Being the daughter of local actor Peter Yu and prolific host Quan Yi Fong, you would think that Eleanor Lee’s career in showbusiness is all but assured. In reality, a combination of luck, hard work and talent has made her a successful name both in Singapore and China where she has since gained a foothold in the large and competitive market. But beyond these two facts about Eleanor Lee, how well do you know her? Keep scrolling to find out more about this multi-hyphenate and all that she stands for.
Specifically, Eleanor Lee doesn’t take after the surname of her father, Peter Yu, in her stage name. Her legal name is still “Eleanor Yu”. According to her mother Quan Yi Fong, the decision to change her stage surname was based on the advice of a fortune-teller and not because of the family’s close connection to godfather and hairstylist Addy Lee.
On the talk show Hear U Out, Eleanor Lee further shared that she has little to no memories of Peter Yu at all. She, however, does not regret not having a father.
At the age of 16, Eleanor Lee broke into the Chinese market after scoring a role in a viral Chinese Apple commercial back in 2015. This paved the way for Eleanor Lee to move to the East Asian nation to develop her acting career, where she went on to take on roles in productions such as The Big Boss (2017), Overseas Security Officer (2018) and Fake Princess (2020).
In 2017, Eleanor Lee and Quan Yi Fong, shared the news that the former had been admitted into the Beijing Film Academy. The school has a long, prestigious history and has nurtured the likes of directors Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige and actors Zhao Wei, Huang Xiaoming, Liu Yifei and Yang Mi.
In fact, Eleanor Lee revealed to Harper’s BAZAAR Singapore that her “first dream was to be a singer”. “I’ve always liked singing, writing my own music — it’s the most important part of me.” Acting was originally meant to be an avenue for Eleanor Lee to gain visibility and use it to showcase her first love, but she loved acting so much that she decided to do it too.
If you want to listen to Eleanor Lee sing, head over to her YouTube channel where she posts her music videos (yes, she has released music!) and covers.
According to The 100 Most Beautiful Asia Faces of 2020 by TCCAsia, Eleanor Lee was ranked 91st. Other famous names on the list included Blackpink members, Angelababy, Dilraba Dilmurat and more. TCCAsia’s parent company TC Candler has been rating celebs since 1990.
In September 2020, Eleanor Lee had to undergo surgery on her big toes due to ingrown toenails on both feet. She decided to get them both fixed at the same time and had to depend on Quan Yi Fong, as a personal “wheelchair” to get around as she recovered.
In the same interview with Harper’s BAZAAR Singapore in 2020, Eleanor Lee professed her love for fashion and added that one of her dreams is to “open my own store, selling my own designs.” And in early 2022, she made her dream come true with her own streetwear label No Labels with the beanie as its first product.
In March 2022, Eleanor Lee’s TikTok account got hacked for the third time. The first happened back in December 2021. About the event, she shared that she would “wake up feeling scared” that her other social media accounts would be hacked.
“Having to check constantly every minute. It’s really getting on my nerves and honestly affecting my own social life as I don’t dare to put trust in anyone or any app. As content creators, you’ll always be really proud of the effort you put into your posts. And when my account gets hacked, I feel really upset. Like all my hard work is lost and gone and worst of all, stolen and deleted.”
In August 2022, it was uncovered that Eleanor Lee got into a legal tussle with actor Glenn Yong. The latter stated that he was being harassed online by an anonymous hater while Eleanor Lee later stated that it was a “misunderstanding”. The two have since supposedly cleared up the air and resolved the conflict.
“I have dreams of having that kind of life where my future boyfriend will be able to tell the world, ‘Look, here’s my girl’. I think everybody wants that feeling of your partner being proud of you.
But for me, in this industry, I don’t have this privilege. I gave up my freedom and privacy when I decided to join [showbiz]. I feel that it’s the right thing to keep it private. What my mum taught me is also right: Sometimes, a relationship in showbiz will go through a lot more stress and difficulties once it’s made known to the public, so it can get really hard.
Of course, there are difficulties in keeping your relationship private as well. Like if you’re dating someone and a girl goes up to him, he can’t really say, ‘I’m dating her’ and he has to continue interacting with her like nothing’s wrong. It’s stuff like that which impacts your relationship and emotions.
Every choice you make will have its consequences and cause you to go through a different set of difficulties. But for now, at my age, it’s smart to keep it private if I were in a relationship.”
Text: Ho Guo Xiong/HerWorld
- TAGS:
- eleanor lee
- quan yifeng