie as we did
when she was younger. It was the first time I lost something so close to me. I don’t think I will ever fully heal from it, even though I have accepted it.”
A New Romance
Almost two years back, Fang Rong — together her boyfriend whom she lives with — decided to get a dog for their own little “family unit”. And though a seasoned dog-owner by then, Fang Rong was taken surprise by the challenges of taking care of a puppy. For one, Sydney, then just five months old, had to be constantly taken out as part of the pup’s potty training. Fang
Rong recalls waking up at 3am just to walk him, and having to harden her heart and turn a deaf ear to Sydney’s incessant whines at night, like a tough mother allowing a baby to cry it out for its own good. “It was really a trying few weeks… I didn’t have proper sleep on most nights,” shares Fang Rong, who had never owned a puppy before this.
Being very involved in Sydney’s training allowed Fang Rong to build a strong relationship with the Labradoodle — an affectionate 17-kilo ball of woolly fur who would caper madly about the ankles of Fang Rong’s visitors and bestow a generous number of free licks to all.
“Sydney’s kisses never fail to cheer me up instantly,” shares Fang Rong as she ruffles her pet’s head. “When she licks me, she always looks into my eyes with such innocence. It reminds me that no matter how bad my day is, there is this sweet little being that cares for me.”
One can imagine how hard it must have been then for her to leave Sydney behind and head to Malaysia for the filming of Fried Rice Paradise from March to June earlier this year. “Being away from home for so long, I really missed my family, friends and Sydney,” shares Fang Rong, who would watch videos of Sydney that her boyfriend sent over each night before bed. In a scene where her character — an aspiring chef trying to uncover the mystery behind her mother’s death — gets buried alive, the cameramen had to take a close-up shot for a good 15 seconds with her face covered by sand. “If I had accidentally breathed, I would have choked and possibly died.” It was a terrifying quarter of a minute, and one of the thoughts that flashed through her head was: who is going to take care of Sydney if I die? How will she feel if I don’t come home?”
Despite her demanding and irregular working hours, Fang Rong religiously carves out time to be with her loved ones and Sydney. “I’ll read my script while sitting on the floor, so Sydney can be on my lap,” says Fang Rong with a smile. On weekends, she and her boyfriend take Sydney out to the beach or a nearby reservoir to gambol freely. The couple also make it a point to include Sydney in their social outings with close friends.
“We pack her water bowl, wet wipes, treats and her toy ball every time we go out.
It’s almost like packing to go out with a baby,” says Fang Rong with a laugh. “Sydney taught me how to be responsible for another being.
It’s important to commit to making sure she eats and sleeps well, and if you go out with her, she has all the items she needs.” The doting dog owner also shares that while she happily splurges on Sydney, she often holds back from spending on herself.
When it comes to training the sweet Labradoodle, Fang Rong is the good cop to her boyfriend’s bad cop. While he plays the alpha figure, who disciplines Sydney when she makes boo-boos, Fang Rong is the loving parent who soothes her chided pup with cuddles and love. One thing they both take turns to do, though, is clean up after Sydney. “Picking poop is such a normal part of dog ownership, yet it also forces you to remember that you are part of the same community and have to take care of it so other people can enjoy the space that you are in,” says Fang Rong.
It definitely helps to keep the rising starlet grounded. Says Fang Rong with a giggle, “At the end of the day, no matter how famous you think you are, there’s no greater reality check than having to bend down to pick up your dog’s poop!”
Sydney taught me how to be responsible for another being