Local actress Rebecca Lim on her Mr Right and what her ideal wedding looks like

The Year of the Tiger is looking bright for Rebecca Lim.

On the horizon is her big day, which she told CNA Lifestyle that the wedding will “definitely” take place this year. Both the local actress and Matthew Webster, her English-Chinese Singaporean fiance, are also born in the Year of the Tiger - double happiness anyone?

Apart from having acting chops, Rebecca is also an advertiser’s darling, having endorsed everything from cars to jewellery, supplements and skincare. She has even appeared on the covers of numerous fashion magazines and flew around the world to attend fashion shows and events before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Here are some facts to know about the down-to-earth star and her dream man.

Their first date lasted for six hours

In the January issue of Her World magazine, Rebecca shared how she was first met Matthew, an assistant vice-president of corporate branding at PSA Singapore,

Set-up by her makeup artist friend, Rebecca met him at a group dinner where she claimed they barely spoke the first time they met. But he got her number that night and they met a week later for dinner in Dempsey.

"This time, he sat opposite me, and I remember thinking to myself, ‘Wow, he’s actually really good-looking.’”

She told Her World they had dinner for three hours, followed by "a long drive for another three". 

"Basically from the east to the west and back again with the windows down, sometimes conversing, sometimes in silence. It just felt so comfortable."

How she knows he's The One

“When I realised that I just want to spend every possible moment with him. Whether I have a really good or bad day, I just want him to be the person by me. When I think of my future, I see him in it.”

She added: "I feel so right in his company. Whether we’re talking, doing something together or just doing nothing in silence, it’s so easy. It feels like we’ve known each other for a long time."

She wants a simple wedding

Rebecca already had an idea of what her ideal wedding would be. During an interview with AsiaOne at a jewellery brand event, she revealed that she isn’t keen on the idea of a destination wedding as it involves too much planning, and rules out a beach wedding as she hates the sun. Instead, she prefers having a simple solemnisation ceremony followed by a buffet spread. 

Simplicity is also key when it comes to her engagement ring. She described her dream ring as a simple ring with a small but shiny and good-quality diamond. Based on the diamond ring we saw from her pix, she got her wish after all.

She can get ready in two minutes

She proclaimed that the shortest time she has taken to get ready is two minutes, as it involves “just brushing my teeth and splashing my face with water.”

On the other hand, the longest time she has taken to get ready is when she’s at shoots, and could take up to three hours.

The Pupil ignited her passion for acting

Matthew, who didn't know his wife-to-be is a TV sweetheart, could start by watching The Pupil.

Rebecca got the leading role in the critically acclaimed 2010 Channel 5 legal drama. It was her first full-time contract role, and she went on set the next day after sitting for her final exam paper at SMU.

Playing an apprentice lawyer called Wendy Lim, she held her own among veteran actors like Adrian Pang and Janice Koh. She eventually won the Best Actress in a Leading Role award at the 2010 Asian Television Awards for her performance and credited the show for making her fall in love with acting.

She struggled with Mandarin

Rebecca, who is now effectively bilingual, can double up as Matthew's interpreter.

Surrounded by English-speaking friends and family, she got an A2 for her O-level Chinese but was unable to speak it well. In interviews with the media, she has talked about how she had to repeat a simple line, "Mr Chen, you have a meeting at 3.30" over 20 times when she acted for the first time in the 2006 drama Family Matters because she couldn’t get it right.

She was also heavily criticised for her poor command of Mandarin in 2008’s The Truth where she co-starred with Joanne Peh and Tay Ping Hui. Undeterred, she took Mandarin lessons, listened to Chinese music and read magazines like i-Weekly. All the hard work paid off. She is now one of the most prolific Channel 8 actresses. She even landed her first Hokkien-speaking role in the 2018 dialect drama Eat Already? 4.

Her American dream isn't over

So Rebecca lost the role of Astrid Leong-Teo to British actress Gemma Chan in the Hollywood blockbuster Crazy Rich Asians.

But her road to Hollywood stardom hasn’t ended. In February 2021, The Celebrity Agency, which manages Rebecca, signed a partnership with Bohemia Group. Alongside other local celebs, Bohemia will help them seek out international acting opportunities.

She is passionate about charity work

Just as the circuit breaker measures kicked in in 2020, Rebecca and her assistant packed and delivered 400 care packs to the elderly and less privileged staying in one-room flats and frontline heroes in essential services such as taxi drivers and cleaners. 

The actress has been quietly doing philanthropic work for the past few years, organising Chinese New Year lunch and lo hei sessions with old folks who live alone and delivering care packages with her fan club members. She is also a Goodwill Ambassador of the Singapore Cancer Society where she helps raise awareness of the fight against cancer.

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