Celest Chong is in love…with 2 men!

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Model-actress Celest Chong is in love with not 1, not 2 but many different men! But guys, don't droop down your heads in disappointment just yet. The lanky head-turner is only spilling the beans on her character Pam in new drama, Making Love.

< Eastciti.com, August 31 > Pam seems to be a popular name. You have the bitchy Pam played by Melody Chen in Spin and now you'll soon see model-turned-actress Celest Chong as Pam in upcoming TCS 5 drama, Making Love.

Huh? MAKING LOVE?!!!
Before imaginations run wild and worried parents start protesting, Making Love, despite its erhemm…erotic name, is far from risqué. Instead, the 13 half-hour comedy-drama series focuses on love and relationships in Singapore. Says Celest, I think it's about relationship issues nowadays. I think it's about issues people have with each other, in terms of relationships, in terms how women want to be treated, how women perceive men, how men perceive women to be. I think the textbook for it would be Men Are From Venus… the book that I never read, that I hate! (laughs) You know the John Grey book that everybody is so…I think it's close to that. It's quite funny, lah. There are little knick-knacks that I never imagined would be inside."

After one probing, she reveals that she would have to date 'many many different guys' throughout the whole series. "So far, 5 episodes, 2 guys. Still all right, lah," she says with an impish grin.

The comedy and drama, which always starts off a quirky one-liner (Does Size Matter? Do Looks Matter?), revolves around a matchmaking agency where 4 young people have differing ways of playing Cupid. Andrea De Cruz is a 26-year-old former lawyer who decides to leave her job after being jaded by love and the broken marriage of her parents. Singer-actor Kevyn (who used to be known as Kevin Verghese) is ex-civil servant Esan, a goody-goody (read:geeky) guy attracted to Pam. Steve, a glib-tongued, confident ex-marketing manager is played by Los Angeles-based actor, Jimmy T. He finds himself caught between Angela and Pam. Celest plays Pamela Chan or Pam for short, an attractive and outspoken ex-model who doesn't care if you hate her provocative dressing.

I'm No Flirt!
Loud and hiao (flirtatious) is what Celest calls her character Pam. "Every time a guy comes along, she would go 'Hi,… hellooo…'(in a seductive lull) She would totally change whenever she talk to Esan, she's like 'Errr..(sounding disgusted)" She's a very funny character."

In fact, the articulate ex-model wasn't too keen on taking up the role. She says, "Initially when I read the script, I thought that she could be a little bit bimbotic, that she's going to be stereotyped. I was a bit worried about that. It's really quite frightening to start acting and be stereotyped altogether." Good thinking and far-sightedness on her part not to jump on the bandwagon, being a newbie in the entertainment industry. But through advice from her well-meaning friends and lessons with experienced stage actor Lim Yu Beng, she accepted the role.

When it comes to acting, most people would think that she has it better because of her prior modelling experience, but she has a different opinion. Celest, who used to be the president of her drama club in secondary school, where she dabbled in acting and scriptwriting, says, "I think modelling is about looking good. So, in front of the camera, you have to look good, which angle is the best. After working all these years, I do know what looks good. But in front of the TV camera, it's kind of difficult. You can't say, 'My right profile is the best and I want my right profile.'

"Acting is totally different. You can't be too self-conscious, cannot think 'I want to look beautiful on screen'. If you spend too much time trying to look good, you'll never be able to be the character that people can relate to. You're a human being just like everybody else. Being on screen, I think being imperfect is one of the best things. I think I'm totally imperfect but sometimes camera angles tend to capture the best side of things. It's not an obstacle, I feel. It's just something that you tend to be conscious about. I don't find it really difficult transiting from modelling to acting."

The enthusiastic self-confessed "new bird" to acting withholds nothing in her first drama serial. "I've decided to play her in a totally over the top way. She is supposed to be funny. It is, after all, a comedy type of drama. I'm having a ball. I don't regret taking on the role. I'm having a lot of fun. She's so flamboyant, totally mad. (laughs) If I do get stereotyped, what's the big deal? I had fun, " says the vibrant actress with her girlish smile.

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