Joanne Peh on her Best Actress win for The Little Nyonya: 'I think I deserved to win that award'

As one of the biggest names in local showbiz, actress Joanna Peh has drawn her fair share of brickbats — especially when she won at Star Awards.

In the latest episode of the Chinese talkshow The Inner Circle, Joanne was tearing as she recounted how the public reacted to her wins and nominations at the local awards ceremony.

The 37-year-old told host Guo Liang: "The first time I won, people were criticising me. The second time I won, people were also criticising me. When I was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, people still criticised me."

Joanne won her first Best Actress award in 2009 for The Little Nyonya, her second in 2012 for A Tale of 2 Cities, and a Best Supporting Actress award in 2015 for The Journey: Tumultuous Times.

Guo Liang pointed out that her win for The Little Nyonya was a huge point of contention. Joanne's father, who was invited to the show as a mystery guest, added: "I've heard from Joanne that people have said she shouldn't have won."

In the drama, Joanne plays Yuzhu, a kind-hearted young woman who spirals into a tragic end after being raped, forced to marry her attacker, and subjected to abuse including being a sex slave for her husband's business deals.

A 90-second clip of her performance in the hit drama series was screened and Joanne was emotional by the end of it.

She said: "Seeing this, I think my acting was really good. I think I deserved to win that award.

"I think if I had just focused solely on the awards, then wouldn't I be really upset? How am I going to live my life? So I am very grateful to have had such experiences because that's how I grew as a person. This is why I can openly say that winning the award isn't the end goal for me," Joanne added.

Her parents admitted feeling upset to see what their daughter went through.

However, her father shared that the only advice he could give her was that she can't control what other people say about her.

Joanne was most recently honoured with the Best Leading Female Performance - Digital award at the Asian Television Awards 2020 for her performance in The Last Madame. 

ALSO READ: I don't want to be used for gossip: Qi Yuwu on why he won't act with wife Joanne Peh

bryanlim@asiaone.com