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AsiaOne
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- AsiaOne
'I broke down in tears every day': Emotional role in new drama leaves Cheryl Chou drained, Entertainment News
Local actress Cheryl Chou recently faced the toughest challenge in her acting career, playing a woman whose husband died just one month into their marriage. Speaking to AsiaOne recently while promoting her new drama Devil Behind The Gate, the 29-year-old shared it was the first time she played a character with heavy emotions. "I broke down in tears almost every day while I was on set," she said. Cheryl plays Fang Aixin in the series, who grew up in a wealthy single-parent family. Her head-in-the-clouds personality masks her loneliness and desire to seek dependence and affection. When art teacher Yuan Yingcai (Desmond Tan) appears in her life, providing her with comfort and support, she realises for the first time that she can be happy and loved. However, just a month into their marriage, Yingcai dies by suspected suicide. When his identical brother Yingjie (also played by Desmond) returns to Singapore from France to take care of his afterlife matters, he realises there is more to Yingcai's death than it seems, leading him to work in the art school to uncover the truth and finding out Yingcai's twisted and extreme nature in the process. While Cheryl admitted she is "quite an emotional person" in her private life, she is a tough cookie at work. "It takes a lot for me to cry, to show this kind of frustration and emotions," explained the winner of Miss Universe Singapore 2016. "I was very nervous [about performing this role], which was why I decided to engage a performance coach so she could guide me to 'melt' into the character and to make sense of what is going on in the scenes that I needed to do in the first week of production, which was very helpful." On her first day of filming last May, she acted in a scene where she had a total breakdown and the coaching that she had beforehand helped her to perform better. Cheryl had just completed filming the local film A Good Child prior to starting work on Devil Behind The Gate. To get into her role, she cut her waist-length hair to below her shoulders. She shared: "I wanted a change for myself and for the characters, so I did a massive chop [of my hair]... The transition [from one project to the next] was quite swift, which for me was quite unusual. Usually, I would have a couple of weeks to digest everything." She told her manager she would like to focus most of her time and energy on playing Aixin for the following three months of production and to reduce other work appearances. "That was the first request I made, which is quite out of character for me. But this was such an emotionally heavy show, especially for my character who faces many changes in her life, and she is not the most emotionally strong person. I told my manager I needed that period of time to do my homework and recalibrate myself after every filming day," Cheryl said. Theme song for the character To prepare herself for scenes where Aixin has an emotional outburst, Cheryl assigned a "theme song" — French composer-pianist Erik Satie's Gymnopedie No.1 — to herself to get into the mental state. "I felt that this musical piece basically captures the emotions and the mood of the series. When I did my homework on the script, I would include this piece and also play it in my mind while acting," she shared. To her, the composition and Aixin were so deeply connected that she couldn't listen to it again after filming the series without being reminded of what Aixin and Yingcai experienced together. "I didn't expect to fall so deeply into the character... I was just trying to wipe out everything that I am while playing Aixin," Cheryl said. 'Why did I sign up for this job?' The character's turbulent experiences took a toll on Cheryl, especially during the last month of filming last August. "There was one day I just felt unwell in my stomach, like I was going to throw up. There was a kind of uneasiness and I felt like I was sick, but I was actually not. It was just too much of an overload in my head," she shared. She also remembered going home physically drained. "There was one time when I returned home, I just laid on the floor and looked at the ceiling, thinking, 'What am I doing with my life? Why did I sign up for this job?'" she recounted. Despite that, after watching some clips from the drama and speaking to the producer, she was happy bringing her character to life. Coincidentally, Cheryl and her family visit her grandfather in Melbourne every September to celebrate his birthday, and she took the chance to unwind there for a week after filming wrapped. She shared: "It was a nice break from everything that had transpired the last three months [of filming]. I just let myself go and be there. I didn't realise how tired I was from this production until I got there. "The weather is colder there and I usually like to run in the park and reservoir. I brought my running shoes for the trip, but I didn't run once the whole time I was there. I just couldn't get out. It was nice to have that distraction, but at the same time, I just realised how exhausted I was." Devil Behind The Gate is now available on demand for free on Mewatch. It is also airing on Channel 8 on weekdays at 9pm. [[nid:717704]] No part of this article can be reproduced without permission from AsiaOne.
The Star
28-04-2025
- Science
- The Star
Two new kenaf varieties with higher yields developed
KOTA BARU: Two new varieties of kenaf, a plant with numerous industrial uses, have been developed in Malaysia that have higher yields and are more climate resilient, say two government agencies. Named as Malaysia Kenaf 1 (MK1) and Malaysia Kenaf 2 (MK2), the two varieties were developed by the Malaysian Nuclear Agency (Nuklear Malaysia), in collaboration with the National Kenaf and Tobacco Board (LKTN). Dr Rosli Darmawan of Nuklear Malaysia explained that the seeds of MK1 were exposed to 300 Gray (Gy) of gamma radiation, while Malaysia Kenaf 2 (MK2) received 800 Gy, a process known as induced mutation, to enhance their agronomic traits. Both MK1 and MK2 produce significantly higher yields compared to the V36 variety, which has been planted for over 15 years in Malaysia, said Rosli, Nuklear Malaysia's director-general. 'Field trials conducted at LKTN's Beseri plantation in Perlis recorded wet stem yields ranging between 24 and 32 tonnes per hectare, an increase of 20% to 60% compared to the V36's current yield of 20 to 25 tonnes per hectare,' he said in a statement, Bernama reported. The new strains also have distinctive physical features. For instance, the flowers of MK1 have pale yellow petals and palmate leaves, which facilitate identification and field management. Both varieties have been officially registered with the Agriculture Department, he added.
The Sun
27-04-2025
- Science
- The Sun
New climate-resilient KENAF varieties developed with nuclear tech
KOTA BHARU: The Malaysian Nuclear Agency (Nuklear Malaysia), in collaboration with the National Kenaf and Tobacco Board (LKTN), has unveiled two new climate-resilient kenaf seed varieties developed using gamma irradiation, offering higher yield potential and improved resilience. Nuklear Malaysia's director-general Dr Rosli Darmawan explained that the seeds of Malaysia Kenaf 1 (MK1) were exposed to 300 Gray (Gy) of gamma radiation, while Malaysia Kenaf 2 (MK2) received 800 Gy, a process known as induced mutation, to enhance their agronomic traits. Rosli highlighted that both MK1 and MK2 have demonstrated significantly higher yields compared to the V36 variety, which has been in use for over 15 years in Malaysia. 'Field trials conducted at LKTN's Beseri plantation in Perlis recorded wet stem yields ranging between 24 and 32 tonnes per hectare, an increase of 20 to 60 per cent compared to the V36's current yield of 20 to 25 tonnes per hectare,' he said in a statement today. Beyond their productivity, the new strains have distinctive physical features. MK1, for instance, features pale yellow petals and palmate leaves, which facilitate identification and field management. Both varieties have been officially registered by the Agriculture Department, he added. Rosli noted that the project also aligns with the National Nuclear Technology Policy 2030 and the National Agricommodity Policy, which prioritise innovation and non-energy applications of nuclear technology in sectors like agriculture and biotechnology. He said the effort underlines the broader potential of peaceful nuclear tech in advancing food security and sustainable farming. Rosli said Nuklear Malaysia remains committed to democratising nuclear technology through innovative solutions that directly benefit the public, industry and the national economy. 'This approach not only widens the peaceful use of nuclear technology, but also boosts public confidence in its role across food, health and environmental sustainability,' he said
