Actors Jeanette Aw, Qi Yuwu played lovers on TV many times, but happiness was elusive

Jeanette Aw shared several photos with Qi Yuwu in 'The Little Nyonya' on social media on March 17. Photo: Jeanette Aw/Instagram

Actors Jeanette Aw and Qi Yuwu may have played on-screen lovers many times, but their characters never experienced a happy ending.

This was pointed out by Aw when she invited her former co-star to the latest episode of her YouTube show, JA Unscripted, on March 16.

Aw, 45, and Qi, 48, have collaborated many times. They were romantically paired in dramas such as Beautiful Connection (2002), The Little Nyonya (2008 to 2009), The Ferryman: Legends Of Nanyang (2021) and Come Closer (2023).

“Have you noticed that we never had a good ending in the dramas we worked together on, and that we were never together?” Aw asked Qi in the video.

Qi said he could not remember the ending of Beautiful Connection, their first drama together.

“We played boyfriend and girlfriend,” Aw said, referring to her character Fan Keke and his character Zheng Ruisheng. “And then you left me.”

Qi, who is married to home-grown actress Joanne Peh, 41, then reminded Aw of the roles they played in The Little Nyonya.

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“It wasn’t me who didn’t want to be with you in The Little Nyonya,” the China-born actor said, referring to his character Chen Xi and her character Yueniang, the protagonist of the hit series.

“But it was a very sad ending,” Aw said. “It’s not that my character didn’t want to be with yours.”

The actress also mentioned The Champion (2004), in which there was an open ending for their characters Guo Jingwen and Lu Kaiwei. “There was a vote for viewers to choose the ending,” she said.

Beside playing couples, the two actors have played siblings once in police drama C.I.D. (2006). 

Aw posted on Instagram on March 17 several photos of her and Qi in The Little Nyonya.

“Good co-stars are hard to come by,” she wrote in Chinese. “I am very grateful to have been paired with an actor who has such good chemistry with me, and to make the character of Yueniang Yamamoto truly come alive.”

She reprises the role of Yueniang in Emerald Hill, a loose sequel to The Little Nyonya.

Emerald Hill is streaming on Netflix. – The Straits Times/Asia News Network