Chantalle Ng On Why She’s Now Living The Life She’s Always Wanted And Why A Career in IT Is Her Backup Plan

When Chantalle Ng was cast as aspiring pop star Fang Jing Chen in Mediacorp drama Live Your Dreams, she was looking forward to the singing, something that she’s loved doing since she was a kid. In fact, one of her childhood ambitions was to become a singer).

However, the 26-year-old’s hopes were dashed when the executive producer pointed out that Jing Chen has to sing really well, so they might need to get a more experienced vocalist to cover her parts.

“I think it’s ‘cos they heard me sing in My Star Bride, but my character in there is very loud and isn’t supposed to sing well, so perhaps they thought, ‘Ah, maybe not,’” quipped Chantalle in an interview with 8days.sg, adding that she did not have to audition for Live Your Dreams.

Still, she was determined not to give up the chance to let her voice be heard (literally) and tried to convince the producer to let her have a shot.

She was told that she would need to get the green light from renowned composer Lee Wei Song, who is the drama's music director and has a role in it as well.

Wei Song offered to give Chantalle three vocal classes, after which he would decide whether or not to let her sing her own parts.

Each session took one to two hours and Chantalle, who also briefly learned singing in the past and was in her secondary school choir, continued to practise by herself at home.

In the end, her efforts paid off and she was allowed to sing all her character’s parts. But she had another hurdle to overcome: learning how to dance.

“It was all a blur ‘cos I forget traumatic experiences,” she chuckled when we asked how the lessons went, admitting that she “really can’t dance” and that she was “a lot slower” than her co-stars in picking up the choreography, especially Ferlyn G, Tasha Low, and Cheris Lee, who all used to be in legit K-pop girl groups. Ferlyn and Tasha were in SKarf, while Cheris was in GBB.

“Our teacher only had to demonstrate a move once and they would know exactly what to do, while I’m just there like, ‘Okay, I enjoyed your performance, now can you break it down for me?’” she recalled.

Fortunately for Chantalle, her character isn’t exactly the most talented dancer either so she didn't have to achieve K-pop level dance skills. However, the actress noticed that there was improvement and became a lot more confident in the end.

Now that Chantalle has more or less had a taste of girl group life, does she think she has what it takes to really be in one?

Her reply was a rather pensive “no”. “I probably could survive, but I don’t think I’d be happy and I don’t think I’d be in a right state of mind,” she mused.

The “horror stories” she heard from Ferlyn, Tasha, and Cheris about their time in South Korea certainly don’t sound very encouraging.

“For example, they had flexibility training where they had to do splits and all that, which is also something we had to do for the drama,” Chantalle shared. “One of the girls tried to push me [to do a bigger split] and I was like, ‘No, no, no, I will snap, I cannot already!’”

“She said that back in Korea, even when they started to cry or scream out in pain, they would be ignored, so it’s very tough — a lot tougher than what I’m used to.”

8 DAYS: What was the most challenging part of filming Live Your Dreams?

CHANTALLE NG: I think it was the hours. Group scenes would take very long to complete, so we would shoot for 12 to 16 hours a day, and whenever we had time, we had to go for dance lessons, rehearsals, and song recordings. Wah, damn shag!

Your character has a stutter. What kind of prep did you do to portray that?

While I managed to find a Vietnamese lady to help me with my accent for My Star Bride, I didn’t know anyone who speaks with a stutter, so all I could do was go online and do my own research.

Do you feel like your living your dreams right now?

Yeah, I think so leh. I think I’m living the kind of life that I always wanted as a kid: I’m happy, my mum [veteran actress Lin Meijiao] is healthy, I’m surrounded by good people, I’m able to earn money to support my mum and myself, and my career looks hopeful, so I’m very happy. I’m in a state where I constantly remind myself I should be grateful.

Was it your dream to become famous?

I definitely thought about it before, but as a kid I think I just really wanted to sing. (Laughs) Now, it’s more of my dream to be living a good life on my own terms. I don’t have to be ultra-famous or ultra-rich ‘cos to me, those aren’t the definitions of a good life.

Do you think you would still have pursued a career in showbiz if your mother wasn't an actress?

Wah, I don’t know leh. That’s how I was first exposed to acting and how I got my first audition opportunity, so I’m not sure. Like how does one get into the media industry? Maybe I would have joined Star Search. Some more so good, the winner gets an Audi. Aiyah, I should have waited. (Guffaws)

What do you think you’d be doing now if you weren’t an actress?

I would definitely have gone into the tech industry [Ed: She studied Information Systems at SMU]. It’s so different [from acting] but there are parts of it that I can see myself truly enjoying, such as project management or sales. IT has always been my backup plan, so if my acting career doesn’t work out, I would consider doing it, but for now, I’m pretty happy and I’ll be here for a while.

You keep mentioning that you love singing. Ever consider switching careers to become a singer?

I enjoy it, but I’m not sure what it’d be like as a career. If the opportunity arises, I would gladly accept it, but I won’t give up acting to be a singer.

You could still release your own album while continuing to act.

I mean, if TCA (The Celebrity Agency) insists… (Laughs) But it’s not something I’m actively trying to pursue lah. Anyway, if I get to be a singer, I hope to be the kind that doesn’t have to dance!

Live Your Dreams is now available on meWATCH.
It airs weekdays at 9pm on Ch 8.

Photos: Mediacorp