We’re nearing the 15-minute mark of our chat with Felicia Chin at the press conference for All Around You and Aus-some Getaway when a minder comes up and signals for us to wrap it up.

Without missing a beat, Feli turns to her and quips, “It’s my fault — I’m very long-winded!”

She’s not lying. But her bubbly and talkative nature is exactly one of the things we love about the 35-year-old actress. It makes her as endearing as a bright-eyed and eager-to-please rookie despite the fact that she’s been in showbiz for 17 years.

That’s why when Feli tells 8days.sg that she goes into each project treating herself like a newcomer, we completely believe her.

“It’s wrong to make that differentiation. Like, oh, they’re newbies and I’m someone with experience,” Feli says. “That’s when you stumble. You can learn something from everybody.”

In All Around You, however, the real newcomers are the Star Search 2019 Top 12 finalists, most of whom are starring in a drama for the very first time, and Felicia (who won Star Search in 2003) is absolutely thrilled to be part of it.

“I’m very happy for them because I think they’re in a very conducive environment to grow creatively, and I could see that they were allowed to express themselves in their best possible way,” she gushes.

For example, she noticed how the director would pay attention to each of their strengths and encourage them to do something with it.

“She told Herman [Keh] that he expresses himself very well with his hands, so when he doesn’t really know what to do, he can just grab something and maybe that might help,” she shares. “I thought that was really useful because as a newbie, you always need encouragement and someone to look out for you.”

Naturally, we find ourselves wondering if Felicia was similarly nurtured while shooting her very first drama, the SARS-inspired Always on my Mind, which aired in 2003. And she candidly tells us that “it was very different” back then.

“I was very fortunate to land a drama role right after winning Star Search, and I was even paired with Shaun Chen, who had just become very popular thanks to Holland V, but basically, I was just thrown into the deep end and had to navigate things on my own because I was the only newcomer on set and a lot of times, you can't expect everyone to cater to your learning curve,” she says. “Of course, everyone tries their best to help you as much as they can, but everyone has their own quota to meet.”

But please do not miscontrue Feli's response as bitterness, though. “For All Around You, a lot of the cast members are from Star Search, so a lot more thought was put into that. The circumstances are just different so I can’t really make comparisons, but what I can say is that this experience was really good for newcomers.”

8 DAYS: You have a lot of praise for the newcomers, but what’s something you think they can improve on?
FELICIA CHIN: I didn’t actually see anyone do this, but my advice to them would be not to beat themselves up if they think they have not done as well as they should have. Just remember what you have learnt and hopefully, you can apply it to your next drama.

Are you saying this because you used to beat yourself up for making mistakes?
Last time lah. I was too self-critical. For example, I remember I had some emotional scenes in my first drama, but being 18 and not having much life experience to draw from, I couldn’t nail it, so I went home feeling very dumb.

If I could say something to myself back then, it would be, “Try your best. Don’t beat yourself up over it. Just keep learning with each show, and the most important thing is to have fun.” Acting is about having fun because if you’re too tense, it won’t come across naturally at all, which is why I’m very happy that the Star Search newcomers already have that vibe from being in the right environment.

Have you ever been impatient with a newbie?
Having been in that position where you feel like you’re just not doing what people are expecting of you and you’re nervous and you wanna cry but still have to be professional… I know how that feels, so I definitely would never want to be impatient to any newbie. I don’t know how it comes off to other people, but I apologise if I’ve ever given anybody that impression [that I was impatient].

You recently met up with Sharon Au before she flew back to Paris, and you said she was one of the nicest seniors you met when you first joined showbiz.
When I entered the industry, I didn’t dare to say a lot of things or ask a lot of questions. I kept it all inside because I didn’t want to be a nuisance to anybody, but when I had the chance to travel with Sharon and Mark Lee for a month, I found out that she’s very forthcoming. I remember asking her what make-up she was using, and she kept recommending me products! I was struck by how she had no airs and by how open she was even though we hardly knew each other then.

Were there any seniors you were afraid of?
Let me think. Not really, actually. I was more in awe of them. For example, the first time I saw Ah Jie (Zoe Tay), I was like, “Oh my gosh, what should I call her? Ah Jie? Hui Yu (Zoe’s Chinese name) jie?” I also remember feeling very shy around [Chen] Liping jie and [Huang] Biren jie. Just imagine an 18-year-old seeing people who she only knows from dramas and magazines in front of her very own eyes. (Laughs)

The COVID-19 situation is pretty bad in China. How is your boyfriend Jeffrey Xu doing? [Ed: Jeffrey is from Shanghai]
He’s a little worried, of course, because he’s not there with his parents, but they’ve been coping well. We’ve been keeping in touch with them via video calls and all that, so he has a bit of peace from that. We’re also trying to take better care of ourselves here in Singapore, which is what his parents would want as well.

Was he affected in any way by the travel restrictions?
His mum actually told him not to go back to Shanghai for Chinese New Year, and that was even before the situation with the virus had gotten severe. I’m so thankful he has wise parents who think more about him than themselves. They only see him once a year so of course they would want him home, but they thought it’d be best for him to stay in Singapore, so that’s why he wasn’t affected by the restrictions.

All Around You will premiere on March 2, 9pm on meWATCH and Ch 8.
Aus-some Getaway will air on March 16 and 23, 8.30pm on meWATCH and Ch 8.

Photos: Alvin Teo, Felicia Chin/Instagram, screenshot/meWATCH