Photo Credit: Mediacorp TV Singapore
Local actress Fiona Xie returns to the small screen after a seven-year hiatus. She is set to play a psychiatrist in her comeback TV role, ‘Left Behind’, which premieres on August 22nd on Channel 5.
When asked about what she missed most about acting, Xie quipped: “Call sheets!”
“You tend to block everything else up and have to be focused... and I like that - to have that idea of having it all planned out. ," she explained. "Because that gives you a schedule of the day, and everyday, I wake up at 7am and to know that I have 10 scenes to do. You just have to focus on the emotions on the scenes for that day, so I think I do miss those.”
During the media conference at the National Gallery last week, Xie revealed that she was ‘shivering and scared’ to be back in front of the cameras.
“I was telling the director, Gavin, and thank god he was very kind to meet up with me and have many talks with me. I was so scared and so nervous before I started,” the 34-year-old actress said, adding: “But then when you get into it, you realised that, that’s why you started it (acting), and something that will always be in you. It’s something that you lose yourself and be in that character for that few moments and I like doing that! It’s like living many different lives… living vicariously through these characters.”
Photo Credit: Mediacorp TV Singapore
During her absence on screen, Xie spent the seven years in Hong Kong, New York, Shanghai and Tokyo; dabbling in arts, photography and fashion. It was reported that the story of ‘Left Behind’ was what made her agree to be a part of this drama series.
“Everybody has their good side, and then they also have skeletons in the closet or like things they are battling with,” shared Xie. “The show centres a lot about redemption and what’s really good about this show is that its’ very real.”
“It’s not that everything is obviously bad or obviously good, it’s always shades of grey. There’s always a kind of dilemma… and that is always interesting.”
(Check out more photos from the media conference, here!)
Photo Credit: Mediacorp TV Singapore
Xie calls herself a ‘very emotional person’, but felt it difficult to cry on cue during her former days as a full-time actress, but for this upcoming drama, she calls it ‘a rebirth of an actress’.
“Back then I didn’t have many crying scenes but then I’ve always found it quite challenging (to cry),” she explained. “Previously, there were times where I had to make a lot of people wait, and to do many, many takes, but with this, I think I felt quite like a rebirth of an actress in that sense, because wow, finally I could master these tears!”
“People ask if it’s because of my experiences. I don’t know what it is, to be honest, I can’t tell, but then the tears just flowed and so much so that you go home and feel really drained; so tired and as if you gave your all to that scene and you went home happy. So it was, I think, sort of a little test for myself.”
Photo Credit: Mediacorp TV Singapore
For 24-year-old actor Aden Tan, it was a different story. Getting into character posed as a struggle for his character as Mark, a secondary school student, is the direct opposite of him.
“Mark has a lot of issues and doesn’t get along well with his classmates. I am a very happy-go-lucky person in real life. In this show, there were a lot of angry scenes, and it’s actually quite tough for me because honestly, I’ve never raged like that before.”
He continued: “I think for me, I try to bring back what I experienced as a kid, like those angry moments and channel it into Mark’s ‘style’. I had a few memories where I was really angry as a student, fighting over a lot of ridiculous stuff… thinking back, it’s really over stupid things.”
Photo Credit: Mediacorp TV Singapore
Left Behind also stars Jason Godfrey, Randall Tan, Oon Shu An, and premieres on 22 August, 10pm on Channel 5.