She has been in the entertainment industry since 1999 and boasts an impressive list of jobs. Her love for the great outdoors has had her jumping off boats, planes and rock faces. With a bubbly and loud personality to boot, MW had a barrel of laughs during this interview with her.

 

We see you’re using a Nokia N95. Is that your only phone?
I love this Nokia phone and I also use a BlackBerry Curve. The Nokia N95 8GB is about a year old and the Curve is about 6 months old.

Why do you have two phones?
I think I got sucked into it. Seriously I can’t give up my Nokia and I love going online and stuff but it’s rather expensive for the network that my Nokia phone is on. So the cheaper way is to get a BlackBerry and for a cheaper rate I get to check emails and surf the web on the go. I don’t even need to cart around a laptop when I have these two phones with me. 

In fact, how many phones have you had?
Actually at one time I had up to 6 phones but I’ve given them to members of my family. I still have some memories of my first phone. It was a tiny Nokia with glowing red and blue keypad. I can’t remember the model name but it was a monoscreen phone. Another wacky phone I used to have is from China that could receive free TV signals.

Any phones that you’re looking forward to?
Hmmm…if I’m not mistaken there’s a music flip phone from Sony Ericsson that looks enticing. There’s also a BlackBerry Storm that I liked. At the moment I think I want to get a home theatre system first. Each time I flip the magazines and keep seeing new gadgets that are so nice. Keeping updated with the latest toys needs lots of money and you know, times are bad.

With your cheery personality, we’re sure you talk a lot on the phone, right?
I love chatting on the phone and SMSing. Sometimes I want to tell people things and it’s just too long to do it over SMS so I call. I also roam a lot because I travel often so my phone bill is unbelievably high.

If given a choice, would you rather lose your wallet than your phone?
Wow, this is a tough call. Let’s see. I think I’d rather lose my phones lah. With my wallet I have cash and credit cards to rescue myself no matter where I am and I can always get a brand new phone. I’m not afraid to lose my contacts because I have them all backed up.

You sure are prepared. Have you had bad experiences losing your phone?
Sadly, yes. One time I parked my car at an old jetty and started taking my stuff. Because the phone was getting in the way, I placed it on top of my car. Then I heard someone shouted that this particular jetty is no longer in service. There’s a new one further down. I quickly put my stuff back into the car and as you can guess I drove off with the phone sitting where I left it. Needless to say my phone went flying. I was quite bummed because it had a nice phone number too.

Is that when you started to back up your contacts?
I spent a whole night sending each contact via Bluetooth and painstakingly saving each one. So I thought this is dumb and I might as well use the backed up service that my telco has. So each time I change phones I no longer cringe.

Of the two phones, which do you love more?
I think it’s the Nokia. I’ve always been very familiar with their products and I can even SMS without looking at the screen. The phone also has a great camera and lots of space for my pictures, songs and
so on.

Are you wary of keeping important data in your phone?
Not really. I still keep a lot of important data and random notes but they are of no use to anyone. It’s encrypted and password protected.

Are you into mobile downloads?
I was about to say no but to think about it, I do download quite a bit of stuff. I have Jason Mraz “I’m Yours” as my caller ringtone and a few wallpapers. I also tried downloading some games such as Solitaire, car racing, Bubble Puzzle, Brick and golf. I used to play CounterStrike and World of Warcraft but it got way too complicated for me. 

Putting tech chats aside, can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I love extreme sports. I’m loud but I’ve toned down in recent years.

What kind of extreme sports do you do?
I’ve tried rock climbing, skydiving, wakeboarding, car racing and go-karting. Although scuba diving isn’t exactly an extreme sport, I love it too. I’m also a certified diver too.

How did you get started and how did you get discovered?
I was actually doing rock climbing with the Sinclairs and a TV crew came by to do an interview. Then a couple of weeks later I got a call from a friend that the TV station wanted me to audition. I was the last one and I nailed it. Since 1999, I’ve done a lot of hosting, movies and TV dramas.

Which in particular is your favourite?
I love doing movies and live TV shows. Movies, because you get to do so many different roles that I never thought that I could do. I’ve been in 5 movies and I love all of them. I also enjoy doing live TV shows because I can let my personality shine and it’s also pretty challenging.

What’s the biggest challenge hosting a live TV show?
You have to be prompt and try your hardest not to fumble but if you do then cover your mistakes well. Sometimes I make mistakes I would just admit it and be cool about it. Especially for red carpet shows, I’ll have with me a standard set of questions and a rundown of the show. That is very important. 

Can we expect to see more of you this year?
I have 2 movies coming out this year. One is called Gentayangan. It’s about black magic. I’m the one who accidentally releases the evil (laughs). It was challenging because of the different elements that are involved. Another movie is called Dua Hati Satu Jiwa. Fauziah Gaus and I are Siamese twins who are joined at the head and shoulder. I have to say this is the most challenging role I’ve played. My show on Astro, Ria Sentral is up for another season but with a new co-host. With this new management company I joined, they are keeping me really busy (laughs).

We heard you can speak Mandarin. How did that come about?
I picked it up from school right up until I was 15. Each time my bro and I had secrets to share, we’d speak in Mandarin.

Of all the places you have travelled to, which are your favourites?
I love beaches. Safe to say I’ve covered about 80% of  the beaches in Malaysia. I’ve also been to Phuket, Phi Phi Island and Bali. I would like to go to Angkor Wat, Spain, Greece and Fiji.

Seeing as this is still a new year, what are your resolutions?
I hope to go international and also join an international charity body such as UNICEF.

Lastly, it’s also Valentine’s so are you expecting anything?
I hope to be surprised! Not something clichéd like the normal wining and dining.