November 22, 2001

She's young, she's hot and she has 3 nominations under her belted tiny waist. But 'It' Girl Fiona Xie prefers to take it all in her stride.

By Angelene Wong

She's no Genie trapped in a bottle.

Star of My Genie, Fiona Xie, 19, is the hottest thing to spring out of Caldecott Hill this year and she has the nominations to show for.

She has been nominated for Best Comedy Performance for her role as the lovable genie named Gremlin aka 0385985 or Hao Da Zhi Wen Zi (What a huge mosquito! -say it with Fiona's gurgling gusto) in sitcom My Genie and is in the running for Top 10 Most Popular Female Artiste and Most Popular Newcomer. See nomination list.

Dressed in a black sleeveless funky top and jeans, Fiona is not about to let fame get into her lovely head, she says in an exclusive interview granted in the midst of her busy schedule of filming for PSC Nite and City Beat, variety shows which the fast-rising artiste recently assumed as host.

"It's a bonus but it's not like the only reason why I'd work harder. I feel like a newcomer as well and I've got lots of room for improvement, lots of things to learn and lots of people to learn from.

This is really a big bonus but regardless of whether I get it or not, I think I should be improving anyways. I don't think it's a real biggie anyway because there's a lot of other people who work very hard too."

When asked to rate her chances in all 3 categories, she lets out a laugh, "Oh no . . . !".

Fellow co-stars Huang Yiliang and San Yow are both nominated as well and the young star is obviously in awe of them citing Yiliang's wealth of experience and San's talent as elements which make choosing a winner a tough call.

"Being nominated is good enough and the person who wins it will be the spokesperson for all of us."

Such is the family spirit oozing out of the filming process for My Genie and an experience which proved Fiona's initial fears about taking up the naïve and chirpy Genie role to be unfounded.

"I was very very apprehensive because I never thought I could be like that. All along when I was growing up I was a lot beyond my years compared to my peers. Talking about fashion was totally not in my stride. I really wouldn't think I had the capacity to do that. That why when I did I was like, 'Gee . . . '

The role turned out to be a good thing, she says, as it brought out the chirpier side of her.

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