NOW that he has established a strong footing in Malaysia, actor Hisyam Hamid has been labelled a Malaysian celebrity by his Singaporean fans.
“These days, they don’t regard me as a Singaporean artiste anymore, even though I was born and raised in the republic,” said the 31-year-old in a recent interview.
“This is a good thing, though, because they seem to treat artistes from Malaysia and Indonesia better than their own,” said the actor when met at the HBO breaking-of-fast event last month.
However, Hisyam said he did not mean that Singaporeans didn’t appreciate their own artistes, only that foreign celebrities had been receiving better treatment.
Hisyam made his debut in Malaysian showbiz in 2011 through TV drama series Cut Amirah, a collaborative project between Astro Prima and Singapore’s MediaCorp.
It was only in 2013 that he began to actively work in Malaysian productions.
He starred in various successful Malaysian TV series, including Ariana Rose, Memori Cinta Suraya, Abang Bomba I Love You and Sayang Papa Saya Tak?
“I still make it a point to work in Singaporean productions, but with my hectic schedule I can only do one project a year. Also, Singaporean productions take longer to complete.
“For example, a Malaysian production only takes 40 days to finish filming a 13-episode series. A Singaporean one would take up to four months due to the lack of crew and full-time actors.
“I still love my home country, but I cannot deny that in Malaysia, I have more and bigger opportunities,” said Hisyam, who has since brought his wife and manager Rosmawati Hanafi along to be based here.
However, their two school-going children, Nurish Syameliah, 10 and Hayden, 8, are still in Singapore.
The actor is also aware of the stiff competition among Malaysian small-screen actors in landing meaty roles.
Acknowledging that popularity can be an important tool to survive in an industry as volatile as this, Hisyam is banking on his acting alone.
“At the end of the day, it really goes back to the quality of work you do.
“Instead of being fixated on popularity, I prefer to focus more on leaving a strong, memorable impact on viewers through my acting,” he said.
Hisyam is down to film an eight-episode miniseries titled Dosa in Jakarta, Indonesia soon.
“It’s an action-packed show about a mafia who flees Jakarta to seek refuge in Malaysia. I will be going for a month of physical training to ensure that my fight scenes look convincing.”
Among the cast members are Indonesia-based Malaysian actor Ashraf Sinclair, and our very own music sifu and actor Datuk M. Nasir.