Jeanette Aw, from acting to baking

Singapore ― Singaporean actress Jeanette Aw, also known as Ow Xuan is adding another feather to her cap. Besides being a director and writer, she is now also an entrepreneur and a patissier.

Aw was born on Jun 28, 1979. She studied at Raffles Girls’ Primary and completed her formal schooling at the National University of Singapore. As reported in the Sunday Times, the actress rarely used Mandarin at home. She communicates in school and at home in English.

With her English language skill, she did well in the subject as well as in English Literature. Aw went on to major in and graduate in Theatre Studies. Aw ended up becoming a Chinese TV star in Singapore by landing roles in Mediacorp’s Chinese language-only channel, Channel 8 despite being more comfortable in the English language.

Aw’s debut into showbiz was through participating in talent search Route to Glamour. Out of 5,000 contestants, Aw emerged as the winner and earned an exclusive contract with the now-defunct SPH MediaWorks.

She acted in Mandarin dramas that premiered on Singapore’s second Chinese channel, Channel U. Aw’s acting debut was in 2001’s Touched. She also acted in a Taiwanese production, Kiss of a Toast II in 2002.

Her breakthrough role was in Channel 8’s Holland V where she acted as Mo Jingjing, a character with a mental disability on the show. She was nominated for Best Actress in the 2003 Singapore Star awards from that role and she rose to stardom after that.

Her performance was so impressive that she was even placed on the list of potential successors for Singapore’s Ah Jie title. The title is a hugely coveted status symbol for Singaporean actresses and it represents their seniority and expertise in acting, reported ShowBizz Daily via MSN.

In 2008, Aw played main characters Huang Juxiang and Yamamoto Yueniang in the first and second-generation arcs of the drama series The Little Nyonya. It is known as Singapore’s greatest and most iconic drama production. In 2020, it was remade by China’s CCTV. Aw became a household name due to the popularity of the drama and Aw’s acting.

Aw has won 28 acting and performance awards throughout her career. Some of the actress’ most iconic acting works include ‘The Champion’, ‘The Shaolin Warriors’, ‘The Dream Makers’, ‘Breakout’, ‘Holland V’, ‘The Little Nyonya’, ‘A Child’s Hope II’, and ‘Ramen Teh’.

Aw made a surprising move to leave the acting world in 2017. The Straits Times reported that Aw described her life as an actress “hitting a plateau” and decided to leave showbiz for “new challenges”.

It was reported that the move surprised many, as the year was Aw’s “height of her career”. She had won the Best Actress Award at Singapore’s Star Awards for the first time in her decade-long acting career.

In 2017, Aw was working on and directing The Last Entry. It was Aw’s first foray into film writing, producing and directing. In 2018, The Last Entry was selected out from over 100,000 entries to enter into Tokyo’s Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia.

It was not Aw’s last and only foray into directing. The following year, she worked on another short film, Senses. It is set in Takasaki in Japan, with a crew that the now-director got to know from the set of Eric Khoo’s ‘Ramen Teh’!

Following her work on Ramen Teh, Aw was named the official ambassador of Takasaki in 2018. It is no surprise then that she chose the spot as a filming destination for Senses. 

As reported on 8 Days, Aw then relocated to Bangkok to enrol in a patisserie course in Le Cordon Bleu Dusit Culinary School in June 2018. She then went on to Le Cordon Bleu in Tokyo the following year and completed her patissier training!

Aw shared with 8 Days in 2018 that she wanted to open up a patisserie. She finally managed to do so by launching Once Upon A Time in Singapore’s Hamilton Street in 2018. Aw still takes on projects in Singaporean TV occasionally as a free agent even though she officially left Mediacorp in 2017.

Earlier this year, Aw hosted Channel 8’s baking competition ‘Creme De La Creme’ with Singapore’s ‘Ah Jie’ Fann Wong. ‘Creme De La Creme’ was perfect for Aw as she is a trained baker, the owner of a patisserie and a talented TV personality. /TISG