The 26-year-old MediaCorp actress has been nominated for Best Actress, Favourite Female Character, Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes and Sexiest Legs.

Star Awards Show 1 will be held on April 21, and Show 2 on April 28. Both shows start at 7pm and will be broadcast live on Channel 8.

"Oh my God, sexiest legs!" said Lim with a big laugh when speaking to The New Paper at the press conference for her new drama, Start Up! on Thursday.

Lim plays a budding entrepreneur in the 13-parter, which premieres next Thursday at 8pm on Channel U.

"I'm glad people think my athletic legs are sexy, because I've never thought of them as sexy," she said.

"I think every girl will have parts of their body they're not completely satisfied with, and for me, it's my legs. I call them 'the hockey thunder thighs'."

She used to play hockey when she was in junior college.

Lim said she had girls telling her they liked her legs, which she found baffling.

"They said they like my muscular calves, but I beg to differ," she said.

It made her feel "embarrassed" to be nominated alongside Joanne Peh, Belinda Lee, Ann Kok and Yvonne Lim.

"They all have sexy legs! So you see, it's very embarrassing," she said, laughing.

"For a start, I'm not comfortable with the word sexy, regardless of body part. Sexy plus legs is like double the embarrassment."

But Lim thinks there is still a positive side to it.

"In the media, slender, thin and flawless legs are most often called sexy," she said.

"For my unconventional legs to be nominated - it may be sending a good message out to young people that you don't need to have skinny legs to be called sexy."

To Lim, sexiness has nothing to do with appearance, or any body part.

"Being stick thin is definitely not sexy. It's unhealthy too," she said.

"Being healthy and feeling confident will make anyone sexy, male or female."

Though Lim said she felt less awkward about her other nominations, she was no more confident about winning the awards.

On her nomination for Favourite Female Character, television news anchor Feng Luo Ling from Channel 8 drama Poetic Justice, Lim was grateful for her fans' support.

"It's the first time I've been nominated in a category based on fans' votes," she said.

"I didn't start out with a huge fan base, so it's heartening to know more people support me and like what I do."

Lim also said she was not under any pressure to defend her Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes award.

She made the list for the first time last year. It was decided by telepoll and online voting.

"It's not really within my control, so I don't give myself any pressure," she said.

Happy

And the nomination that thrilled Lim the most? Best Actress, for her role as a psychiatrist in Channel 8 drama Unriddle 2.

"Oh, I'm so happy, I'm not going to deny that," she said, laughing.

But she said her chances of winning are "really slim".

"I hope I win, but it is after all my first nomination in an acting category, and the other nominees have been in the industry much longer than I have," she said.

Lim is up against Cynthia Koh , Joanne Peh , Kym Ng and Rui En.

Since winning Miss Photogenic at the 2005 Miss Singapore Universe pageant, awards have featured prominently in Lim's career.

Most notably, she won Best Actress at the 2010 Asian Television Awards for playing a lawyer in the Channel 5 drama The Pupil.

She also won Babe of the Year in The New Paper's Flame Awards 2011.

Lim sees all the awards as encouragement and recognition.

"I see it as affirmation that I'm on the right path and getting rewarded for doing what I like to do," she said.

"That's a very rare blessing."

Despite being in showbiz for nearly seven years, Lim has kept a relatively low profile and has been scandal-free.

When asked about this, she said with a laugh: "Maybe I'm boring, so I don't have a lot of negative or exciting news for the media to capture."

But Lim said there was no conscious effort on her part to lie low.

"When I was starting out, I was very insecure, so I didn't know how to behave in front of the media, so it was very awkward," she said.

"Now, I'm just being myself and I go about (doing) my own stuff. Maybe my life just isn't very exciting out of work."

But Lim said she will be open with the media if she starts dating.

"It's normal for someone my age to be dating, there's nothing to hide," she said.

So, is she seeing anyone now?

"No! See? I'm very honest!"

Get The New Paper for more stories.