Fans and those close to the actor know that it was his late father’s wish (Mr Ng passed away in 2012) that his family live together on a landed property. The idea took hold and materialised when the family of six moved into the 5,500 sq ft house in January this year, just days before Chinese New Year. They include Elvin, his mum, his younger sister, 33, who is an accountant who works from home, and his younger brother, 30, who used to work as the PM’s bodyguard and is now in security management at RWS and his wife and two-year-old daughter. Despite his contractor woes (ironically, his parents were renovation contractors, although his mum and his siblings didn’t help with the reno), Elvin is pleased with the way things have turned out in his dream home. Works of art add to a sense of grandeur at stair landings, and family pictures are found all around the house (We met his brother and niece during the shoot and saw pics of his whole family, who have remained largely private, and we have to say, Elvin looks nothing like his siblings or even his parents. “Yes, I was picked up from the rubbish dump,” he jokes.) Halfway through the grand tour, Elvin suddenly knocks on his mum’s door on the second floor. When she opens it, he ushers us in to show us mama Ng’s simple but stylish room: “She wanted it all in marble, so I made it all marble — you see?”, he gestures proudly while mama beams. There are three other rooms on the second floor, one for his sis and two for his brother’s family (his sis-in-law is expecting the couple’s second kid). Elvin occupies the third floor — “it’s like a bachelor’s pad, sort of like a SOHO unit by itself” he says — where he has a cavernous room complete with walk-in wardrobe and en suite bathroom and a large karaoke/living room/pantry across the hallway.
Perhaps it’s a complete coincidence that Elvin completed this massive personal project in the same year he hit a career milestone — 10 Top 10 popularity Star Awards. Now that his wishes have been fulfilled on the home and career front (for now) — what’s next?
