5 roles that defined Jeanette Aw’s career

Mo Jing Jing still lives on in our memories today for being the ditzy, gullible and utterly lovable girl-next-door. Thanks to her childlike demeanour, Jingjing became a household name and overnight star in Holland Village, and along with it, brought Jeanette fame and recognition too. “That was when people started to know my name, and I had tremendous support from a wide age group of audience,” said Jeanette, in an email interview with Toggle.

In the words of the actress: “The children loved Jingjing’s naivety and the older generation doted on her because of her innocence.” Ditto.

Before a local mag crowned a septet of then up-and-coming nubile actresses as the seven princesses of MediaCorp in 2006, we had four bikini babes who did a legendary run along Orchard Road wearing nothing but a two-piece swimsuit in 2005’s The Champion. Jeanette was one of them – so were former princess luminaries Felicia Chin and Fiona Xie. Jeanette’s character in this drama may have barely been a blip on the radar – when compared to some of her more notable performances, but surely this iconic scene warrants a spot in the hall of famed roles.

Five years after her first big break in Holland Village, Jeanette scored her second brush with fame in this tear-jerking epic called The Little Nyonya. Her double performance as the woebegone Juxiang and her gusty daughter Yueniang won her critical acclaim – both locally and regionally – and saw the actress’ career soar to new heights beyond Singapore’s shores. Never mind that she missed out on the Best Actress award at the Star Awards ceremony the following year (it went to fellow Nyonya actress Joanne Peh), for we think Jeanette reaped far bigger returns with these two memorable roles – her name is now synonymous with the words ‘Little Nyonya’ which will forever be remembered as the Ch8 drama that broke viewership records and brought her overseas.

After hitting a new career high with The Little Nyonya, Jeanette’s performance in this revenge-fuelled drama was less than impressive and did not turn out to be the ‘break out’ role we had all imagined it to be. That said, it still remains a notable character in Jeanette’s acting career, for being her first villainous turn on TV as Yang Nian Qing, a spiteful heiress with mental issues.

Flashback Friday: We’ll never forget her love line with Christopher Lee’s lawyer character in this drama and how they made sunset park dates – while chomping on home-cooked fried rice - more romantic than ever.

Remember how we likened Jeanette’s career to that of a sine curve on the first slide? True to form, after a dismal performance in Together (2009) and Break Out, things started looking up again for Jeanette and she nailed yet another big break with The Dream Makers as Zhao Fei Er. The drama’s storyline, which felt like a meta-spin on Jeanette’s journey as an actress through the ups and downs of her character resonated strongly with TV audiences – just as how it did with Jeanette herself.

“The feedback for this role touched me the most,” she wrote, “The support I had from everyone, to the media, is something I would never have imagined possible. This is a role I loved, someone so real and relatable. Coming across a role like that is a dream come true, and this role turned all critics to positive reviews.”

Are we the only ones rejoicing to see her reprise the role of Fei Er, in what we’d call her best performance to date, when the drama returns for a sequel this year-end?