7 Things To Know About Rising Star Jernelle Oh

Relatively new in the industry, local actress Jernelle Oh's star is on the rise — the 29-year-old has been nominated for Best Actress at the Star Awards this year for her role as a food delivery rider with cerebral palsy in Channel 8 drama Cash On Delivery. The series delves into the challenges faced by food delivery riders amidst the pandemic. She's in the running alongside more seasoned stars like Joanne Peh, Rui En, Kym Ng and Chantalle Ng. That's not all — she's also vying for a Top 3 Most Popular Rising Stars trophy. Ahead of the Star Awards, which takes place on April 21, here's what to know about the actress.

She was a finalist on Star Search in 2019

While she dabbled in showbiz before, she joined the Star Search competition in 2019, making one of the top 12 finalists. Zhang Ze Tong was eventually crowned the winner. But that hasn't stopped Jernelle's acting career, who has since gone on to snag roles in several TV shows such as My Star Bride, All Around You, The Heartland Hero, and most recently, Cash On Delivery. She has also taken on hosting, and is one of the hosts of entertainment channel Just Swipe Lah.

This is not her first Best Actress nomination

Last year, she received a Best Actress nomination at the Asian Academy Creative Awards (AAA) for the same role in Cash On Delivery, competing alongside South Korean actress Song Hye-kyo. The award went to Rajshri Deshpande, who was nominated for her role in the Netflix series Trial By Fire.

She went viral for a Crimewatch scene

In a 2013 episode of the long-running crime prevention and re-enactment series Crimewatch (1986 to present), Jernelle portrayed a teenage girl who engages in a heated argument with her friend (played by actress Shanice Koh), accusing her of being a prostitute. Provoked, Koh's character challenged her to meet at Pioneer Mall the following day for a face-off.

The clip went viral on the Internet in 2021, and Jernelle reveals that when she's out, she gets requests from fans to yell at them and say: “You’re nothing but a prostitute.”

Coming full circle, she will star in another Crimewatch episode, but this time as a police officer instead.

She is engaged

She is engaged to her boyfriend of six years. Last December, Jernelle took to Instagram to share pictures of the engagement, which took place in Japan's Oishi Park in November. But her now-fiance, an engineer, wasn't the only one to get a surprise. In an interview, she revealed that she'd bought an oversized ring after seeing a video of a woman proposing with a huge ring some years back. Expecting her boyfriend to pop the question in Japan, she'd brought the ring along, and got down on one knee herself after accepting his proposal. Cute!

That's not all. The photos on her post were also a reenactment of the actual proposal. The photographer which her boyfriend hired turned up late, so he'd decided to go ahead with it first, before taking the photos later on (though thankfully, her boyfriend had set up a camera to record the actual moment). The pictures did turn up looking amazing, in any case.

She's part of a girl group

In 2022, Mediacorp debuted 4567, which comprises Jernelle alongside her other celeb friends Gini Chang, Juin Teh and Seow Sin Nee. It's not like your typical K-pop girl group though, if that's what you're thinking. Instead, being part of a group enables them to explore collaboration opportunities, such as online creative engagements, campaigns, and variety programmes together.

She's an NTU alum

Jernelle graduated from Nanyang Technological University with a Bachelor’s degree in linguistics and multilingual studies. It's also where she met her fiance. Before that, she attended Ngee Ann Polytechnic, majoring in Chinese media and communication.

She's musically inclined and skilled in fencing

The actress sure has a knack for performing arts. Apart from acting and hosting, the actress is also skilled at playing the pipa, a traditional Chinese instrument, having performed at the River Hongbao event earlier this year. Jernelle also often posts videos of her singing while a friend plays the guitar. Musical inclinations aside, she has picked up fencing too, and was part of the NTU's fencing team.