Claire Wong

Wong was born in Penang, Malaysia to a police officer father and housewife mother and grew up in Kuala Lumpur when her father was assigned to work at the police headquarters there.[1] She was the youngest of five children in the family.[1]

In high school, Wong represented Selangor state in badminton competitions and was appointed the president of the literary, drama and debate society. Upon her graduation, she stayed with her relatives in Singapore and attended National Junior College.[1] She studied the sciences, and took part in school plays to further her interest in drama.[2] Wong studied law at the National University of Singapore and obtained her Master of Fine Arts in theatre at Columbia University in New York.[1]

Wong practised law first as a litigation associate and later as a corporate partner. Her corporate practice covered both Singapore and the region. She worked initially at the Allen & Gledhill and then as a partner at Helen Yeo & Partners in Singapore[1] and Freehills in Sydney.

During the 1990s Wong performed in leading roles in Ong Keng Sen's post-modern Flowers of Destiny, Madame Mao's Memories, and Desdemona.[3][4] More recently, she has acted in Huzir Sulaiman's Atomic Jaya, Cogito,[5] and Occupation. Her performance Atomic Jaya garnered her nominations for Best Actress and Best Ensemble Performance in both the Singapore Life! Theatre Awards and the Malaysian Cameronian Arts Awards respectively. She was also nominated for the Best Actress award for Occupation. Wong is a co-founder of creative consultancy Studio Wong Huzir and serves as its Senior Consultant. She was also the Head of Corporate Communications for Rodyk & Davidson, Singapore's first and oldest law firm, where she also oversees the firm's in-house training programme, and is a Joint Artistic Director of Checkpoint Theatre. She left Rodyk & Davidson at the end of November 2014 to spend more time with her elderly parents and focus on theatre.[6]

As a director, she was nominated for Best Director in the Singapore's Life! Theatre Awards for the landmark production of the trilogy of plays by Eleanor Wong, Invitation To Treat (2003). Wong co-directed the Singapore Arts Festival commission Occupation (2002). She received the Life! Theatre Award nomination for Best Director. Her other theatre directing credits include Up North Down South (2002) and Election Day (2004). For the 2006 International Festival of Women in Contemporary Theatre, she co-created and performed in the piece Recalling Mother.[7]

Her screen directing began in 2005, when she wrote and directed a television film, Project Peter, for Singapore's Arts Central channel. She wrote and directed a short film in Malaysia, Instant Noodles and Hot Chocolate, and was the script consultant and performer in That Historical Feeling, a Malaysian short film, which won a Bronze award at the Malaysian Video Awards. Wong has taught at the National University of Singapore, at both the Faculty of Law and in the Theatre Studies department.[8]

Wong married Huzir Sulaiman, a director and actor, in 2004.[1] Wong is a permanent resident in Singapore.[1]

• Interview at assuntaalumni.com