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Oli Pettigrew, Getting the big break
(Courtesy of Oli Pettigrew) More than two years into his TV career in Asia, Oli Pettigrew found that people began to recognize him as "Oli" and not just the "funny white guy on TV"
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(Courtesy of Oli Pettigrew)
More than two years into his TV career in Asia, Oli Pettigrew found that people began to recognize him as "Oli" and not just the "funny white guy on TV".
To his delight, the Hong Kong-born Brit is now a familiar face on TV, especially among cable network viewers in the 20 countries where his current lifestyle show on AXN, Sony Style, is broadcast.
Now in its third season, the show has seen Oli fly a simulator airplane, interview the likes of American Idol runner-up David Archuleta and Taiwan's F4 band member, Vanness Wu, and report from glamorous events.
"People said I should just do it, I talked too much," the gregarious 28-year-old said of his career in front of the camera.
With a degree in communications, he knew that the media industry would be the natural next step for him.
The Hong Kong fashion scene is where he first entered the arena with his chiseled cheekbones and toned frame. In 2004, he decided to give Singapore a try and his plan for a two-week family visit lasted for five years.
After Oli had been modeling for several years, an independent producer saw his potential and asked him to host a TV show then in production. Unfortunately, budget problems meant it was never broadcast.
"We stopped shooting after five episodes and I thought, *There goes my one chance *for TV*'," he chuckled. But opportunity knocked twice on Oli's door.
The same producer then invited Oli onboard his next project, and Oli's first TV break - hosting the 2006 FIFA World Cup on Singapore's cable network. This was the gig that opened the door to the regional cable network.
His spontaneous sense of humor impressed the Animax channel, which offered him a position on a short gadget review show called Technomax, which he hosted for two years. AXN then caught wind of the funny white guy who blabbed about gadgets and put him on a bigger show on their channel. It's all been uphill from there.
Having been born and spent half of his life in Asia, Oli feels an affinity with this part of the world, saying, "If I could take my career to places I wanted to go, I would stay here."
But the Asian TV industry is not an easy one to break into, especially for Westerners. Language is a barrier, plus there were concerns that his style wouldn't fly with the Asian audience.
In search of career enlightment, Oli and his American wife, Linda, intended to move to the US a couple of years ago. All packed and ready to go, the couple learned that Linda was pregnant two days before the scheduled departure and decided to axe the migration plan.
"You can't spend all your money and move to a country without a job when you're pregnant," Oli said. "I spent the next 24 hours calling everybody I knew that ever promised me work and said *Give it to me'." Among those was Sony Style, whose offer he had originally turned down. Lucky for Oli, the show was happy to have him back for a second season.
The local TV industry may have a high resistance to Westerners hosting their programs, but Singapore is still a good base for English-speaking hosts such as Oli because most of the major English-speaking network channels are based there.
"The TV industry in Singapore has started to wake up, maybe not financially. The fact that I'm *also* on *local* TV is an example of that. It's very resistant to Westerners," Oli said. "Although I don't consider myself Western, everyone else does. I had to take a really long back road, improving myself for two years on Animax *before being offered a position by local TV*."
And just the other day, he realized that he and his son were fourth- and fifth-generation Asians.
"My son was born in Singapore, I was born in Hong Kong, and my father in India, his grandfather in Iran and his great-grandfather was born in Russia and they all belong to the Asian continent. I'm just ethnically British.
"When people ask me what I'm doing in Asia, I tell them I was born here. I'm fourth generation, so I'm more Asian than a lot of people here," he added proudly.
Such strong roots are probably what connect him to his Asian audience.
"I've receive emails from people in Brunei, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India saying that my show makes them laugh. It's a form of relief to know that people do get me."
So what has he learned about surviving in the Asian TV industry?
"Be blunt but don't be rude. Talk to whoever is in charge and don't waste time talking to middlemen who can't make decisions. I've got stuff sorted in 10 minutes that middlemen spent seven months trying to fix."
As for his next projects, there's one he's hoping to get: "The F1 Grand Prix. I'm a massive Grand Prix fan. To meet Lewis Hamilton and Kimmi Raikkonen would be a dream come true".
