Joanne Peh: 12 facts about the beloved multi-hyphenated actress

While pursuing a mass communication degree from Nanyang Technological University, Joanne Peh participated in the Miss Singapore Universe 2002 pageant. She didn't take home the crown but instead went home with the title of Miss Elegant and Miss Personality. Her performance was enough to score her a contract with Mediacorp, thus beginning her path down showbiz.

That same year, Joanne Peh debuted in Beautiful Connection (2002) before moving on to greater roles in productions such as The Golden Path (2007), The Little Nyonya (2008), A Tale of 2 Cities (2011), Mind Game (2015), The Last Madame (2019) and Mind Jumper (2021). In 2006, Joanne was named of the Seven Princesses of Mediacorp alongside the likes of Rui En, Jeanette Aw, Felicia Chin and Jesseca Liu. To date, she has numerous Best Actress wins and nominations and has achieved the Star Awards' All-Time Favourite Artiste award in 2017 as a testament to her popularity.

Joanne Peh has gotten two Star Awards Best Actress wins throughout her career. Both awards, however, were met with drama. The first was in 2009 when she won for the role of Huang Yuzhu in The Little Nyonya after beating out the hot favourite of the year, Jeanette Aw. The second was in 2012 when she beat out veterans Zoe Tay, Ann Kok and Fann Wong for playing Pan Leyao in A Tale of 2 Cities. "The first time I won, people had something to say. The second time I won, people also had something to say. Even when I was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, people still had something to say! But I’m also grateful for experiences like that ‘cos they helped me to grow, and today I can say that awards are not my main goal."

It was for the 2019 30-minute short film Under The Tree. According to her profile bio, the film was commissioned by Toggle to be screened on Channel U. Perhaps, like a magnet to drama, the film would later garner some flak, but more on that later.

Titled What Do I Know? with Joanne Peh, the podcast series is released fortnightly and features her as the host with past guests such as comedian Annette Lee, sexologist Dr Martha Lee and social worker Melisa Wong. The podcast is described as such, "Join host Joanne Peh in this bi-weekly show that features intimate conversations with personalities from different fields as she uncovers truths, deepen understanding, and peels off layers of the hardest topics. We don’t have all the answers but hearing someone else’s story can help shed light as we embark on this journey to heal our minds and connect our hearts. If you think the more you learn, the more you know, think again. You’ll leave each episode knowing there’s always more to discover."

Joanne Peh and Qi Yuwu had worked together and been friends for a decade before sparks finally flew when they worked on C.L.I.F. 3 (2014) together. The couple got married after a year of dating because "the feeling was right". "After I got together with my husband, it was like I discovered another version of myself. Sometimes, when you find the right person, they will bring out certain things from you. With him by my side, I feel a lot more at ease." Their relationship wasn't easy at first, though. Joanne recounted that she felt hurt when detractors thought that the relationship was a way to drum up hype. "There were people who used to say my husband and I were faking our relationship for the Star Awards. There were really so many [comments on this], and even our colleagues said that too. I was really hurt, because we had good experiences working together, but [I] came to find out that they also believed my relationship was fake. Why would I lie about my relationship?" The couple now has two children together.

In a 2019 interview, Joanne Peh discussed her insecurities about her looks and sexuality, an issue we might not imagine she goes through. This came after news broke that she went nude for a scene in The Last Madame (2019). "There are insecurities that you need to overcome. People will say, 'Eh you look so skinny, you look so beautiful' but nah, I think my tummy can be flatter, I can have nicer arms or perkier butt. You always find fault with yourself. There's always something to nitpick." "I think I also grew comfortable in my own sexuality and being a woman in the recent years."

Even though she hides their faces in her Instagram postings, Joanne Peh isn't shy to give fans glimpses into her private life. One particular instance in 2020, for example, showed us how Joanne would give her children free reins to express their creativity by letting them build their own Halloween birdhouses. "It was very organic. We read a book about birds, questioned about where birds live, got them to draw what they thought, decided to make bird houses and as they were decorating it, I pulled out whatever I had, and googly eyes became popular. Which in turn looked very Halloween-ney. so they inspired me actually." "I always believe in child-led projects so instead of sticking hard and fast to the end goal, I'd allow the children to tell me how they would like to go about with it."

Problems with your renovation contractors are never fun, as Joanne Peh experienced firsthand in 2021. The couple shared that they had purchased a new home in 2020 and were hoping to move in by the end of 2020 after the renovation completes. After a year, the renovation was still incomplete as Joanne opened up about her struggles finding reliable contractors and vendors. Her sharing brought about a slew of comments. One camp shared similar horror stories, while another criticised her generalisation of all contractors just based on her own experience. In the end, Joanne shot back at haters stating, "Who are you to tell me how and what I should or should not share? Or that I need to specifically state what happened? Doing that draws the wrong kind of attention, because everyone will choose sides and that’s not the intent — as I will reiterate. Others have done well in this line of comment to share their experience and side of the story which [you] may like to reference."

Remember when we said earlier that Joanne Peh's short film Under The Tree received flak? The drama began after Joanne reflected on the difficulty working with (untrained) child actors as there was "no time to rehearse and they were not emotionally ready for what the scenes required." In addition, the kids "were also very camera conscious and habitually looked into the camera." She then ended her reflection by sharing what she would have done differently when more time permits. The post then drew a flurry of critiques, calling Joanne anything from "insensitive" and "unprofessional" to "cyberbullying" the children as they could not defend themselves. In the end, Joanne clarified her stance as she shared the difficulties of being an actor and a director and stated that she "will not be bullied into writing only the good things and down playing the challenges I face on this journey because of someone's fear of not being good enough."

In 2020, Joanne Peh shared a post (above) warning people about a scam that had happened to her. In it, she detailed that an alleged Singtel staff called her to inform her of a disruption to the Internet and to switch on her computer immediately. The scammer then covered up his tracks, stating that Singtel owns "the infrastructure regardless of which Internet provider [Joanne’s family is] subscribed to" when she replied that she wasn't a Singtel user. Joanne then went on to check the validity of the phone number with Singtel and confirmed that it was likely a scam. She went on to encourage people to do necessary checks and not to divulge any personal information.

While many of us were cooped up at home in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Joanne Peh was stuck in Guangzhou, China, with her children. The family had gone there before Chinese New Year to visit Qi Yuwu's side of the family. Qi Yuwu had to return to Singapore while she and her two kids had to stay as they still had personal matters to settle. Thankfully, Joanne didn't weather the experience alone as she had help from her in-laws and a fan from Shanghai that shipped her surgical masks as it was sold out where she was.