16 January 2001
Lu Rui En’s modelling career soared after she raced like a daredevil in a SingTel ad to top up her handphone’s stored value card. She even earned a feature in this month’s FHM magazine.
SERENE FOO meets the other SingTel girl who didn’t get the marriage proposal.
FOR her moment of fame, she ran for about 12 hours, till she tore a ligament.
Recalled Lu Rui En in mock horror: “I haven’t been doing any exercise for ages. Not since the days in junior college when I was in the hockey team.
“And I had to run from, like, 7am to 7pm for the shoot.”
The SingTel ad was shot in one day around Boat Quay and Raffles Place.
Said the 20-year-old: “The director kept telling me to run faster and faster. And the crew was filming me from a truck.”
“At that time, I really felt as if I was in an action movie.”
By noon, she was walking with a limp. By evening, she had torn a ligament.
“I went around with a limp, weeks after the shoot ended,” said the business undergraduate from Nanyang Technological University.
But the shoot also inflated her bank account by a few thousand dollars.
And she appeared in this month’s issue of FHM, all styled up.
But Rui En’s lucrative modelling jobs were not appreciated by her dad at first.
“My dad thinks that in this industry, they will DRUG your drink and RAPE you or something.”
She had her first shot at modelling after her A levels in 1999.
Now, Rui En is a model with Phantom Management.
“I try to tell my dad everything, like what I do on the job, what exactly the industry is like, so that he can understand.”
She has also done advertisements for MPH and Seiyu.
And guys, eat your hearts out.
The leggy babe’s taken.
Her boyfriend wasn’t supportive initially.
“He’s kind of ‘jealous’ and thinks that I might run away with some tall, dark and handsome model,” she added.
WANT TO SEE HER?
Not that he is the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
“He’s been approached to try out modelling. Ya, I think he’s quite cute. Oh no, must be humble, modest, right?” she added, laughing.
For a glimpse of the frequent party-goer, you can try hanging out at Zouk. But don’t dismiss her as a wild airhead.
Said Rui En: “I love having fun but I also know where to draw the line. Ultimately, I know I need to do well in my studies.”
In order not to jeopardise her school work, Rui En tries to schedule her casting calls after her lessons.
“I think the shelf life of a model is short. I hope to venture into banking and finance. Or, maybe investment banking because I love economics.”
At the moment, she doesn’t foresee herself being in front of the camera after graduation.
“But I may still do modelling part-time because the money is good.”
And get this, the ex-Raffles Junior College student is fanatic about classical literature.
“I was a literature student in Junior College. I love reading although I don’t have as much time for it now. Sometimes, I prefer to stay at home with my boyfriend and just read.
“Her favourite: Thomas Hardy’s 19th-century classic Tess of the D’Urbervilles.
“It’s a book I did for my A levels.”It’s very poetic and the author has very intelligent insights into the human nature.”
She also enjoys the works of F Scott Fitzgerald.
And guess what, the university library was where she was recognised by one of her schoolmates.
Said Rui En: “You know, it’s so quiet in the library and this guy said loudly, ‘Are you the one in the advertisement, I didn’t expect to see you here’.
“Covering her face in mock embarrassment, she joked: “I was like, ya, I am studying here. Thank you and pleeeaaase go away.”
Poor chap.
Still, it wasn’t exactly a brilliant pick-up line.
Source: The New Paper
Categorised in The New Paper.
