Jeanette Aw

Latest Updates Jeanette Aw,Star Awards 2010 Nominees,Jerry Yeo, Star Awards 2010: Singapore actress Jeanette Aw looked a little under the weather while she sat on a horse in an elegant tube bridal gown, during a beach wedding scene for her upcoming drama serial “New Beginnings”.

A very good icebreaker in almost all situations is to talk about the weather, so I decided to go with that when I caught up with Aw on the set earlier this month. I didn’t expect to get a reaction from the usually composed star.

“When we were waiting down there, right at the end [of the beach], waiting for the cue to start moving, our backs were like burning, the sun was so hot and we were not moving, so we [she and co-star Jesseca Liu] were like ‘Okay, we are sun tanning over here’,” said Aw.

“I applied [sun block] already but I think it’s not working,” she said with a frown as she pointed to her slightly red forearms.

Fortunately, that was the last day of shooting for the show and her skin will heal. What stuck with her, however, were the experiences she had when she researched her role in the show: A woman who gave up her studies to help her father run a funeral home and put her siblings through school.

The 30-year-old actress spoke to two funeral directors to learn about their lifestyles and experiences.

“I had this thought ‘Maybe I have to be very sad because I have to deal with death everyday’,” said Aw.

But the reality could not be more different.

The funeral directors have encountered so much death that they have adopted a very nonchalant attitude towards it and sometimes even joked about it, she said.

And their stories and way of life have changed on her views on mortality.

“At the end of the day, when you leave the world, there is nothing to bring along with you. And there is really nothing to feel so sad or feel so scared about because this is something that happens to everyone at some point in time,” said Aw.

She added that she did not need a grand funeral when it is time for her to depart, but would instead prefer to be cremated and have her ashes scattered into the sea. She also did not want her descendants to trouble themselves and pay their respects every Qing Ming festival.