SINGAPORE - I'm way past my expiry date.
This was Jazreel Low's candid yet brutally honest response when asked by The New Paper if she was planning a comeback to showbiz.
The 45-year-old actress-turned-businesswoman stars in local movie Taxi! Taxi!.
She had left showbiz in 1994.
In the movie, which opened Thursday, Low plays Maggie, a supportive wife to local actor Gurmit Singh's character Chua See Kiat, a retrenched professor who becomes a taxi driver to make endsmeet.
Low was the second runner-up in the inaugural Star Search talent contest in 1988, coming in after winner Zoe Tay and runner-up Aileen Tan, both of whom are still full-time actresses.
Low is now the chief executive of Asmara Lifestyle, a company that runs spas and restaurants.
She revealed that she recommended herself to Taxi! Taxi! director Kelvin Sng when she heard that Gurmit and actor-comedian Mark Lee were attached to this project.
"I wanted to work with these two big stars," she said with a laugh.
Despite playing the wife of a professor, Low joked that her role was "no ordinary housewife": "She is refined and learned, very much like myself."
Despite "not having a dull moment" filming Taxi! Taxi!, Low, who is married with a nine-year-old daughter, said the movie does not mark the start of her return to acting.
"I have already expired," she said in Mandarin with a laugh.
"I don't mind acting occasionally if opportunities come along, but a full-time acting career is no longer possible."
Low confessed that she feels "envious" and is bitten by the acting bug whenever she sees her fellow Star Search contestants like Tay, Tan and Chen Hanwei on television, but she said it is a consequence she has to live with because she was not determined enough back then.
"At that time, I had the passion for acting, but I also felt it was very tough being an actress, even having to balance my public and private personas," she said.
"Hence, I chose to give up instead of persevering like my peers.
"I do not have any regrets, but if you have the passion for something, go for it when you are young, and hang on, no matter how tough it maybe."
Get The New Paper for more stories.
To be realistic, mediacorp should have actors and actresses of all ages. Don't get some young punks to act uncles, aunties, fathers, mothers and grandparents. A good movies do not need all the actors and actresses to look like models but must have good acting skills.
One must be realistic - esp women who want to depend on their physical beauty. There is indeed an expiry date. Don't try to deny it and work around it. It can bring forth a great deal of embarassment to yourself.