SHE never knew she could be so gentle.

Well, neither did we.

Meek and mild is not what usually comes to mind when describing this MediaCorp Princess.

But for a few months this year, local actress Rui En was just that.

She plays a docile, easily manipulated character in her new drama The In-Laws - a quantum leap from her past roles in the almost 10 years she's been with MediaCorp.

Rui En's usual fare consists of a steady diet of confident, strong-willed characters, such as a police officer in Metamorphosis and Unriddle, as well as a strong, independent and highly educated single girl in The Dream Catchers and My School Daze.

Granted, her more recent roles as a tragedy-stricken widow in With You and a wealthy heiress who lost her inheritance in A Tale Of 2 Cities already marked a departure from her comfort zone.

But playing a damsel in distress? That's a first.

"I don't like to be bullied, I stand up for myself, I'll fight back - so this is new for me," the 30-year-old told The New Paper.

The In-Laws premieres on Channel 8 tonight at 9pm.

It revolves around the family strife that arises when a matriarch (Li Siqi) meddles in her children's lives.

Rui En plays Jiazhen, her sweet and gentle daughter-in-law who suffers terribly at the hands of her devious sister-in-law (Cynthia Koh).

Rui En said: "I had to change a lot. How you are as a person has got a lot to do with how you act, and this is the first time I'm doing something that's so different from (me).

"The character is so pitiful, and there are people trying to get her all the time."

It also meant changing everything about herself.

Softer expression in the eyes? Check.

Slower acting momentum? Check.

Sweeter tone of voice? Check.

Subdued body language? Check.

On her inspiration for her onscreen persona, she said: "I've been through this stage when I was in my teens. There are some girls who are very uncomfortable with themselves..."

She was so fully immersed in her role that when she first started filming, she would lapse into her soft-spoken mannerisms even when off the set.

She was convincing enough for her co-stars to threaten to "break" her whenever they saw her in character.

"Cynthia would say, 'I feel like breaking you in half, why do you talk like that..." and I would be like 'yay', I was very successful," she said.

She didn't even recognise herself when she reviewed the film after a day of shooting to see how she could improve.

"I was like, 'Who is this?' Oh my God. I didn't know I could be so gentle," she said.

She added: "Hopefully I'm convincing as a damsel in distress."

But Rui En visibly perked up when the second season of Unriddle - which is a step back into more familiar territory - was mentioned.

She said excitedly: "I'm totally looking forward to it.

" I love, love, love those kinds of roles, and it's comfortable for me - I don't have to think, 'Is my voice right? Are my eyes right?'

"I enjoyed filming Unriddle quite a lot."

She even told the director and scriptwriter that there weren't enough action scenes in the first season.

"There's gonna be more," she said with a smile.

Unriddle 2 is due to begin filming in the last quarter of the year, but Rui En won't have time to train and prepare for the more adrenaline-pumping scenes.

She will be heading to Kuala Lumpur in May for a Channel 8 martial arts production set in the 60s and will be there for three to four months.

"I guess I will take that as training," she said, adding she's ready conquer new territory.

"I think I'm ready for period dramas," she said, breaking into laughter.

"Everything that is not me is a challenge, which I like."

This article was first published in The New Paper.