Shane Pow went through ‘lowest point’ serving time; joins Li Nanxing’s agency

Actor Shane Pow, who was sentenced to five weeks’ jail after a repeat drink driving offence, finished doing his time last month and recently announced that he has signed on with Li Nanxing’s talent agency, LNX Global.

The agency also manages Constance Song and Julie Tan, who is close friends with Pow.

Li and Pow announced their collaboration to local media last week, with Li saying that he believes in Pow as an actor and that everyone deserves a second chance. "We have to believe in him," Li said.

Pow, 30, revealed that Li had been a family acquaintance since he was a child, and produced a photo of himself and Li taken more than 20 years ago.

When Pow was dropped by Mediacorp after news surfaced that he had failed to inform his management about being caught drink driving, Mark Lee told Shin Min Daily News that he’d be willing to sign Pow under his agency King Kong Media, which also manages Henry Thia and Marcus Chin.

But eventually, it was Li who took Pow under his wing.

Before signing a management contract with Mediacorp, Pow had been managed by Beam Artistes from 2011 to 2017.

Pow said he did not inform his management about the incident because he knew he would have to serve time and wanted to save his mother a few months of worry.

While incarcerated, he spent much of his time in isolation due to COVID-19 quarantine protocols. That was when he learned the meaning of staring at the wall and reflecting on what he’d done, he said.

To while away his time, he read all of the 16 books he was given, including Harry Potter And The Order of the Phoenix in Chinese.

It was the “lowest point” in his life and the isolation made him feel he was “going a bit crazy”. Fortunately, when he eventually bunked in with other inmates, they were nice to him, Pow said.

When he lost his job, he spent time pondering his next move, and considered becoming a fitness coach, going to culinary school because he loves cooking, going into investments and even becoming a travel blogger – but dropped the last idea because of COVID-19 travel restrictions.

But he still loves acting and hopes that The Heartland Hero, which he filmed for up until his contract with Mediacorp was terminated, won’t be his last drama.