Gini Chang shares something in common with her character, the brothel servant Nozomi in 1920s Singapore on the Mediacorp sex-and-espionage drama Last Madame: Sisters of the Night, the prequel to 2019’s award-winning 2019 series Last Madame starring Joanne Peh and Lina Ng.

Chang and Nozomi both have to step out of their comfort zone and into uncharted territory.

For Nozomi, she has to transition from cleaning up body fluids to turning tricks and snitching on her British clientele to the Japanese Imperial Army. For Chang, however, her career shift is, er, less drastic.

Born and raised in Macau, Chang, 28, is best known to Channel 8 audiences for My Star Bride and Healing Heroes; Sisters of the Night marks her English-language drama debut.

The biggest challenge in portraying Nozomi — a role originated by Ng in the antecedent show where her character was called Ah Yoke — was playing her as a 15-year-old at the start of the story. “I’m close to 30,” Chang giggled as she spilled to 8days.sg during a set visit in late April.

If it weren’t for the directors’ guidance, she would have trouble channelling her “young spirit” again.

Two of a kind: In Last Madame: Sisters of the Night, Gini Chang plays the younger version of Lina Ng’s character in Last Madame. Chang said she didn’t Ng’s performance in the original show but they chatted at this year’s Star Awards. “She was so happy for me and she just congratulated me,” Chang said.

The Star Search 2019 finalist also credited the directors for watching over her during the intimate scenes which required Chang to bare her soul in more ways than one.

Needless to say, Nozomi is her most daring role to date. 

“Once I was cast, I told myself, I’m responsible for these scenes,” she added. “If I don’t mentally prepare myself, I might not be able to deliver on the day of the shoot. I know what I signed up for and if I fail to deliver because of I have cold feet, I will hold up the production.”  

Ironically, it was the dressing-up sequences not the flesh-revealing ones that bothered her: it took her three hours to put on the kimono. “When I was wearing it, I couldn’t eat at all,” she said. “It was so tight that my stomach shrank.”

Chang reckoned she lost about 4-5kg.

Her wardrobe crisis worsened when filming moved to Batu Bahat, Johor, for scenes in a tailor shop where Nozomi liaises with her Japanese handler (Yusuke Fukuchi).

“Imagine there is no air con and I have to wear the kimono, which is about three or four layers thick, all day in hot weather,” she said. “It was definitely a challenge for my body. I had to keep myself awake because I was so spent.”

Last Madame: Sisters of the Night (M18) is streaming on meWATCH. It will land on Mediacorp YouTube Drama Channel on July 20.