SINGAPORE, Sept 5 — Actress Joanne Peh will be back on a drama set for the first time since she got married two years ago and subsequently became a mother.
Her last drama was Mind Game, which was filmed in Malaysia in 2014 and aired on Mediacorp TV Channel 8 in 2015.
Next week, she will start work on her latest drama, Dream Coder, which revolves around the lives of people working in a mobile app development company and also stars Romeo Tan, Desmond Tan, Yao Wen Long, Aloysius Pang and Carrie Wong.
Peh plays the mother of an eight-year-old child who takes up a job in the company after her cheating husband leaves their family.
The project landed in her lap just as she had become interested in software technology. “I actually went for a coding class for kids when I was in Guangzhou with my nephew, just to get an idea of what it’s like,” she shared. “It’s quite fun, actually. I think the kids love it. I thought it was something quite fascinating.”
As for whether she had concerns about leaving her year-old daughter at home while she’s on set, Peh said it “wasn’t a problem at all”. “I did a travel programme before this (Unique Towns, which aired on Channel U) and I had to leave Singapore, which is worse, if you think about it. At least, I get to go home and see my baby when I do this drama,” she said.
Taking on the role of an on-screen mother, she said: “I will probably channel a lot of my own personal maternal instincts into the role.” But it’s worth noting that it’s not the first time she’ll be playing a mum: “I’ve played my own mother before,” she giggled.
Did she miss acting? “Honestly, no,” she said, with a laugh. “I guess because the time that you spend at home with your baby just passes by really quickly. I did not really have the time to think about acting or whether I missed it that much. So, I don’t know. Honestly, I didn’t quite miss acting. But, who knows? Maybe I’ll love it again when I get into the groove. Or maybe I’ll be like, ‘Oh, I don’t want to do this any more! Get me home!’”
She added: “But I think it’ll be fun because the cast is a bunch of young people and I haven’t really worked with them before, so that will be interesting.” — TODAY
* Dream Coder premieres next year on February 7, weekdays at 9pm on Mediacorp TV Channel 8.
