‘Full-circle moment’: Chantalle Ng on 1st villain role and following mum Lin Meijiao’s footsteps in The Little Nyonya spinoff

Her mother played the villain in The Little Nyonya 16 years ago. Now, Chantalle Ng will be following in her footsteps to do the same in its spinoff.

The local actress will be taking on the role of Zhang Anna in Emerald Hill, a spinoff of the 2008 drama where her real-life mother, veteran actress Lin Meijiao, played the villainous Lin Guihua.

Chantalle, 28, took to Instagram yesterday (Jan 31) to share how she received the casting call for Emerald Hill four months ago and “really wanted” to be part of the drama.

“I immediately started acting classes and memorising the lines,” she recalled in a video compilation that showed her progress from pre-audition preparations to her reaction when she got accepted for the role.

In the caption of the post, Chantalle added that she went to the set of The Little Nyonya when it was filming and cried when she saw her mother portraying an evil character.

“In a full-circle moment, I step into the shoes of Anna, a cunning and vindictive girl with a tragic tale. My first-ever villainous role,” she wrote.

Speaking to 8world, Chantalle revealed that the role will be a “big challenge” for her.

“Anna is the bad guy in this drama… As far as I know, she is very smart but she doesn’t have a good heart,” she said, adding that it will also be her first time wearing Nyonya clothing.

As a fan of the original series herself, Chantalle hopes that audiences will pay attention to the spinoff too.

“I remember that there were so many people watching The Little Nyonya. If I were an audience member, I would be very excited to hear that there will be another one,” she remarked.

In terms of her expectations for Emerald Hill, she hopes that through this spinoff, audiences can regain the feeling of chasing after every episode like back then: “I fell deeply in love with every character, and of course I hated other characters deeply. I think that’s the beauty of a drama.”

Emerald Hill, which also stars Zoe Tay, Chen Liping, Jesseca Liu, Tasha Low and Ferlyn Wong, is expected to premiere in the first half of 2025.