"Woman's World August issue 2004"
"You know, Jeanette, you have to be thick-skinned."
She was 15 yars old. They were 10. A friend had egged her on to
join a ballet class despite sticking out like a sore thumb, being
head and shoulders taller than the rest.
Bolstered with renewed courage and driven by a love for dance, she
pranced and did her pirouettes alongside her younger mates. That's
Jeanette Aw for you.
"Taking the first step (of doing any task) is always difficult,"
says the soft-spoken actress. "But once you get past your fears and
block out the what ifs, things will move along just fine. You'll
never know until you try."
She should know. After all, her childhood ambition was to be a
lawyer. Or a psychiatrist. Like her character in A Child's Hope II
as a social worker with a heart of gold, Jeanette loves to work
with children.
If she were not chasing her dreams of TV stardom now, the Threatre
Studies student (with Honours, no less) would be likely to be
furthering her studies.
"Maybe pursue a PhD," says Jeanette after some thought.
Dance of Passion
Since young, Jeanette already has a performer's instinct. She loves
the stage and has been dancing and acting in performances
throughout her school life. Ballet and jazz tops her favourite
dance list. To her, acting is somewhat like an extension of
dance.
"It's also like a role that you have to slip into so you can bring
out the right emotions," she explains.
Ah, so one can only guess she's hoping for a role that will allow
her to display her nifty footwork. What a great way to kill two
birds wit one stone!
"That'll be ideal indeed!" she chirps happily.
Soaring Success
Within the year that she jumped ship from MediaWorks to MediaCorp
in 2002, Jeanette clinched the Best Newcomer award and nabbed a
position as one of the top 10 most popular female artistes at the
Star Awards in 2003. She even had a Best Actress nomination for her
memorable role as the naive and innocent Mo Jingjing in Holland
V.
It would be understandable if her peers in the industry are
fidgeting uncomfortably now. Especially after her excellent
portrayal of Wenqing, a rebellious and hot-tempered woman in Spice
Siblings, which is a 180-degree turn fro the sweet-tempered
Jingjing. Soon after, Jeanette tales on the role of a dedicated
social worker in A Child's Hope II and delivers a heart-wrenching
that tests our tear ducts. (Well, personally, I caught her shows
and thought she is quite the chameleon, morphing into different
roles with panache.)
Upcoming...
Sure looks like Jeanette's career is going places, isn't it? And
literally too.
Filming for her next TV drama series, The Champion took the cast to
Cairns, Australia, where scenes were set for a fair bit of
adrenaline-pumping scenes from white-water rafting to scuba-diving.
She will tackle the role of Guo Jingwen, a swimmer alongside
artistes such as Fiona Xie, Qi Yuwu and Felicia Chin.
Watch out for the epiosde when four swimmers lose a bet and have to
run along the high traffic Orchard Road... in their bikinis! Look
out for the show in October 'cos we're not telling which episode it
is!