SHE'S known for her sweetie-pie look. But for her new TV role, local actress Felicia Chin transformed herself into a scruffy cafe waiter.

A male one, to be exact.

How did she do it?

She donned a shaggy short wig, put on a polo tee and jeans, wiped off her usual light make-up and slapped dark-coloured foundation to her face, neck and arms to give her a manly tan.

To complete her metamorphosis, Felicia, one of 'the seven princesses of Caldecott Hill', strapped on two undersized sports bras to flatten her chest.

The 24-year-old actress plays gambling fan Sun Min in Channel 8's mega-drama The Ultimatum, which airs on weekdays at 9pm.

Her character had to disguise herself as a man in order to learn gambling skills from 'gambling god' Zhou Zhida, played by Li Nanxing.

Her transformation was so successful that Felicia was mistaken for a 'boy' during a toilet break while filming.

Mistaken for a boy in washroom

She recalled: 'An aunty came in and scolded me: 'Don't you know this is a female toilet?'

'I purposely replied in a deep voice, 'I'm a girl', and she left the toilet in a hurry.

'It is fun to hide my real identity once in a while!'

Looking all girlish and demure in her white long-sleeved mini-dress and black stockings at the media conference last Wednesday to promote The Ultimatum, Felicia told The New Paper: 'I heard the scriptwriter was sceptical about casting me as Sun Min at first.

'There were online reports saying I have 'grown' (in her chest size, which she claims is untouched by surgery), and she doubted whether I could pretend to be a guy.

'On the set, the stylist and the producer also told me to make my chest look smaller.

'I now know the secret to sporting a 'smaller look'. It is to wear two small-sized sports bras (one over the other).'

And that's what she did for half of the scenes in this 30-episode series, despite getting headaches and breathlessness because they were too tight.

She also had to endure the heat from wearing her boyish wig in the hot weather, and had to spend 90 minutes removing her fake tan after each filming session.

Felicia was ready to snip off her shoulder-length tresses, but the director needed her to look feminine in some other scenes. So she simply wore the wig over her hair.

The girly actress also learnt to make manly gestures by observing men around her, including co-star Nanxing.

And she said it's so ingrained in her now it's hard to shake it off.

Felicia recalled with a chuckle how she was eating in the dressing room one day when an actor came in and was shocked to see her sitting on the sofa with her legs wide apart.

For her role, she kept telling herself she's a 'man' - to the extent she caught herself secretly ogling at women, including Fann Wong, one of the show's femaleleads.

But it wasn't all fun and games acting as Sun Min.

In the show, she's sexually assaulted by four men in a warehouse. To escape from her brutal captors, she had to run through thick tall grass, getting cuts and bruises on her legs.

In another scene, she had to hang precariously on the ledge of a five-storey building.

Although she was unruffled by the pain, the lithe starlet was bothered by the bruises and scars.

'At that time, the Star Awards was just three or five days away,' she said.

In the end, the 1.68m actress had to cover up her legs in black stockings during the awards ceremony, where she was voted one of the Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes.

First time

Felicia said her role in The Ultimatum is the first in her six-year acting career that doesn't require her to look pretty.

In Honour And Passion (2007), even though she played a captain in the army - a predominantly male industry - she still wore light make-up and her hair was pinned up in a stylish bun.

Yet her 'ugly' role in The Ultimatum only increases her love for acting.

'I don't have to maintain a perfect 'princess' image. There are no perfect people in the world anyway. I hope the audience will enjoy my versatility as an actress.'

Undergraduate Tan Ruixiang, 23, who had a small part in Love Blossoms II (2008) acting as Felicia's work colleague, said: 'Although she looks like a boy in the show, I will support her even more because it takes courage to try new things.'

But is Felicia - who said she's not dating anyone now - worried that taking on a gender-bending role will affect her chances of getting hitched?

She said, laughing: 'I don't think so. My potential partner should like me beyond my looks, which will change anyway (with age).

'Perhaps I should don my costumes (of Sun Min) to meet any suitors!'