Jeanette Aw

Jeanette Aw Ee-Ping (born 28 June 1979), also known as Ou Xuan, is a Singaporean actress, host, filmmaker, businesswoman and writer.

Joining Route to Glamour, a talent search organised in Singapore and Malaysia by the now defunct television network SPH MediaWorks in 2000, Aw beat over 5000 applicants to emerge champion and signed on with the network.

In her debut year, she was awarded "Best Performer" and "Best Newcomer" and co-starred in a Taiwanese television drama.

She signed on with SPH Mediaworks and made her acting debut in the 2001 drama Touched.

She was a full-time Mediacorp artiste from 2002 to 2017 and was once managed by Hype Records.

Through her television career, Aw has established herself as one of the most popular and high-profile celebrities in Singapore.

She has won 29 popularity and performance awards, the record number for a performer, at Singapore Mediacorp's Star Awards.

Aw then signed on to Mediacorp in 2002 and played the intellectually challenged character Mo Jingjing in Holland V (2003).

Aw left SPH MediaWorks in early 2002 to complete her studies, joined Hype Records and then officially signed on as a Mediacorp artiste in May 2002.

She starred as Fan Keke in Beautiful Connection, the highest-rated Singapore drama in 2002, and won the Best Newcomer award at Star Awards 2002.

Aw also filmed the Taiwanese idol drama Kiss of a Toast II.

In 2003, Aw acted in True Heroes, before going on to star as Mo Jingjing, a young woman with low IQ, in Holland V.

It was the most watched Singapore drama that year, and she grew popular for playing the character.

Aw was nominated for Best Actress at Star Awards 2003, but lost to co-star Chen Liping.

However, she won her first "Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes" award.

After the mega success of Holland V, Aw was seen as a possible successor of the Ah Jie (big sister) status.

In 2004, Aw starred in her first female lead role as Wen Qian in Spice Siblings alongside Tay Ping Hui and Cynthia Koh.

Following that, she starred in two dramas – A Child's Hope II and The Champion.

Aw was again nominated for Best Actress for her excellent performance in A Child's Hope II and also won the "Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes" award at Star Awards 2004.

Aw was named as one of the Seven Princesses of Mediacorp in 2006, after which she achieved wider success with her leading role in acclaimed drama The Little Nyonya.

Aw has published two books; Jeanette Aw: Definitions in 2012 and Sol's World: Somebody to Love in 2015.

Aw garnered critical appreciation for portraying flawed actress, Zhao Fei Er, in The Dream Makers (2013) and its 2015 sequel.

She won her first Best Actress award at the Star Awards for her performance in the latter drama.

Aw was born in Singapore as a Hokkien with ancestry from Quanzhou city, Southern Fujian, China.

She has an elder sister and an elder brother.

Coming from an English-speaking family, Aw rarely used Mandarin in their conversations.

She considered her childhood blessed and fortunate because her parents provided for everything that she needed.

Growing up with a carefree nature, she was an introvert and was "the kind of girl who loved reading, writing and drawing".

Aw wanted to be a dancer, an artist or a child psychologist.

Attending Raffles Girls' Primary School, Crescent Girls' School, National Junior College and National University of Singapore, Aw was a school prefect and a model student.

Her best subjects were English Literature and English, and she scored an A for art at the O Levels.

Aw did gymnastics in primary school, dance in secondary school and swimming in junior college.

She started ballet training at 13, and Aw went on to dance almost every day before signing her first acting contract.

She also played the saxophone in her secondary school concert band and trained for a girl group in junior college.

In university, Aw was President of the NUS Dance Ensemble.

Aw decided to pursue a career on stage and eventually graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Degree in Theatre Studies.

While preparing for her graduation production in her final year at university (before receiving an offer for the Honours Degree program), Aw and her friends also auditioned at theater companies.

A friend told her that a company was looking for actors, and Aw only learnt that it was a television station after submitting her application.

She also starred in musical Beauty World in 2015.

While in college, Aw entered TV talent scouting competition Route to Glamour, in which she placed first.