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Zoe Tay turns to her youngest son, 15, for inspiration to play a 12-year-old in Kid U Not
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Veteran actress Zoe Tay had to learn Gen Alpha slang to be a 12-year-old child in new drama Kid U Not.
ST PHOTO: BRIAN TEO
Published Apr 17, 2026, 05:15 PM
Updated Apr 17, 2026, 06:14 PM
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SINGAPORE – To prepare for her latest role as a 12-year-old child trapped in a middle-aged woman’s body in the new comedy-drama Kid U Not, Zoe Tay did not have to look far for reference.
The 58-year-old veteran actress turned to the most natural “consultant” she has at home – her youngest and most mischievous son Nathan, 15.
The 20-episode series also stars Marcus Chin, 73, and Aileen Tan, 60, who, like Tay, are transformed into Primary 6 pupils. Together, they need to find a way to get back to their adult selves.
The show premieres on April 27 on Channel 8 at 9pm and will be available on mewatch.
“The girl I play is spoilt and naughty, but she acts up because of the lack of love and attention from her parents,” Tay tells The Straits Times at the media session for Kid U Not on April 16.
“Her parents were so busy, they left her with a nanny, so she became very rebellious. She is also a troublemaker in school and disrespectful towards teachers.”
To make the character believable, Tay needed to capture both the emotional hurt and the messy, impulsive energy of a tween – which is why she mined Nathan’s behaviour.
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“He is very playful and mischievous,” says Mediacorp’s Ah Jie, who also has two older sons, Ashton, 18, and Brayden, 21. Being a hands-on mother, she is intimately familiar with the way children sulk, joke, bargain and push boundaries.
The other key to unlocking the role was Singaporean child actress Ivory Chia, 10, who plays Tay’s younger self in the show.
“I have to imitate how she acts, behaves and talks,” Tay says. The production team filmed Ivory’s performance during rehearsals, so Tay could study it closely.
The student, who broke out in Channel 8’s blockbuster drama Emerald Hill – The Little Nyonya Story (2025) and recently starred in the Malaysia-Singapore comedy film Liang Po Po Vs Ah Beng (2026), impressed Tay with her professionalism and instincts despite her tender age.
“Ivory is really smart. She understands what you’re talking about very quickly,” Tay says.
(From left) Marcus Chin, Zoe Tay and Aileen Tan in Kid U Not.
PHOTO: MEDIACORP
The other aspect of playing someone with the mind of a child is mastering Gen Alpha catchphrases, which Tay readily admits put her out of her depth, so she was happy to be schooled by the child actors on set.
Some of the cheekier ones the kids suggested, such as the hand gestures that accompany the viral internet meme 6-7, had to be dropped because they were deemed inappropriate for TV.
“I know other Gen Alpha slang as my sons and their friends use them all the time,” Tay adds, though most terms sounded foreign to her.
Tay believes Kid U Not speaks to real issues facing Singapore families, from children under academic and emotional stress to parents who are too busy or distracted.
She acknowledged that her own children went through significant academic pressure, especially during their Primary School Leaving Examination years, and confessed she initially added to the stress.
She recalled being very anxious about her own PSLE and “did not study hard”, but managed to scrape through to Secondary 1.
“So what I did not do properly then, I made sure my sons did, like studying hard – and I gave them tons of work,” says Tay, laughing.
- Kid U Not premieres on April 27 on Channel 8 at 9pm and will be available on mewatch.
