It was a night of anticipation for local actress Felicia Chin as the camera kept cutting to her several times during key moments of Star Awards 2021.

First, it happened during the announcement of Best Actress and then, during the reveal of the Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes. Felicia, 36, was nominated for both categories but didn't manage to snag a trophy.

Considering that she narrowly missed out on the All-Time Favourite Artiste award — this could have been her 10th win in the Most Popular category — and has yet to win Best Actress after three nominations, no one would blame her if she was disheartened.

However, the vivacious actress was still cheerful when she spoke to AsiaOne over the phone after the awards ceremony held yesterday (April 18). Felicia confessed that she was just a wee bit down after all that hype, but explained that she was just a small piece of the puzzle and there was a bigger picture beyond her losses.

"I'm ok. There are things to learn. The show just ended five to 10 minutes ago, so I'm more overwhelmed that friends and colleagues told me that they would vote for me next year," said Felicia, adding that it was a very special show because veteran artistes like Jin Yinji, Chen Shucheng, and Marcus Chin won the Most Popular awards. 

While it was kind of awkward to have the cameras cutting to her often, she joked that it was better than not having any screen time at all. 

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Funnily enough, Felicia confessed that she got hungry about halfway through the show and she was thinking of getting some mee pok. Priorities, right?

In fact, before our interview, she chowed down on some Nutella bread that her bae (actor Jeffrey Xu) made for her. He also gave her a hug — nourishment for both the soul and the tummy, aww.

Felicia, who took a three-month leave in January to pursue a course to deepen her relationship with God, also said: "I was reminded today that this is my third Best Actress nomination. I'm quite happy looking back. Not that I've learned all about acting, but I've learnt more about finding a role and I'm happy with my growth. It would have been impossible for me to act as Olivia (in A Jungle Survivor) 10 years ago."

She added: "There's a good and right time for everything. There is so much more to grow and learn as an actress, like what Marcus said on stage." 

Now that the Star Awards buzz has died down (and she doesn't have to care about her 'food baby' showing), Felicia said she wants to have "a lot of food".

In a separate Zoom interview with local media, actress Jesseca Liu — who won Most Popular Female Artiste — said: "I looked at Felicia (during the reveal) because I thought she would win. Later, I went up to her and apologised for sending her the wrong message."

ALSO READ: Zoe Tay snags second consecutive Best Actress award at Star Awards 2021

bryanlim@asiaone.com

kwokkarpeng@asiaone.com

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