Jayley Woo: On the sexy scale, I’m a zero

SINGAPORE — Being sexy is a huge challenge for young actress Jayley Woo, who found herself having to learn some saucy dance moves for the Mediacorp Channel 8 drama, Peace & Prosperity.

Her character in the show is a manicurist whose hobby is pole dancing; and in one scene, she tries her moves out on the manicure shop’s boss, played by Yao Wen Long.

“He doesn’t really like her, so she tries all means to get his attention,” the 24-year-old explained, adding: “I think the main reason she is in love with him is that he kind of resembles her father — she didn’t have much daddy love growing up.”

There is only one problem with having to be seductive, Woo said: “I’m so awkward.”

When we popped in during one of her dance lessons, she lamented: “I’m not a good dancer at all,” adding that on a scale of one to 10, her sexiness level was “zero”.

“I can do hip hop, I can do street dance, but (this is) just weird,” she said. “I hope the director will give me more close-ups so I can portray it with facial expressions instead of movements!”

She has a plan, though. “When I think of pole dancing, all I can think of is ‘hairography’ — how sexy you are depends on how good you are with your hair. For the show, I have clip-on extensions, so with those, I’ll look more like a woman, I guess. I will try to distract you with my hair.”

Catch Peace & Prosperity weekdays at 7.30pm on Mediacorp TV Channel 8.