{{Short description|Singaporean writer, art collector and TV producer}} {{Infobox person |birth_date = 26 July 1958 |birth_place = Singapore |death_date = |death_place = |death_cause = |nationality = |alma_mater = National University of Singapore |image = |caption = |name = Woon Tai Ho |other_names = |movement = |organization = Channel NewsAsia, MediaCorp, National Gallery Singapore |monuments = |awards = |footnotes = }} '''Woon Tai Ho''' ({{zh|s=云大篪|p=Yun Dachi}}) (born 26 July 1958), is a TV producer, art collector and writer. He is the founder of Channel NewsAsia.
==Early life== Woon grew up in Geylang, where he would organise 20-cent magic lantern shows for the neighbourhood with his twin brother, former MediaCorp Raintree Pictures CEO and Homerun Asia founder Daniel Yun.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Anjum|first1=Zafar|title=Woon Tai Ho: My words are my paints|url=http://kitaab.org/2013/08/10/woon-tai-ho-my-words-are-my-paints/|website=Kitaab|date=10 August 2013 |access-date=18 September 2014}}</ref>
His father, a chef, died when he was in secondary school, and his mother tried various ways to care for her two sons and two daughters, including running a food stall.
Woon attended Telok Kurau Secondary School and Hwa Chong Junior College on scholarships, and graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Political Science in 1982.
In his youth, Woon was an aspiring painter who sold a work when he was 16 years old.
==Career== Woon began his career as a producer in Singapore Broadcasting Corporation and Television Corporation of Singapore, producing programmes like ''Depth of Field: A Portrait of Chua Soo Bin'' (1989), ''A Changing Beat'' (1990) and ''War in the Gulf'' (1991).
In 1999, he launched Channel NewsAsia. From 2000 to 2004, which Woon describes as "the most rewarding years of my life", he was the CEO of MediaCorp TV12, and from 2004 to 2009, the managing director of MediaCorp News.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Lee|first1=Janice|title=Reluctant Switch|url=http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/today20020130-2.2.26.1.aspx|access-date=18 September 2014|agency=TODAY|publisher=MediaCorp|date=20 January 2002}}</ref>
In November 2008, Woon released a non-fiction book on the life and work of Cultural Medallion recipient Tan Swie Hian, ''To Paint a Smile''.
In 2009, he left MediaCorp and in June of the same year, founded media consultancy [http://www.greenorange.com.sg/ Green Orange].
In February 2013, Woon released his debut novel ''Riot Green'', set in the cut-throat world of South-east Asian art.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Nanda|first1=Akshita|title=Art imitates life for ex-TV chief|url=http://stcommunities.straitstimes.com/tv/2013/03/07/art-imitates-life-ex-tv-chief|access-date=18 September 2014|agency=The Straits Times|publisher=Singapore Press Holdings|date=7 March 2013}}</ref> ''Riot Green'' is in the process of being adapted into a movie.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Woon |first1=Tai Ho |url=https://www.facebook.com/woon.ho.5/posts/4938892966204?pnref=story |website=Facebook |access-date=2023-03-22 |title=2015 may indeed be a year of possibilities}}</ref>
In August 2013, Woon was appointed as Director for Media and Marketing for the National Gallery Singapore.<ref>{{cite news|title=Former MediaCorp News CEO Woon Tai Ho appointed director for media and marketing at National Art Gallery|url=http://www.todayonline.com/entertainment/arts/former-mediacorp-news-ceo-woon-tai-ho-appointed-director-media-and-marketing|access-date=18 September 2014|agency=TODAY|publisher=MediaCorp|date=2 August 2013}}</ref> In January 2015, Woon, in a shock move, quit.<ref>{{cite news|title=High-level staff changes at the National Gallery Singapore just months before it opens|url=http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/visual-arts/story/high-level-staff-changes-the-national-gallery-singapore-just-months-it-o#xtor=CS1-10|access-date=5 January 2015|agency=The Straits Times|publisher=Singapore Press Holdings|date=2 January 2015}}</ref> Woon is currently a senior media consultant at communications consultancy RHT ARC Comms & Relations.<ref>{{cite web|title=RHT Comms & Relations announces the addition of media veterans P.N. Balji and Woon Tai Ho as senior media consultants|url=http://www.rhtcomms.com/news/rht-comms-relations-announces-addition-media-veterans-pn-balji-and-woon-tai-ho-senior-media|website=RHT Comms & Relations|access-date=25 February 2015}}</ref>
Woon has also contributed articles on art and travel to ''The Business Times'' and ''The Straits Times'', and helped put together an exhibition of early Keith Haring drawings in 2012.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Kolesnikov-Jessop|first1=Sonia|title=Keith Haring's Early Drawings Get First Showing|url=http://sea.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/839391/keith-harings-early-drawings-get-first-showing|access-date=18 September 2014|agency=Blouin ArtInfo|date=8 November 2012}}</ref>
In 2024, he won the inaugural Dr Alan H.J. Chan Spirit of Singapore Book Prize for his biography of artist Lim Tze Peng, ''Soul Of Ink: Lim Tze Peng At 100'' (2021).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hoo |first1=Shawn |title=Biography of 102-year-old artist Lim Tze Peng wins richest Singapore book prize worth $30,000 |url=https://www.straitstimes.com/life/arts/biography-of-102-year-old-artist-lim-tze-peng-wins-richest-singapore-book-prize-worth-30000 |website=The Straits Times |publisher=Singapore Press Holdings |access-date=23 April 2024 |language=en |date=23 April 2024}}</ref>
==Personal life==
He is an art collector, counting the works of Roland Ventura and Tan Swie Hian as part of his collection.<ref>{{cite web|last1=River|first1=Jordan|title=SILLAGE IN SINGAPORE – INTERVIEW WITH WOON TAI HO, AUTHOR OF RIOT GREEN|url=http://thefragrantman.com/2013/03/01/sillage-in-singapore-interview-with-woon-tai-ho-author-of-riot-green/|website=The Fragrant Man|date=March 2013 |access-date=18 September 2014}}</ref>
==Works by Woon Tai Ho== * ''Art of joy: The journey of Yip Yew Chong'' (World Scientific, 2024) {{ISBN|9811278717}} * ''Unfinished canvas: Life of Koh Seow Chuan'' (World Scientific, 2024) {{ISBN|9811287317}} * ''Rainbow after Dusk: Lim Tze Peng Remembers'' (World Scientific, 2023) {{ISBN|9811274541}} * ''George Yeo: Musings. Series one to three'' (World Scientific, 2022-23) {{ISBN|9811259690}} {{ISBN|9811259720}} {{ISBN|9811259755}} * ''Transition: The story of PN Balji'' (Marshall Cavendish International, 2022) {{ISBN|9815066803}} * ''Soul of ink: Lim Tze Peng at 100'' (World Scientific, 2021) {{ISBN|9811237026}} * ''We Have A Problem: Crisis and Reputation Management in the Digital Age'' (Candid Creation, 2016) {{ISBN|981098443X}} * ''Riot Green'' (Candid Creation, 2013) {{ISBN|9810752512}} * ''My kampong, my home: Conversations with Lim Tze Peng'' (2010) {{ISBN|9810873654}} * ''Partnering to rebuild: Operation Blue Orchid: the Singapore Armed Forces experience in Iraq'' (Ministry of Defence, Public Affairs Dept, 2010) {{ISBN|9810848536}} * ''To paint a smile: Insights of one artist's approach to happiness'' (Candid Creation, 2010) {{ISBN|9810818076}}
==External links== * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4x5R-KbA-4 Channel NewsAsia interview with Woon] * [http://woontaiho.blogspot.sg/ Woon's blog]
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Woon, Tai Ho}} Category:1958 births Category:Living people Category:Singaporean people of Chinese descent Category:Singaporean novelists Category:Mediacorp Category:Hwa Chong Junior College alumni Category:National University of Singapore alumni