By Charlene Chua
So what’s the buzz surrounding this year’s nominees?
Unfortunately, there isn’t much, seeing that there were no shocks or surprises with the unveiling of the yawn-worthy lists.
This year, two MediaCorp princesses – Fiona Xie and Dawn Yeoh – are missing from the list, leaving Jeanette Aw, Joanne Peh, Felicia Chin, Rui En and Jesseca Liu to battle it out.
Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes Nominees
Ann Kok
Belinda Lee
Felicia Chin
Hong Huifang
Jeanette Aw
Jesseca Liu
Jin Yin Ji
Joanne Peh
Kym Ng
Lin Meijiao
Michelle Chia
Michelle Chong
Pan Ling Ling
Pei Xuan
Priscelia Chan
Quan Yifeng
Rui En
Vivian Lai
Xiang Yun
Yvonne Lim
Source: The New Paper
Categorised in 七公主 7 Princesses, Star Awards, Star Awards 2010, The New Paper.
Show Page 22
The results for the Singapore Entertainment Awards 2010 are out.
MOST POPULAR…
Male Singer: Show Luo
Female Singer: Stefanie Sun
Local Singer: JJ Lin
Group: S.H.E
Band: MayDay
Music Video: JJ Lin, Hundred Days
Newcomer: Alien Huang
Local TV actor: Dai Yangtian
Local TV actress: Rui En
Hong Kong TV actor: Moses Chan
Hong Kong TV actress: Charmaine Sheh
Taiwan TV actor: Mark Chao
Taiwan TV actress: Rainie Yang
U-weekly cover: S.H.E
Source: The New Paper
Categorised in Omy SG E Awards æ–°åŠ å¡ Eä¹å¤§èµ, Omy SG E Awards æ–°åŠ å¡ Eä¹å¤§èµ 2010, The New Paper.
Page 24
Rui En will play a wife and mother for the first time
By Kwok Kar Peng
ONE MediaCorp Princess has willingly agreed to transform herself into an older woman and mother of a 7-year-old girl.
Click to see larger image
DARK DRAMA: (Above) In her next project, Rui En’s character suffers a succession of tragedies. –TNP DESIGN: PRADIP KUMAR SIKDAR –TNP PICTURES: KELVIN CHNG
This makes Rui En the first among the Seven Princesses to leave the castle and move on to playing mature roles.
Yes, we know she is the cool, strong-willed and unconventional one among the Jeanette Aws, Joanne Pehs and Felicia Chins.
This career move will certainly differentiate her even more from her ‘royal’ peers, who are still playing young single girls.
We wondered if the decision was deliberate. Why take such a big leap forward, Rui En?
‘Why not?’ she shot back.
‘I think it’s good to have something fresh. It’s a huge risk, but without risks, you can’t move forward.’
Then she laughed and added, as she leaned forward to squeeze this reporter’s arm, ‘Eh, I’m 29 years old this year!’
Turning serious, the 1.69m-tall actress – whose previous roles in The Dream Catchers and My School Daze saw her tackling mostly strong, independent and highly educated single girls – said: ‘I can’t pretend to be a teenager or a teenybopper any more. I’m also not about to start lying about my age. As I grow up, the characters I take on have to grow up as well.’
And how they will grow.
Next project
In Rui En’s next project, tentatively titled I’m With You, she will play a wife and mother for the first time.
It is supposedly a very dark drama, where a succession of tragedies befalls her character Siqi – one of which is the sudden death of her husband (Chen Hanwei) in the first episode.
His spirit, however, lingers in the human world and pesters Adrian Pang’s character, the only person who can see and talk to him, to help his family get over his death.
You can expect some flutterings of romance between Rui En’s character and Adrian’s, but nothing too much for a recently-widowed woman.
Rui En will begin filming the drama later this month.
Although wading into new territory makes her jittery, and it is way out of her comfort zone, she says she is looking forward to it.
But if you have a mental picture of Rui En as a frumpy aunty in I’m With You, think again.
Her character Siqi is a fashion designer in her early 30s and a modern mother.
Rui En nevertheless cringed a little when she described what her alter ego will look like.
‘She’s quite feminine and always wears skirts. I also have to wear hair extensions to make my shoulder-length hair longer. It’s been a long time since I had that image,’ she said.
But isn’t she concerned that there’ll be no turning back to playing young-ish characters once she’s stepped into mature roles, currently hogged by 30-something actresses like Cynthia Koh and Ann Kok? (See report, right.)
Rui En pondered for a while before saying: ‘I’m honestly not worried about this yet. I hope that I perform sufficiently well to prove to people that I can play a role like Xiaodong and also a mother. I have to rely on myself to prove it.’
Xiaodong is her uneducated, simple-minded and happy-go-lucky character from the Channel 8 drama Happy Family, which premieres at 9pm on 19 Jan.
In that role, which was filmed from August to October last year, the usually aloof Rui En replaces her trademark don’t-mess-with-me attitude with a wide toothy grin.
Even her co-stars joked that she smiled more in those three months of filming Happy Family than she usually would in a year.
However, there’s one other role that this reporter hopes to see her take on, one that’s certainly out of her comfort zone.
How about playing a damsel in distress, I asked her. It is so unlike the self-reliant and strong actress.
‘Can I?’ she asked incredulously, breaking off into laughter.
‘Okay, that would be quite challenging. Hmm, I do have something in me that’s quite independent because that’s the way I grew up and lived my entire life.’
Take note, scriptwriters.
Source: The New Paper
Categorised in 七公主 7 Princesses, Happy Family 过好年, The New Paper, With You æˆ‘åœ¨ä½ å·¦å³.
Tonight’s gonna be a good night. New Year’s Eve parties will be going on around the island. But if you’re still unsure of what to do and where to go, we list some parties. It’s the last day of 2009. Go all out and end it with a bang
HEARTLAND HOTSPOTS
PUNGGOL EAST YEAR 2010 COUNTDOWN
Where: Harmony Square, Rivervale Crescent (Tel: 6875 5376).
What: Witness the residents’ attempt to gather the largest crowd of families in Singapore wearing bandanas. Local artistes Hady Mirza and Rui En are also performing. Plus fireworks display.
When: 8pm.
Admission: Free.
Categorised in Punggol Countdown 2010, The New Paper.
As for future plans, Marcus said he recently got accepted for the part of a drunkard in a new Channel 8 drama Happy Family opposite Rui En, who will play his long-lost daughter.
Filming is on till the end of this month.
Source: The New Paper
Categorised in Happy Family 过好年, The New Paper.
Plain candid or just catty? The Queen’s blunt comments on the princesses in Caldecott Hill have drawn fire from viewers, leaving her bewildered and helpless
IT’S not easy being the Queen.
Even before the furore over Zoe Tay’s wrinkles has died down, the 41-year-old Queen (or ex-Queen, as some insist) of Caldecott is facing more criticism.
This time, it’s for an interview that the actress did more than four months ago.
Actor Chen Hanwei, Zoe’s close friend of 21 years, felt it’s the price she has to pay for being number one.
At issue were Zoe’s comments on the Seven Princesses featured in the March issue of Style magazine. (See report on facing page.) The seven are rising stars Jeanette Aw, Joanne Peh, Jesseca Liu, Rui En, Fiona Xie, Dawn Yeoh and Felicia Chin.
Chinese daily Lianhe Wanbao picked up the article earlier this week and ran it with the headline: Zoe Tay slams actresses.
With a file photo of Zoe pointing an accusing finger, the article said that she thought Rui En has a chilly attitude, Felicia looks common, Jesseca is bochap (carefree in Hokkien), Dawn has a baby voice.
What Zoe said…
ZOE was asked by Style magazine which of the Seven Princesses could be her successor if it were her call.
Zoe was then asked to play word association as the reporter listed the remaining princesses.
On Rui En: “She’s quite different from the rest. She has attitude and spunk. She is like the Ice Queen and everyone may not like her. But let’s face it, she has left a deep impression in people’s minds.â€
Categorised in 七公主 7 Princesses, The New Paper.
Out of MediaCorp’s seven princesses, Felicia and Jesseca Liu are the only ones who have been guests on CelebriTea Break.
It was recently reported that Jeanette Aw and Rui En rejected requests to be on the show because they are not fluent in Mandarin.
Source: The New Paper, Asiaone
Categorised in asiaone.com, 七公主 7 Princesses, The New Paper.
MediaCorp’s annual prize show is drawing all sorts of flak. And the top six viewer grouses are…
LOVE or loathe it, it’s here once again.
On 26 Apr, the annual Star Awards show, which celebrates the best in local Chinese entertainment over the past year, will be telecast live on Channel 8.
This year’s show, unlike previous editions, stands out for the numerous controversies it has been embroiled in ever since the nominees list was released late last month.
And don’t forget the fuss kicked up by television viewers over the show’s postponement. It has traditionally been held at the end of the year.
The industry talk? Aiyah, so obvious, must be to accomodate The Little Nyonya right, so the show can sweep all the awards.
But it’s not just the TV drama’s dominating presence on the nominations lists that is creating ripples.
Here’s a look at the other “buay song†(Hokkien for not satisfied) factors about the upcoming Little Nyonya… oops, sorry, we mean the Star Awards…
2. Aw, you can’t be serious
Buay Song Factor:
Jeanette Aw in the running for Best Actress? You gotta be kidding!
Why Buay Song:
Though her popularity soared after The Little Nyonya, Jeannette has also drawn heavey fire (particularly on the Stomp and Hardware Zone forums) for her “wooden actingâ€, “lousy articulation†and “unnatural expressionsâ€.
Our Take:
Whatever you think of her acting abilities, come on, give the gal a rest.
If you caught The Little Nyonya’s “Making Ofâ€special, you’ll know that Jeannette went through a lot of physical hardship for the role, including getting beaten for real during scenes when her character was caned by PanLingling.
In The New Paper Flame Awards earlier this year, Jeannette was expected to bag the Babe of the Year title. But when the final votes were tallied, Rui En clinched the prize.
Perhaps that’s a sign that all hype is just hype at the end of the day. The true extent of Jeanette’s popularity remains to be seen come Star Awards night.
Categorised in 七公主 7 Princesses, Star Awards, Star Awards 2009, The New Paper.
Actors take off clothes for the love of a woman and dancing in drama
By Charlene Chua
February 06, 2009
WHEN it comes to stripping on TV dramas, it’s usually the babes who get the attention.
Think Fiona Xie, Joanne Peh and Jeanette Aw in The Champion and Beach.Ball.Babes.
But in the new Channel 8 series The Dream-catchers, it’s the guys who are taking off their clothes.
In the show, which began telecasting at 9pm yesterday, actors Shaun Chen, Elvin Ng and Nat Ho go topless in several scenes.
The Dream-catchers is about the lives, loves and careers of four engineers. It also stars Rui En, Tay Ping Hui, Jesseca Liu and Dawn Yeoh.
Shaun, 31, and Elvin, 29, play engineers who fall for Rui En’s character, who enjoys painting nudes.
So both of them strip off to become her models.
Said Rui En: ‘It’s a really refreshing idea to have the men stripping in a show, instead of women!’
In one scene, Shaun’s character steps up when the nude model doesn’t turn up, and he has to pose in a pair of black briefs in front of an art class.
Said Shaun: ‘I was very nervous. It was in front of the film crew and extras, and although the air conditioning was turned on, I still felt very warm and flushed.
‘Everyone was staring and I didn’t know what they were thinking!’
Elvin, on the other hand, had to strip down to his pants and there were fewer gawkers on set.
But unlike Shaun’s scene, which was shot indoors, his scene takes place in Japan, as Elvin’s character has to fly there to attend an engineering course.
While sight-seeing, Rui En’s character teasingly asks him if she could paint him in the nude, and he takes off his shirt in the open.
The scene was shot in the middle of winter – in -2° – with a blanket of snow. Said Elvin: ‘I was shivering a lot. But I wasn’t self-conscious at all. I just felt lucky that I didn’t have to jump into icy-cold water.’
Still, Shaun and Elvin’s experiences pale in comparison with what Nat had to go through.
The 25-year-old plays an aspiring dancer and in one scene, he has to do a ‘catwalk show’ to earn some quick cash for dance lessons.
The scene was shot in the afternoon on a raised stage in front of Novena Square, in full view of the public, and Nat was wearing only a pair of red briefs.
He said: ‘Let’s just say it was the longest day of my life! I was embarrassed as a lot of passers-by were gawking and taking videos with their phones.
‘As I only had underwear and boots on, I felt like a stripper!’
To shape up for their roles, the actors admitted they hit the gym and even popped pills.
Elvin, who used to model, said he’s always been a gym bunny and believes it has helped in developing his physique. He said: ‘Hitting the gym regularly helps a lot as you won’t be able to see results if you only train last minute.’
As for Shaun, his quest for perfect abdominals was a last-minute effort. He said with a chuckle: ‘I started going to the gym and playing badminton three times a week. At least I managed to get four ‘packs’ in the end!’
Nat, who didn’t have ‘the luxury of time to go to the gym’, relied on detox pills to make him look ‘less bloated’. He would even do push-up exercises on the set of the show so that he would ‘look toned’ when the filming began.
So of the three hunks, who has the best body?
Shaun and Nat immediately voted for Elvin, but when we asked him, he laughed it off.
Elvin said: ‘We all have different body types so you really can’t compare us like that.’
But the three actors all agreed on one thing – that their topless scenes were done tastefully and they wouldn’t mind doing it again.
This is the first time that Shaun is doing such a scene. Nat has gone topless once before, two years ago, in Honour And Passion but it was just a swimming scene with ‘no spectators present’.
Elvin confessed that he’s had a topless scene in almost every drama that he has filmed – he frolicked in a bathtub with Jesseca in Kinship and played beach volleyball with Joanne in A Life Of Hope.
Said Shaun: ‘As an actor, you do what you have to do. If there was a role in the future which required me to go completely nude, I would consider it if the role was worth it.’
Bigger selling point
Elvin however thinks that their scenes shouldn’t be such a big deal.
He said: ‘A single semi-nude woman on screen would ‘beat’ three semi-nude men on screen. The woman would definitely be a bigger selling point.’
So what did their family and friends think of their topless scenes?
Shaun, who is marrying actress Michelle Chia in May, confessed that his fiance was ‘very pleased’ when she saw the show’s trailer.
He said he wouldn’t mind if their roles were reversed either – that it was Michelle who had to appear in a sexy bikini on-screen. Said Shaun: ‘Michelle looks very good in a bikini. She has such a good figure. Not everyone can pull off bikinis, you know.’
Elvin, however, received startling reactions from his fans who saw the pictures of his scene on the series’ Facebook page. He said: ‘They posted comments on my Yahoo! group page, saying it was ‘cruel’ to make me strip in the cold.’
But the show’s producer, Yeo Saik Pin, believes that the topless scenes were all ‘essential for the development of the plot’.
‘Besides, all three of them (Shaun, Elvin and Nat) wanted to show off their bodies so I gave them the chance to do so!’
Source: The Electric New Paper
Categorised in The Dream-Catchers 未æ¥ä¸æ˜¯æ¢¦, The New Paper.
