July 18, 2005
Sugar and spice
By Sherwin Loh
BENEATH the sweetie pie image of Priscelia Chan is something of a spitfire.
Despite being typecast on Channel 8 as the sweet girl-next-door, the 1999 Star Search finalist doesn't mince words when she tells you she is tired of such roles.
'To be frank, I hate it. There should be more dimensions to a role,' the bilingual actress says.
And that is where Channel 5 is providing her the chance to stretch her acting chops.
She is currently starring in two shows on the English-language channel - as Patricia Mok's timid daughter in the comedy My Sassy Neighbour and as Lisa Gan in cop drama Heartlanders.
It is the latter that has got her heart racing - and it has nothing to do with kissing on-screen beau Vincent Ng.
As the rape victim who gave birth to a son, Chan, 26, plays a single Mum bringing up a defiant kid.
She relates to the Lisa character due to the death of her mother on the eve of Chinese New Year this year.
Her mother suffered from a year-long illness that caused her to have fits-like seizures.
Chan channelled her pain of witnessing her own mother wither away into playing the character on-screen.
'My Mum held two jobs, did the housework and managed to save money, so she was always very stressed out, and I took that part of her and put it all into Heartlanders,' she adds, looking sober.
It was that experience that has also made her more vocal, she says.
The effervescent actress, who graduated in 1998 from Temasek Polytechnic with a diploma in accounting and finance, freely admits that it has been difficulty finding popularity at Channel 8 given the competition from other young actresses.
But she also maintains that the move to Channel 5 was not because she was unhappy or wanted to look for greener pastures.
She will be returning in the second season of My Sassy Neighbour.
But Channel 8 fans can still catch her on the Chinese channel. She plays a villain in the sequel to the Chinese drama serial, Portrait Of Home, which will air in October.
Another reason for not making the full crossover to Channel 5 is a practical one - the higher ratings of Channel 8 and the exposure she gets from it.
As she says frankly: 'You cannot put all your eggs in one basket.'
Catch Priscelia Chan on Heartlanders on Channel 5 at 8pm and on My Sassy Neighbour at 8.30pm on Tuesdays.
