Pierre Png, Rebecca Lim and Guo Liang win acting honours for the first time at Star Awards

Christopher Lee and Fann Wong on stage to present the Best Supporting Actor award. -- TNP PHOTO: GAVIN FOO
Christopher Lee and Fann Wong on stage to present the Best Supporting Actor award. -- TNP PHOTO: GAVIN FOO
Qi Yu Wu and girlfriend Joanne Peh held hands and walked down the red carpet together. -- TNP PHOTO: GAVIN FOO
Rui En (left) and Jeanette Aw walking the red carpet. -- TNP PHOTO: GAVIN FOO
Chris Tong (left) and Priscelia Chan walked down the red carpet. -- TNP PHOTO: GAVIN FOO
(From left) Elvin Ng, Felicia Chin, Romeo Tan walking down red carpet together. -- TNP PHOTO: GAVIN FOO
Chen Liping receiving the Best Actress award. -- TNP PHOTO: GAVIN FOO
Hosts Guo Liang (right) and Quan Yifeng as they walk down the red carpet together. -- TNP PHOTO: GAVIN FOO
Pierre Png receiving the Best Actor award. -- TNP PHOTO: GAVIN FOO

Three of four acting honours at Sunday night's Star Awards went to first-time winners.

At the event celebrating the best of local Chinese-language television, Pierre Png nabbed Best Actor for his role as a villain in the period drama The Journey: A Voyage. Guo Liang, better known as an accomplished host, collected Best Supporting Actor for playing a philandering plastic surgeon in The Dream Makers. Rebecca Lim's portrayal of a thrice-divorced siren, also in The Dream Makers, won her Best Supporting Actress.

Best Actress went to Chen Liping, for playing Guo's wife in The Dream Makers. It was her third win in the category, after achieving the feat for Holland V (2003) and Reunion Dinner (2010).

With The Dream Makers cast picking up so many acting awards, it was perhaps no surprise that the drama about the television industry went on to win Best Drama Serial.

In an interview with Life!, Png thanked his goatee for helping him get into character as the baddie Hei Long, an unscrupulous tin factory supervisor.

The 40-year-old actor, who made his debut 15 years ago, also said that he "screwed up" his acceptance speech and wished he had thanked his parents better. To make up for it, he would be displaying the trophy in his parents' place for his nieces and nephews to view.

Lim, Best Actress winner at the 2010 Asian Television Awards for the English-language law drama The Pupil, felt encouraged by the fact that many veteran colleagues had told her that they hoped that she would win. She said: "I did not dare expect anything because I was worried I would get disappointed."

How did the 27-year-old feel after she won? Literally "like a million bucks", the estimated cost of all the diamond jewellery she was wearing.

Guo's reputation as one of the best hosts on Channel 8 is unquestioned, indicated by the fact that he was hosting the Stars Awards yet again, on Sunday night along with Quan Yifeng.

The 45-year-old told Life! he hoped that his Best Supporting Actor win will open doors for him to more acting opportunities in the future.

He said in Mandarin that he was confident about winning: "I try to bring something fresh to my character every time. And frankly, I feel that some of my competitors did not completely lose themselves in their roles."

Apart from the acting awards, the other high-profile categories are the Top 10 Most Popular male and female artiste honours, which were decided by public vote.

For the men, there were three first-time repicipients: Desmond Tan, Xu Bin and Zhang Zhenhuan. They were joined by Dennis Chew, Elvin Ng, Lee Teng, Romeo Tan, Pornsak, Qi Yuwu and Zheng Geping.

Among the women, Chris Tong and Ya Hui were the first-timers, joining Jeanette Aw, Belinda Lee, Joanne Peh, Quan Yifeng, Rebecca Lim, Rui En, Vivian Lai, and Yvonne Lim.

At the Star Awards, which was holding its 20th edition at the Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre, veteran actress Fann Wong's unborn child stole some of the limelight too.

The actress, who is about five months pregnant, showed off her baby bump on the red carpet in a flowing white gown with gold trim, which she said she chose because it fit her "rounder" figure. She added in jest that this time she did not have to try to "suck in her stomach". Her husband, actor Christopher Lee, told reporters that he thought that his wife looked different but still sexy.

The celebrity couple revealed that they still did not know the sex of their baby and might try to find out next month so that they could start decorating the child's room.

Wong, who got pregnant at 43 after five years of marriage, also said that her baby had started kicking, and it seems to react most to the sound of Lee's voice.

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