Think Patricia Mok, and words like gangly, homely and loud come to mind.

Not anymore.

The local actress-comedienne still has no qualms about shooting her mouth off with refreshing honesty, but she's no longer a plain Jane.

Meet the new Mok, who's 40 and looking more fabulous than ever.

After leaving her employer MediaCorp of six years earlier this year when her contract expired, the Fly Entertainment artiste said she wanted to start "a new life".

Besides posing for a series of fresh publicity pictures for Fly, she recently did her first bridal shoot for the July to December issue of Blissful Brides Magazine. And the photos stunned her - she appeared sweet and feminine.

Mok insisted that her makeover was not done to snag a potential groom.

She declined to say how long she has been single, only that she has had three relationships with Singaporean Chinese men.

She told The New Paper: "I love myself too much, I'm self-obsessed. That's why I am still single.

"After seeing the photographs, I thought, 'Wah, Pat Mok can also be sweet and sexy!'

"Although it was warm wearing the wedding dresses, I enjoyed posing with (fellow Fly artiste) Stephanie Carrington. I felt beautiful.

"I like how I look now and feel confident and happy."

But she admitted that she had been very unhappy at work for the last two years.

She was happy during her first four years at MediaCorp, she said, but in the last two years, she had been assigned to do hosting jobs for both live events and pre-recorded shows and she didn't like it.

Said Mok: "I understand that the sponsors of the shows wanted me (to host) because they liked me and I got the jobs because of them.

"But standing in front of an audience and being an emcee really make me uncomfortable. I can't strike a balance between being serious and funny, which really upsets me.

"I'm no Kym Ng or Quan Yifeng - they are natural as hosts."

She felt she is better at acting in dramas and sitcoms and her talent is her brilliant comic timing.

With Fly, Mok said she is free to choose projects she's comfortable with and reject assignments. It is just a matter of "not being paid if I turn them down, which I'm very fine with".

She will star in her first English play, The Perfection Of Ten, at the Esplanade next month.

Professional second wind aside, Mok began her physical transformation last year when she shut herself up in her room for two weeks and only had rocket leaves with sausage or ham for meals.

She also banned herself from drinking and partying, not drinking didn't have a single drop of alcohol.

During her partying days, she and her girlfriends once polished off 11 bottles of champagne on a night out.

Her friends, who had travelled with her to Thailand for a holiday, once commented that although she was slim, her thighs were "big and fat".

So, besides her strict diet, Mok also went for cellulite- busting treatments for her thighs.

To complete her makeover, she recently snipped off her long locks, which she has had for seven years.

Mok said that local celebrity hairstylist David Gan used to be reluctant to lop off her hair as he thought her face was "too broad".

But after the 1.65m-tall Mok lost 8kg - she now weighs 48kg - Gan confidently took off most of her tresses and left her with a stylish bob.

Said Mok: "A lot of guys don't like girls with short hair.

"However, I wanted a new look as I had long hair for so long that my image had become stale.

"Now that my ears can be seen, I can show off my earrings (she has five piercings on her left ear and three on her right). It's a classy look to celebrate a new beginning."

With her sexy new image, is she ready to meet someone she can settle down with?

Perhaps, she replied.

The spitfire is still single as she hasn't met someone that she can connect with, she said.

And because she prefers "really good-looking guys", finding Mr Right is an uphill task.

But if she could choose, Mok admitted that she prefers dating a Hokkien-speaking man of Indian-Chinese descent because he would have great features and can understand her Hokkien jokes.

She joked that as she would not give up her high heels even for true love, she would only want to date men taller than 1.75m.

More importantly, her family and friends would have to approve of her boyfriend. If not, it would be "goodbye to him".

But between having friends or a partner, she said she would choose the former.

Said Mok: "Yes, I want to have kids. But, of course, I have to meet the right man first. Dating is not a must as I'm very happy with my life right now.

"I think that guys are put off by my frankness. I'm the kind of person that would say what comes to mind.

"I would get irritated with a man if he calls me every day to ask if I have eaten.

"I would ask him why he couldn't ask something else for a change?

"He must know how to entertain me because I will know how to entertain him."

Dinner with Nakata

But there's been one guy who has impressed Mok thus far - retired Japanese footballer Hidetoshi Nakata, who became famous for playing in the Italian Serie A.

She had the pleasure of dining with the football star while he was on a private trip to Singapore last year.

Not only was Nakata, 35, every bit the gentleman, he also kept a promise he had made to her.

Said Mok: "During dinner, I asked him if he would sign an autograph for my friend's nephew and he obliged.

"But he decided that signing on a piece of paper wouldn't be as authentic as signing on a jersey.

"After he went back to Japan, he signed a jersey and sent it to me in Singapore.

"I mean, the gift wasn't even for me and he actually remembered.

"What I like about him is that he's not fake at all.

"And have you heard him speak in Italian? He has so much charisma and he's so charming!"

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