PENANG — Chatting with Oon Shu An feels like a bit of a party. For example, during our recent 20-minute interview on the set of Channel 5’s Mata Mata: A New Generation in Penang, the actress giggled endlessly and talked enthusiastically about how attached she is to her new 1980s perm. She even slapped our knees when we asked her what she thought her cheesiest lines in Mata Mata were. “Don’t know, leh!” Oon said, before pausing to think. “Cannot like that say, lah. A lot of times, you must remember that as a police officer you know how things work, but the audience might not. You’re still doing TV.”

Of course, Oon has been doing more than just TV. She was featured in the film Becoming Royston in 2006 and made a couple of short films such as Kitchen Quartet. More recently, she was featured in Han Yew Kwang’s sex comedy Rubbers, which hit our cinemas at the end of April and co-starred Yeo Yann Yann, Julian Hee, Marcus Chin and Alaric Tay. She will be seen on the big screen again in the Cathay production, Our Sister Mambo, which also stars Moses Lim, Audrey Luo and Michelle Chong, with a screenplay written by Michael Chiang, when it hits cinemas next month.

She also made her foray into the world of theatre, taking on roles in productions such as The Necessary Stage’s When The Bough Breaks, The King Lear Project: A Trilogy; and starred in Checkpoint Theatre’s sold-out play Normal in April. She also did a one-woman show #UnicornMoment which she wrote last year. She is also the host of ClickNetwork TV’s beauty/infotainment series Tried And Tested.

But TV is where she has made her biggest impact: From her roles in telemovies Love In A Cab and Common Space, to TV series such as AXN Asia’s The Kitchen Musical, Netflix’s Marco Polo and the Channel 5 law drama Code Of Law this year. Not bad for someone who never considered a career in acting. “I always thought I’d have a ‘real’ job,” she told ELLE magazine. “I didn’t even think you had to study to be an actor. I figured you could just get involved in productions and learn from there.”

She did graduate from an acting course at LASALLE and has since said that acting helps her “experience the world” and is the medium through which she can “engage people and tell stories”.

It’s because of acting that she and the rest of the cast of Mata Mata’s third and final season have been filming almost non-stop in Penang for a month. Oon plays a juvenile delinquent-turned-police officer in the 1980s and stars alongside series regulars Cheryl Wee and Daren Tan. Needless to say, the gruelling shooting schedule means that sometimes the cast have to play “silly games” such as Stay Awake Or Die to keep themselves entertained.

“Rifat told us about this game from school. They had to stay up all night, or people would do crazy things to them, like, horrible things,” she explained. “I fell asleep (in between takes) and they started taking photos of me. So now we have a hashtag #stayawakeordiemata3. Anyone can join the game. Just take photos of your friends who are sleeping — the crazier the better — and join us. It’s quite fun, right?”

Oon admitted to being one of the sleepiest actors on set, though she’s also taken many photos of her fellow co-workers sleeping on the job, just in case she needs ammunition if and when her colleagues post unglamarous shots of her on Instagram.

“This sounds terrible, but I can fall asleep anywhere,” she said, laughing. “Sometimes I bring a scarf to cover my face, but I can usually just sit down and fall asleep. It’s a gift!”

When she does get a free moment or two, the actress also exercises her auntie instincts and explores supermarkets all around town. Oon told us happily about how she used to visit Giant, before she discovered an enormous Tesco’s nearby.

“Sometimes we go on shoots and it’s really hot, so I buy packets of jellies, freeze them in my fridge and then chuck them into the ice box on set,” she said. “I also need chocolate for sustenance. It’s my thing. I also found Paddle Pop in a tub. It’s so much better than Paddle Pop on a stick! And cheesy rings from Double Decker. Normally, I like Super rings, but then I tried the ones that come in small packets here and they are not good, leh.”

Soon, Oon won’t have very much time to go about indulging in her auntie-esque hobbies. In addition to an upcoming project she can’t yet announce, Oon is focusing on brushing up on her Chinese accent for her role in Pangdemonium’s Chinglish, which will be staged at the Drama Centre Theatre in October.

And if Channel 8 comes calling, Oon says she would love to take up the challenge as well. “I’ve done a couple of episodes here and there,” she said. “But everyone says Channel 8 drama is crazy, so I really want to try!”

And, if that happens, we’re willing to bet that Oon will take that Stay Awake Or Die game, her frozen jellies and Paddle Pop, and get a whole new party started.