Malaysian actor Zhang Yaodong, who built his career in Singapore after winning Star Search in 2001, is no longer represented by Mediacorp's talent agency following successive scandals over his personal life and secret children.
Mediacorp confirmed to Chinese-language news outlet 8world in February 2025 that the 47-year-old is no longer represented by its talent arm, The Celebrity Agency, after the agency sought clarification over online allegations that Yaodong had fathered children abroad. Mediacorp's corporate communications department said it no longer represents Zhang Yaodong and was therefore unable to comment on the inquiries, and his profile was removed from the agency's website. No official statement was issued regarding his employment status.
Yaodong's reputation went up in flames in July 2024 when a netizen accused him of being a serial cheater. The actor, who had long claimed he was single, later admitted to having two daughters but refused to reveal the identity of their mother. In January 2025, further allegations surfaced online claiming that he had more 'illegitimate children' in China, Indonesia and Thailand. At the time, his manager told 8world they were unable to comment on his behalf.
The scandal is a striking fall for an actor who starred in more than 50 dramas over two decades, including The Greatest Love Of All (2007) and Daybreak (2019), both of which earned him Best Actor nominations at the Star Awards. His last project was 2024's Born To Shine. For years, Yaodong cultivated an image as one of Singapore's most eligible bachelors, making the revelations about his hidden family life all the more damaging to his public persona.
The quiet severing of ties by Mediacorp, Singapore's dominant broadcaster, effectively ends his mainstream career in the city-state. Industry observers noted that the case reflects how talent agencies now treat personal scandals as business risks, with brands and broadcasters increasingly unwilling to weather prolonged reputational storms for individual artistes. The manner of the split was telling. Rather than a formal termination announcement, Mediacorp simply confirmed to 8world that it no longer represented him and quietly removed his profile from The Celebrity Agency's website, the corporate equivalent of being erased. For an actor whose career was built entirely within the Mediacorp ecosystem after Star Search 2001, the loss of that institutional backing is effectively a career death sentence in Singapore's small, broadcaster-dominated market. Yaodong's attempt to control the narrative also backfired. His admission of two daughters, coupled with his refusal to identify their mother, satisfied nobody: it confirmed the cheating allegations while raising new questions about the women's identities and welfare. The subsequent claims of additional children across China, Indonesia and Thailand, which his camp declined to address, ensured the story kept burning. At 47, with his last project Born To Shine now behind him, his prospects of a mainstream comeback look remote in an industry that has shown little appetite for rehabilitating scandal-hit male stars.