KLue Magazine December 2006, Issue 98

Introducing: Chermaine Poo

We seldom feature beauty queens in this column, but Chermaine Poo is more than just a beauty queen. A regular face on magazine covers and advertisements since young, Chermaine is now venturing into big screen as an actress.

Chermaine has two high profile movies in the pipepline, first on the highly anticipated horror flick, Dukun and next year, on Oscar-winning Ang Lee’s period spy thriller Lust, Caution alongside Wang Lee Hom, the experience of which sounds every bit as glamorous as one would expect. “The atmosphere on the set was like a concert!” she says of the latter. “A huge crowd gathered every night to catch a glimpse of Ang Lee and Wang Lee Hom. There were policemen, paramedics and even the fire brigade on standby. The crowd cheered for their favourite heartthrob and they even cheered for me as I came out of the vehicle! They must have thought I was Zhang Zhiyi and rushed forward to photograph me!” she laughs.

Chermaine’s also trying her hand at the decidedly less glitzy affair of local theatre. After taking an acting class with Joe Hasham, the director cast her in the restaging of the successful comedy The Odd Couple. It’s her first foray into theatre, and sees her reuniting with an early mentor. “When I was a teenager, I worked with Joe who directed an advertisement I was in. Working with him again is awesome and it has been great learning from the rest of the seasoned actors,” she says.

Offers for the small screen are also flying in, which will see Chermaine hosting upcoming travel programmes. And as a qualified chartered accountant trained in corporate finance, she intends to continue the number crunching as well. But acting seems to be at the top of the agenda for the moment, for various reasons: “For me acting is a form of therapy as it helps me release my emotions because I don’t open up easily,” she explains.

Facts

Chermaine speaks Thai and Japanese as well as Mandarin and Cantonese fluently and plays several instruments, including drums and keyboards.

On the set of Dukun, conscientious Chermaine was known for being the first to arrive on set at 4am!

Dukun is slated to be released in December 2006, pending approval from the Censorship Board.