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THE STRAITS TIMES WEDNESDAY, MAY 9 2012 PAGE C12

A reward for hanging on

Mention sharp-tongued female villains in local Chinese dramas on TV and the name Cynthia Koh would come to many viewers mind. The 38-year-old MediaCorp actress has had more than her fair share of unpleasant roles in her 20-year career such as a scheming spendthrift in The Little Nyonya (2008) and a devious sister-in-law in The In-Laws (2011). For doing her job well, she has been rewarded most strangely men and women in the street chide her. It can be Koh laughs emotionally when she recalls incidents of strandraining... gers telling her: dealing with You were so evil the popularity in the show! She says in Enggame and the lish: Older viewtransition from ers tend to live lead to with my on-screen portrayal and take supporting it more personally, roles. I grew but I just see playused to not ing such roles as winning awards part of my work. Earlier this over the years year, she was seen in a rare sympathetic role as a long-suffering wife of a gambling addict in the Channel U drama, Show Hand. This probably helped her get into the Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes list this year, only the second time she has made the cut in 15 years. Koh, who won Best Actress at the Star Awards in 1999 for the period drama Stepping Out, where she shaved her head for a pivotal scene, sees her Top 10 win as a

Surreal win is reassuring

One week after the Star Awards, MediaCorp actress Rebecca Lim, 25, still feels embarrassed about making it into the Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes list. She says: I feel that there are more talented and deserving actresses than me who should have won, such as Michelle Chia and Michelle Chong. I am so young that no matter what I win, I feel that I have to justify it to the viewers, as I still have a long way to go in the industry. That said, she is deeply flattered and reassured by the surreal win, her first. Some acquaintances have questioned my choice to go into full-time acting when I have an accounting degree from Singapore Management University, she says, before adding: Now I feel a greater responsibility to act better as there are people out there supporting me. Lim was talent-scouted at the Miss Singapore Universe pageant in 2005, where she came in fifth but won the Miss Photogenic award. Her role as a cold-blooded psychiatrist in detective drama Unriddle 2 earlier this year was an acting breakthrough for her. That role helped to redeem me from all the bad performances in my previous Channel 8 dramas, in which my Mandarin was horrible and my acting was stiff. Her supporters might say she is being unnecessarily harsh on herself. After all, she did win Best Actress at the Asian Television Awards in 2010 for her role as a lawyer in the Channel 5 drama series, The Pupil. But even this victory is played down. People were questioning my win, even I was questioning myself, but it just gave me the motivation to act better and prove myself. What she is willing to concede is that she has come a long way from her maiden drama series, Family Matters (2006), which she recalls with a shudder: I had only myself to blame as I was thrown into a drama series with no acting experience and my poor command of Mandarin let me down.

Cynthia Koh played a longsuffering wife on the drama Show Hand (above), but she is most remembered for her role in Stepping Out, where she shaved her head (left).
reward for not giving up acting for the last few years. It can be emotionally draining sometimes, dealing with the popularity game and the transition from lead to supporting roles. I grew used to not winning awards over the years. She does not regret her willingness to take up more diversified roles, which include roles that people hate you for. In fact, she says she has no qualms about taking on less-than-savoury roles in the future. Instead of thinking how taking on some roles may affect the publics impression of me, I am looking out for more dynamic filming projects.
PHOTOS: MEDIACORP, LIANHE WANBAO

Popularity contested
The voting system for the Star Awards Most Popular artists has come under fire but winners are still thankful for the prize
kenneth goh

hannel 8 actor Pierre Png took 11 years to win his first popularity award at the Star Awards. His colleague Cynthia Koh needed 14 years to pick up her second. Are they really among Singapores most popular TV stars?

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Their Top 10 Most Popular Male and Female Artistes wins at last weeks ceremony to honour the best of local Chinese television programming were among those cited by people propagating conspiracy theories. For the first time in the Star Awards 18-year history, the popularity game this year was determined equally by telephone and online votes. Voters could call an artists designated hotline as many times as they liked and pay 80 cents a call. They could also cast one vote online in each category daily after registering with their NRIC numbers. The online voting system replaced a public survey which was tabulated by a market research firm. According to Mr Paul Chan, Channel 8s vice-president of branding and promotion: The decision to introduce online voting was made as online engagement is a natural progression to expand and engage audiences on multiple platforms, following a change in media consumption patterns last year. The online system was abused, say some Channel 8 viewers such as Ms Vivienne Tang. The 41-year-old assistant manager in the service industry says: I heard that some people vote using NRIC numbers of random strangers, generated by an online software. Mr Lay Shi En, 21, who is waiting to enrol in university, also notes that online voting causes popular

Now I feel a greater responsibility to act better as there are people out there supporting me
older artists to lose out to younger actors whose fans are more Internet-savvy. He says: Most of their supporters would also be older, so they will have weaker online support. Other first-time Top 10 Most Popular artists besides Png are Ben Yeo, 33, Paige Chua, 30, and Rebecca Lim, 25, who believes that the inclusion of online voting wreaked havoc on the usual flow of things. kengohsz@sph.com.sg

Trainer: Tom Abbott

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Sights set on Best Actor prize

According to Pierre Png, he took home his first popularity trophy after acting in Channel 8 drama serials for 11 years only because he has been working hard. The 38-year-old says: I have always stuck to the formula of concentrating on my acting and keeping a low profile outside work. Despite being one of Channel 8s top leading men for more than five years, he did not make the cut for the Top 10 Most Popular Male Artistes the last four times he was nominated from 2007 to 2011. Instead of seeing those failed opportunities as snubs, he prefers to focus on the positive side. I may not win popularity awards but I have still been getting leading roles in Channel 8 dramas, so there must be something that my bosses see in me, says Png, who is married to fellow entertainer Andrea De Cruz. It is a blessing to maintain my current momentum of doing Chinese dramas in recent years, as getting cast continuously in Channel 8 is a gift. Indeed, his acting resume is quite hefty. Apart from main roles in The Shining Star (2006), The Little Nyonya (2008) and The In-Laws (2011), he has already starred in two Channel 8 dra-

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I have still been getting leading roles... so there must be something that my bosses see in me
mas this year, Rescue 995 and Pillow Talk. Another reason for his apparent lack of popularity among Channel 8 viewers is his poor command of Mandarin, admits the actor. I am aware of the fair share of criticism I have received over the way I speak Mandarin in my shows. Not that he lets that bother him. These days, Png has set his sights on winning a Best Actor award, which has eluded him twice in 2006 and 2009 when he was nominated for The Shining Star and The Little Nyonya (above). He quips: Being popular is something that you cannot control but an acting style is something within ones grasp, so Id rather spend more time on that. It is pointless thinking that you deserve a popularity award after spending a certain amount of time as an actor. I just leave my popularity status in the hands of others to decide.

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