Aileen Tan has kissed and told about her second screen kiss in 31 years.

At a press conference last Friday to promote new Channel 8 drama Happy Prince, the 53-year-old said she was thrilled when she found out the script required her to lock lips with a "xiao xian rou".

That is an informal Mandarin phrase to indicate a young and handsome man.

Tan, who is married to Hong Kong director Gerald Lee, even told him about the acting assignment, wondering who she would be smooching with, reported the AsiaOne portal.

But she later found out that the actor is someone she is not familiar with, which made the kissing scene stressful for her to pull off even if they were not required to show too much passion.

She did not say who the young guest star is, but mentioned that her last screen kiss was with former actor Desmond Shen, Lianhe Zaobao reported.

In Happy Prince, Tan plays the mother of Paige Chua's character, who is the childhood sweetheart of the title character, a man with Tourette Syndrome, played by Romeo Tan.

Chua and Romeo Tan do not get to kiss in the show unlike Aileen Tan.

Aileen Tan, who came in second in the inaugural Star Search talent quest in 1988 after Zoe Tay, joked that she expects to be allowed in future to choose the next young actor to kiss.

She recently told an interviewer: "I have been in the industry for 31 years. I'm getting older, but I'm still young at heart."