Ann Kok

Ann Kok (born 11 January 1973) is a Singaporean actress, businesswoman and singer. During the 1990s, Kok was ranked the "Third Ah Jie" by the local media, which defined her as the third most prominent actress in Singapore's Chinese-language entertainment industry of that time, after Zoe Tay and Fann Wong.

Kok left Mediacorp after her contract expired but continues to film on an ad-hoc basis.

Early life
Kok is the youngest child of a family of six children. She has two sisters and three brothers.

Rise to prominence
Kok started her acting career in 1993 after emerging as a finalist in the local talent-search competition Star Search, where she won a contract to work on Chinese-language TV channel SBC 8 (now MediaCorp Channel 8).

During the 1990s, Kok played lead roles in numerous television series, and her popularity soared during that period. She was ranked the "Third Ah Jie" by the local media, which defined her as the third most prominent actress in Singapore's Chinese-language entertainment industry of that time, after Zoe Tay and Fann Wong. From 1995 to 1999, Kok won five consecutive Star Awards for Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes.

During that period, Kok also released three solo albums.

In 2000 at the height of her popularity, Kok ventured overseas to expand her acting career.

Return to Singapore
Kok's venture overseas proved unsuccessful, and she returned to Singapore to join the now-defunct MediaWorks in 2003 and later MediaCorp in 2005. Upon her return to Singapore, Kok was often relegated to supporting roles.

Kok made her comeback when she earned rave reviews for her performance as Jiang Ruqing in Love Concierge. That role scored her a nomination for the Star Awards for Best Actress in the Star Awards 2006, her first acting nomination in her 13-year-long career.

Since then, Kok has established herself as an acclaimed actress. In 2009, she played the lead role Alice Zeng, a materialistic and show-off housewife, in the highly acclaimed drama series Housewives' Holiday, which won her praise and positive reviews from audiences. For her performance, Kok was nominated for the Best Actress Award again in the Star Awards 2010 and was the hot favourite, but missed the award. That same year, Kok made her stage debut singing live at The Peranakan Ball for The Little Nyonya musical.

In 2011, Kok made another appearance in Kampong Ties, which was filmed in Sungai Lembing, Malaysia, for a period of 4 months. In the same year, Kok also appeared in The Oath and Bountiful Blessings, starring alongside established actors such as Christopher Lee, Tay Ping Hui and Hong Kong actress Jessica Hsuan.

In 2011, Kok won her sixth Star Awards for Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes at the Star Awards 2013, her first popularity award since 1999.

In 2012, Kok became the first actress in Asia to snag two nominations in the same category since the inception of the Asian Television Awards (ATA) in 1994. Kok was nominated for the Best Actress in a Leading Role award for her performances in Kampong Ties and Show Hand for ATA 2012. Results would be announced in December 2012.

In 2013, Kok won Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes in Star Awards 2013. She also walked away with "BottomSlim Sexiest Legs" Award for Star Awards 2012 Walk of Fame. At the Star Awards 2013, Kok was nominated in Favourite Female Character, Favourite On-screen Couple (Drama), BottomSlim Sexiest Legs Award, Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes.

In March 2014, Kok left Mediacorp. As she chose not to renew her contract, she was deemed ineligible to participate in Star Awards in that year. Her last television series before her contract ended was In the Name of Love. In the same year, she appeared on the big screen with her debut appearance in local film, The Filial Party.

In 2015, after almost a year's break from acting, she acted as Deng Xue Li in Crescendo, produced by Wawa Pictures.

In April 2016, she played the lead role in Toggle.sg original 4-episode psychological thriller mini-series Trapped Minds. In the same year, she did a musical as Hua Mulan's elder sister, Hua Mulish. The original comedy with a twist Mulan The Musical took place in Resorts World Sentosa from 16 December 2016 to 5 February 2017, with the famous troop from Taiwan. They broke record by performing 36 shows in 2 months in Singapore.

Ventures
Kok partnered with actress Jesseca Liu to open a retail shop selling bags and accessories in Joo Chiat. The shop, named BFF Zakka, closed in 2014 when the rental contract was due.

In 2017, Kok opened a castella cake shop, named Harmony Bakery, at KSL City mall in Johor Bahru. It shuttered in 2019.