Jeanette Aw Ee-Ping (born 28 June 1979), also known as Ou Xuan, is a Singaporean actress, host, filmmaker, businesswoman and writer. Aw was named as one of the Seven Princesses of Mediacorp in 2006, after which she achieved wider success with her leading role in acclaimed drama The Little Nyonya. She was a full-time Mediacorp artiste from 2002 to 2017 and was once managed by Hype Records.
Through her television career, Aw has established herself as one of the most popular and high-profile celebrities in Singapore. She has won 29 popularity and performance awards, the record number for a performer, at Singapore Mediacorp's Star Awards. Aw has published two books; Jeanette Aw: Definitions in 2012 and Sol's World: Somebody to Love in 2015. She also starred in musical Beauty World in 2015.
While in college, Aw entered TV talent scouting competition Route to Glamour, in which she placed first. She signed on with SPH Mediaworks and made her acting debut in the 2001 drama Touched. Aw then signed on to Mediacorp in 2002 and played the intellectually challenged character Mo Jingjing in Holland V (2003). Aw garnered critical appreciation for portraying flawed actress, Zhao Fei Er, in The Dream Makers (2013) and its 2015 sequel. She won her first Best Actress award at the Star Awards for her performance in the latter drama.
She ventured into film production, producing The Last Entry and Senses through her own production company, Picturesque Films. She also started her own pastry shop, Once Upon a Time, after studying culinary arts.
Early life
Aw was born in Singapore as a Hokkien with ancestry from Quanzhou city, Southern Fujian, China. She has an elder sister and an elder brother. Coming from an English-speaking family, Aw rarely used Mandarin in their conversations. She considered her childhood blessed and fortunate because her parents provided for everything that she needed. Growing up with a carefree nature, she was an introvert and was "the kind of girl who loved reading, writing and drawing". Aw wanted to be a dancer, an artist or a child psychologist.
Attending Raffles Girls' Primary School, Crescent Girls' School, National Junior College and National University of Singapore, Aw was a school prefect and a model student. Her best subjects were English Literature and English, and she scored an A for art at the O Levels.
Aw did gymnastics in primary school, dance in secondary school and swimming in junior college. She started ballet training at 13, and Aw went on to dance almost every day before signing her first acting contract. She also played the saxophone in her secondary school concert band and trained for a girl group in junior college. In university, Aw was President of the NUS Dance Ensemble. Aw decided to pursue a career on stage and eventually graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Degree in Theatre Studies.
Acting career
2001–2002: Early work
While preparing for her graduation production in her final year at university (before receiving an offer for the Honours Degree program), Aw and her friends also auditioned at theater companies. A friend told her that a company was looking for actors, and Aw only learnt that it was a television station after submitting her application. Joining Route to Glamour, a talent search organised in Singapore and Malaysia by the now defunct television network SPH MediaWorks in 2000, Aw beat over 5000 applicants to emerge champion and signed on with the network. In her debut year, she was awarded "Best Performer" and "Best Newcomer" and co-starred in a Taiwanese television drama. Aw left SPH MediaWorks in early 2002 to complete her studies, joined Hype Records and then officially signed on as a Mediacorp artiste in May 2002. She starred as Fan Keke in Beautiful Connection, the highest-rated Singapore drama in 2002, and won the Best Newcomer award at Star Awards 2002. Aw also filmed the Taiwanese idol drama Kiss of a Toast II.
2003–2007: Public recognition In 2003, Aw acted in True Heroes, before going on to star as Mo Jingjing, a young woman with low IQ, in Holland V. It was the most watched Singapore drama that year, and she grew popular for playing the character. Aw was nominated for Best Actress at Star Awards 2003, but lost to co-star Chen Liping. However, she won her first "Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes" award. After the mega success of Holland V, Aw was seen as a possible successor of the Ah Jie (big sister) status. In 2004, Aw starred in her first female lead role as Wen Qian in Spice Siblings alongside Tay Ping Hui and Cynthia Koh. Following that, she starred in two dramas – A Child's Hope II and The Champion. Aw was again nominated for Best Actress for her excellent performance in A Child's Hope II and also won the "Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes" award at Star Awards 2004.
Following two years of non-stop filming, Aw became less productive in 2005. In January, she starred as Fang Lixiang in My Lucky Charm alongside Huang Biren. That year, Aw filmed one drama, The Rainbow Connection, where she played Ding Yingying, a talented dancer who has stage fright. This drama involved an ensemble cast drawing from Singapore, mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Malaysia. As Aw was also a dancer, she performed in many dancing scenes. Though Aw did not manage a Best Actress nomination at Star Awards 2005, she won her third "Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes" award. In 2006, Aw played a schizophrenic character who hated her father in C.I.D. before starring in Through It All. She clinched her fourth "Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes" award at Star Awards 2006. In December 2006, the term Seven Princesses of Mediacorp was coined as part of Mediacorp publication iWeekly's 476th issue cover story.
Aw's drama The Peak was screened in January 2007. She played Zhong Xiao Yang, a ship construction worker who became disabled after saving her boyfriend. The drama was filmed around the time of Aw's loss of her godmother, and while many expected her to be nominated for Best Actress at the annual Star Awards, she did not manage a return to the nominees list. In July, Aw was involved in Switched! starring opposite Fann Wong, where she played Jiang Xinhui, a famous, wilful and materialistic actress. Her final 2007 drama, Dear, Dear Son-In-Law, was screened in October 2007.
2008–2009: Breakthrough
In 2008, Aw spent four months filming in China for the Chinese production The Shaolin Warriors. She then starred as Chen Xiaorou in Rhythm of Life and Lin Keyi in The Defining Moment where she was praised for her good acting. Then came Aw's big opportunity: to star in Mediacorp's mega-blockbuster production, The Little Nyonya. Several actresses auditioned for the main female lead role for which Aw was selected. Many viewers saw it as a series conceived to boost Aw's television career and to secure the Best Actress award for her at the following Star Awards, and criticism was levelled at Mediacorp's bias towards Aw. Several viewers also believed that the producers intentionally wrote Aw's first role as a mute in attempt to conceal her imperfect delivery of Mandarin. In response, producers lauded Aw's work, saying that she performed in a professional manner. Aw's dual portrayal of Yamamoto Yueniang and Huang Juxiang (the mother to her primary character) was also praised by members of the audience. The drama became the most watched Singapore drama in 15 years and was a huge success. Aw gained many more fans and was hailed as the third-generation Ah Jie. Despite receiving a third Best Actress nomination at Star Awards 2009, Aw surprisingly lost to her co-star Joanne Peh. In end-2009, Aw acted in Together with Dai Xiangyu for the third time.
2010–2014: Continued success In 2010, Aw played a funeral director hoping to improve people's perceptions of her profession in New Beginnings. She had overcome a health scare during the filming of the drama. Though Aw again failed to win, she clinched her fourth and fifth Best Actress nominations respectively for Together (2010) and blockbuster drama Breakout (2011). Originally scheduled to film Absolutely Charming in 2011, Aw instead joined Destiny in Her Hands in Malaysia where she suffered a minor facial injury. In September 2011, Aw completed filming for the drama Precious in China. She played the main lead role and collaborated with Dai Xiangyu – the fifth time in three years. Precious was the remake of The Little Nyonya, and Aw played three roles (the mother Fang Xi Ruo, the daughter Ling Qian Jin and Qian Jin's granddaughter) this time. In 2012, she also filmed Rescue 995 as Shi Hao Ran. A righteous young lady who is bubbly and cheerful, the role differed from Aw's recent emotional roles. 2012 Channel U drama Jump! was her first attempt at a laugh-out-loud comedy, making it a surprising and challenging one. In December that year, Aw played a girl with eyes that can see through anyone's inner world in Beyond.
Said to be Aw's second breakthrough drama, The Dream Makers was Channel 8's 2013 mid-year blockbuster, which featured a grand cast including Zoe Tay, Chen Liping, Chen Hanwei, Qi Yuwu and Rui En. In the drama, Aw played a C-list actress who tries hard to make her way to fame. She received numerous positive comments from viewers and compliments from veteran artistes like Zoe Tay, Chen Han Wei, Bryan Wong and Xiang Yun, which made Aw the hot favourite for Best Actress at Star Awards 20. Following a similar loss to Chen Liping at Star Awards 2003 however, she was again beaten to the award by her co-star and broke the record for most nominations (6) without a win. Aw clinched five popularity awards, including "Favourite Female Character" and "Favourite Onscreen Couple" with Qi Yu Wu for the drama. At the Star Awards 20 Show 1, she became the first artiste to win four awards at a single show since the inception of Star Awards as well as the first to net five awards in a single year. With Aw clinching a tenth and final "Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes" award at Star Awards 20 Show 2, she was also the first of the Seven Princesses of Mediacorp to earn the "All-Time Favourite Artiste" accolade.
In 2013, Aw was involved in Channel 8's epic historical drama The Journey: A Voyage which marked her fifth and third collaboration with Elvin Ng and Joanne Peh respectively. Along with cast members Ng and Desmond Tan, Aw promoted the drama – then airing on PPCTV – in Cambodia. In celebration of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, she acted in the football-themed drama World at Your Feet and its spin-off, Unexpected Strangers, a telemovie made for Mediacorp's on-demand service Toggle. In August 2014, Aw played a tomboy chef in Spice Up before starring in The Journey: Tumultuous Times, the second part of The Journey trilogy. Her onscreen combination with co-star Shaun Chen was celebrated for evoking memories of their Holland V pairing.
2015–2017: Best Actress and departure from Mediacorp In February 2015, Aw played a fashionable single blogger known for baring her break-up experiences and shaming her exes online in Channel U drama Let It Go. She nabbed six awards at the Star Awards 2015 Show 1 In July 2015, she guest starred in The Journey: Our Homeland, thus becoming the only cast member to have appeared in all three instalments of the trilogy.