Grace Teo, once Carrie Wong's stunt double, now acts alongside her

She may have made her mark as a stunt actress, but this time, Grace Teo can show off her fighting chops as an actress on the small screen.

In a recent interview with AsiaOne during the press conference for upcoming Channel 8 drama Shero, the 31-year-old Malaysian actress reminisced about her past roles.

She shared that her most memorable one involved being a stunt double for Carrie Wong in A Quest to Heal (2020). The drama involves Carrie's character, Luo Mingyi, accidentally travelling in time from the Ming Dynasty to modern-day Singapore to battle malicious palace forces.

"I was doing martial arts while wearing an ancient costume so there were many layers and wire work," she said. "I felt very hot and uncomfortable."

Nevertheless, she felt "very proud" of herself for her performance.

Since young, Grace trained in wushu and aikido, and she later also learnt silat, boxing and muay thai.

Coincidentally, Grace is now acting alongside Carrie in Shero, playing Zhao Zihan, a professional bodyguard in the titular agency. Carrie plays Zhang Yinxi, the founder of the agency who goes missing, prompting her sister Yinchen (Joanne Peh) to switch careers and become a bodyguard.

Yue Ruixiang (Romeo Tan) is the CEO of a ship-building company who was collaborating on a project with Yinxi before she disappeared, and works together with Yinchen to find out the truth.

Compared to most of her past roles where she found herself single-handedly fighting a group of men, Grace enjoyed fighting alongside a group of women in Shero..

"We come together and fight against a bunch of big guys… It's teamwork that makes it different [from my past roles]," she explained.

There is one big inspiration behind Grace's commitment to action roles, and it comes in the form of a recent history-making Academy Awards Best Actress.

"I am inspired by Michelle Yeoh, who is famous for doing her own stunts," she admitted, adding that she is working towards becoming an actress like her.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JmaPciv4pY[/embed]

Ultimately, her hope is to work with Michelle on a film production and "have a friendly fight" together.

In fact, Grace met Michelle in person before, which she recalled happened around 2015 to 2017. Michelle was in Singapore for a press conference for a movie, whose title Grace could not recall, and Grace shouted "I love you" in the middle of the event.

Her declaration of love was captured audibly on national television, Grace recalled.

She even managed to get a photo with the iconic Malaysian-born actress.

Lasting friendships

As expected, Grace also grew closer to her Shero cast members, most notably Cheryl Chou and Tay Ying, both 27, who play Shero bodyguards Zhou Jingyu and Lin Xinya.

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"We make time for each other, going for hikes and tea. Cheryl's love language is cooking and I love to eat. For example, she once made white fungus soup and some cereal dates pastry… I always ask Cheryl what she is going to make next," Grace chirped.

Grace surmised that their friendship could be due to a personality match.

She elaborated: "I say I am a self-proclaimed introvert but nobody believes me. Most of the cast members in [the bodyguard group of] Shero are introverts, and I usually get along well with introverts.

"One speaks and the other listens, you know. I guess I may be selectively introverted."

Shero will stream on meWATCH and Channel 8 from June 12.

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jolynn.chia@asiaone.com

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