 Joanne Peh and Jesseca Liu rough it out with the boys
SINGAPORE : One is a heartstring-tugging family drama about an ageing chef who tries to reach out to his three daughters. The other follows the misadventures of an only child who is put up for adoption after her father is jailed.
Yet both serials, which premiere this week, have something in common: A sassy female lead who dresses down and roughs it out with the boys.
In Like Father Like Daughter, which debuts on Tuesday at 9pm, Joanne Peh finally gets to live her childhood dream - to be a Charlie's Angel.
But she discovers it's not all glamour and effortless high kicks.
Playing Chunchun, the "good-hearted gangster" in the MediaCorp TV Channel 8 drama, was so tough that she became ill while shooting the 20-parter last month.
"I got the script for it right after we wrapped up (Channel 8 series) The Greatest Love of All in early June," Peh said. "So I was already quite tired before embarking on it as I had been filming for two-plus months."
Still, the feisty 24-year-old, who graduated from Nanyang Technological University last year, dutifully slugged it out for three flu-stricken weeks.
"We were shooting studio scenes and I didn't think anyone would notice me being sick," she said.
She described Chunchun - "a boorish tomboy who swiftly learns the way of the streets after her father (Zheng Geping) lands in jail - as her most physically taxing role" yet. "There's a lot of fighting. She's very skilled - she can drive a lorry, ride a motorbike, roll punches, skateboard, you name it," she said of her character.
A sporty woman who does yoga and goes to the gym daily, Peh said she pulled a muscle in her right inner thigh while executing a "rotating kick".
"I had to do it very quickly because it was supposed to look very saat (Hokkien for cool). It probably happened because I didn't warm up enough."
The drama also stars Star Idol's Jiang Cheng Xi as Peh's love interest, Michelle Chong, Vincent Ng, Pan Ling Ling and Nick Shen.
Also "roughing" it out is Jesseca Liu, whose short crop and work clothes as well as geeky spectacles for her role in Falling in Love, almost became a second skin.
"Several times, as we (the cast) were preparing to travel from the set to our hotel, our driver would ask, 'Where's Jesseca?'," the 28-year-old actress recounted in Mandarin, describing her shoot in Kuala Lumpur last year.
"But there I was, only dressed as my character! He didn't believe me even after I repeatedly identified myself. And this was already a week after we had met!"
But Liu said she found the experience "quite fun". "It was the first time I had 'uglified' myself for a role and I felt like I was living in the character."
In the 25-episode show which debuts on Monday at 7pm, Liu's Zheng Zihui is a clumsy, tomboyish entertainment producer who seeks solace from buddy Tom (Zhang Yaodong) after she is ditched by a dashing businessman played by Alan Yun.
The serial also stars Eunice Ng as Zheng Zishan (Zihui's elder sister) and Phyllis Sim as Zheng Zisi (Zi Hui's younger sister).
Peh - who is shooting Channel 8's year-end blockbuster Path of Gold - let on that she relished what she went through.
"I've always wondered what it's like to be a Charlie's Angel and I think this is the closest I can get - for now, at least!"
Liu, who is filming the next 40 episodes of the 80-parter Kinship (Channel 8, 7 pm, Mon to Fri) said her "makeover" left such a deep impression on the filming crew that she was often asked: "Why don't you cut your hair in the same style? Why don't you wear that outfit instead?" - TODAY/ym | 
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