She may not look it, but Joanne Peh is into her 10th year of showbiz.

In that time, the 29-year-old local actress-host won countless acting and popularity awards, became the face of multiple products and services, and stirred up quite a number of controversies too.

In an interview with The New Paper on Wednesday, Peh said she hasn't thought about what she'll be doing in the next decade and if she'll be Caldecott Hill's reigning Ah Jie by then. She's not out to stake a position, she added.

However, one thing she would definitely like to explore is script-writing.

She said: "I think I'd start with a screenplay first, since a movie is shorter than a drama series. It'll probably be a romance, but I'm always preparing for a role or filming, so there's no time to write."

In the meantime, Peh reminisces about her top 10 milestones and her highs and lows.

The Little Nyonya

Peh felt it was her ground-breaking role as the long-suffering Yuzhu in Channel 8's hit series The Little Nyonya of 2008 that made an impact for her.

"Before that, people knew me, but they don't remember what dramas I was in. Actors need to have a definitive role and The Little Nyonya was mine."

Peh won Best Actress at Star Awards 2009 for it.

Bobby Tonelli

The Little Nyonya didn't just give Peh a huge leg-up in her career.

She also met her current boyfriend, US actor and Class 95 DJ Bobby Tonelli, 36, on the set. The couple have been dating for about two years and have met each other's parents.

She recalled that the first thing that struck her about him was his looks. But now, "I know that face comes with a great personality and a heart of gold".

So is he The One?

Peh replied: "I had wanted to get married since I was 19. But I'm not replying your question, the answer should be for his ears only!"

Tonelli has not popped the question, she said - and she's also not the sort who proposes to a man. Romantic rumours

Before Tonelli entered her life, the grapevine was buzzing that Peh had dated fellow MediaCorp actors Elvin Ng and Tay Ping Hui.

It was even rumoured that Tay had accompanied her for lasik surgery. (It was actually her father who went with her, Peh clarified.)

But she takes any rumours in her stride, saying it's typical in showbiz.

"Rumours are a lot more exciting than our real lives. I love to read about the rumours of other celebrities too," she said.

"People have their own theories of what happened, and I can't stop them from thinking about conspiracies.

"There are worse things that could happen in showbiz, like being drugged, having nude photos of you taken and being blackmailed later."

Diva reputation

Peh remembers just one low point in 2007, when talk was that fame had got to her head and she had stepped on some toes.

"I had felt that a lot of the press were not being friendly to me, and rumours flew that I had offended some people," she said.

"I remember feeling (like) nothing I did seemed to be right, and that I seemed to piss people off."

Peh learned to be more careful of her words, saying: "I don't stop saying things, that's not me, but I'm mindful of how it sounds."

Keeping abreast

In 2007, Stomp's netizens declared that Peh had the flattest chest on Caldecott Hill, alongside Patricia Mok and Jeanette Aw.

Six months later, Peh appeared bosomy when she donned a bikini for the filming of the Channel 8 drama

Beach.Balls.Babe.

She had denied surgery, crediting the bust boost to hormonal changes during her period.

Since then, she has teased the public even more, particularly in a revealing Gucci gown at last year's Star Awards.

Social media queen

Some celebs ride on blogs, Facebook and Twitter to up their public profile, but Peh - the local celeb with the most number of Twitter followers after songbird Stefanie Sun - said she started it because it's fun.

But it had more impact than she would imagine.

In June, she tweeted about bad service at the restaurant Nando's: It wanted to charge her for hot water though the drink wasn't served after 20 minutes.

The staff allegedly have clapped when she and Tonelli left in a huff.

The debacle made national headlines, forced Nando's to apologise, and stirred up debate about service standards in Singapore.

Peh said: "(Social media) encourages people to be more vocal. It shouldn't be wrong to vocalise what you think."

Princess or Queen?

These are all labels, said Peh, who was called one of the Seven Princesses of MediaCorp, along with Felicia Chin, Fiona Xie, Jeanette Aw, Rui En, Dawn Yeoh and Jesseca Liu.

She became known as the next Queen of Caldecott Hill after four of the actresses left MediaCorp.

Peh stressed: "I'd rather work for something more substantial and real, like a role, than for a label.

"I've just returned from a holiday in London and there, terms like 'princess' and 'queen' are very real.

Here, they are just name tags in entertainment."

Miss Singapore Universe 2002

Peh, then 19, won the annual beauty pageant's subsidiary titles, Miss Elegant and Miss Personality, though she was shut out of the Top 10.

But she caught MediaCorp's eye and was scouted to host two variety programmes, PSC Nite and City Beat, that same year.

She said: "It wasn't my intention to enter showbiz through a pageant...but it was a good stepping stone into the industry."

The Activist's Journey

The Channel 8 info-ed programme on life, the environment and human rights proved unexpectedly fruitful and won Peh her first Best Info-ed Programme Host award at this year's Star Awards.

The travelogue was also a philosophical milestone for her. She explained: "I understood how comparisons can torture someone. It can motivate you or make you feel dissatisfied.

"The underprivileged people I visited in (countries like Japan, India and the Philippines) have no basis for comparison and that's why they are happy with (what little they have)."

Which is why Peh herself said she now subscribes to the same motto and doesn't dwell on the past or worry about the future.

She said she also appreciates what she has and not what she feels she should have.

A Song To Remember

Peh's latest role as 1930s cabaret singer Yu Hong in the new Channel 8 year-end blockbuster A Song To Remember (right) has been a work-in-progress for the last two years.

She revealed she has been working towards getting a role in the drama since MediaCorp announced its plans to film it two years ago.

It premieres on Tuesday at 9pm.

"I had guessed that MediaCorp would need an actress with a level of maturity to play one of the roles," Peh said.

"I was the girly sort in the past, so I attempted to look at my roles with a different perspective. It was a psychological change...and my acting became more subtle and less appearance-based."

This article was first published in The New Paper.