Carla Dunareanu 28
8 Days|April 13, 2017

The Eurasian star of Rojak on the joys of being directed by Alaric Tay and — this is very important — the correct way to pronounce her surname.

Douglas Tseng
Carla Dunareanu 28

8 DAYS: In December, you won Best Comedy Actress at the Asian Television Awards for your role on the Ch 5 sitcom Rojak. How does it feel to be an award winning actress? 

CARLA DUNAREANU: It’s obviously made my management a lot happier (laughs). They’re like “Yay, now we have something to sell her with!” If anything, the award adds legitimacy to my craft and what I do. I would hate to say it validates what I do because it shouldn’t but at the same time I think a lot of people still look at the black-and-white of what you do, and having something like an award is tangible and [it looks good] on a CV. In that respect it has helped me [professionally] but apart from that, when people congratulate me, I still don’t know how to react. It’s always very weird. I’m like, “What? Oh right, okay, thanks!’ and they’d go, “Dude, how can you treat it so flippantly?” But I’m not treating it flippantly because I’ve worked for so long — for 17 years — that the idea of winning an award never really crossed my mind. 

Who do you look up to in showbiz? 

This story is from the April 13, 2017 edition of 8 Days.

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This story is from the April 13, 2017 edition of 8 Days.

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