Career
Yao entered the local television scene after winning the Star Search 1993 (Male category) organised by then Tata Consultancy Services (now MediaCorp Channel 8). Besides television dramas, he appeared in the popular sitcom, My Genie alongside Fiona Xie and Huang Yiliang. Yao starred in the 80 episode long Kinship series in 2007, where he collaborated with Jesseca Liu, Elvin Ng, Ann Kok, Cynthia Koh and Xiang Yun.
In 2008, he played butcher Liu Yidao in the highly acclaimed serial The Little Nyonya, garnering him yet another Best Supporting Actor nomination.