In the upcoming drama Hope Afloat, they play friends. But in Emerald Hill, which they are filming now, they are enemies.

In real life? Chantalle Ng and Tasha Low are best friends, which has become a bit of a problem for the two recently: as Tasha gets into character for Emerald Hill, she consciously avoids Chantalle on set.

In a recent interview with AsiaOne, Chantalle, 29, joked: "There was one full day I didn't manage to talk to Tasha. I teared up a bit. Yeah, it was very unfortunate, because I enjoy spending time with her. Then she didn't even join us for lunch and I had to talk to other people that I'm not close to."

Chantalle also said that for her, switching characters is just like a snap of a finger.

"You just get in and out. I think for Tasha, she needs to have time to build up her emotions, but it's very different for me," she said.

Tasha, 30, explained her thought process in a separate interview with AsiaOne.

"The first few scenes I did with her [in Emerald Hill] were really tough. I couldn't get into character. I couldn't scold her or have any hatred for her because we're so close," she said, adding she is still avoiding Chantalle on set now

Filming aside, Tasha said they're very "needy" in real life.

"We would miss each other if we don't meet. So we hang out quite a lot and we have a lot of mutual friends as well so I go to her house quite often," she shared.

Though Tasha is older, she admitted that Chantalle acts more like the older sister in the friendship: "She has a lot to say whereas I'm always the quiet one. I'm always listening."

"She protects me and gives me advice. Although I'm older, I do like the feeling of being protected."

We asked Chantalle what she thought about this and she agreed.

"It's so tiring. I always have to look out for my younger sister… I think it's because she's a very soft person," she said cheekily.

"I don't know why but I always find soft people in my life. Like my mum is quite similar to Tasha. They will not stand up for themselves and over the years I became somebody who would, because I don't want to see people take advantage of the ones I love."

She said tongue-in-cheek: "They become the girly girls and I become the manly man."

Chantalle's mum is veteran local actress Lin Meijiao.

Though Tasha doesn't recall funny moments from their days filming Hope Afloat and Emerald Hill, Chantalle told us she has the tendency to start laughing at random times on both sets and struggle to stop.

"Sometimes it's a very serious scene and I would just pinch myself and hold my breath but when a very important scene happens, I will burst out laughing," she recalled.

"Tasha can control her emotions better. She's very logical and I'm very emotional."

She brought up one particular moment in Emerald Hill.

"We were having a tok panjang (long-table dinner) with all the older generations. I looked at everyone and I just found it so hilarious," she laughed.

"A bunch of actors and actresses coming together to pretend like they're nyonyas and it just tickled me so hard, I couldn't stop laughing. I couldn't say my lines."

She said that Tasha was sitting opposite her and couldn't stop laughing as well but managed to gain composure when the camera panned to her.

Hope Afloat follows Xilin (played by Tasha) a dancer who becomes paralysed waist-down after a jetski accident. She meets para swimmer Tianqing (Chantalle) and regains the courage to embark on her new journey in life.

In Emerald Hill, a spin-off from the hit 2009 series The Little Nyonya, Tasha plays poverty-ridden Xinniang who later finds out she is the long-lost daughter of the wealthy Zhang family.

Chantalle takes on the role of Anna, Xinniang's cousin. The two can't get along and Anna makes use of every opportunity to drive Xinniang out of the Zhang family.

Hope Afloat, which also stars Desmond Ng, Grace Teo, Zhang Zetong, Guo Liang, Cynthia Koh and Kym Ng, premieres July 30 and airs weekdays 9pm on Channel 8. It will also be available on demand for free on Mewatch from July 29.

Emerald Hill, which also stars Zoe Tay, Chen Liping, Jesseca Liu, Shaun Chen, Romeo Tan, Dawn Yeoh and Ferlyn Wong, is expected to premiere in the first half of 2025.

syarifahsn@asiaone.com

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