“I like how the common terminology in the English-speaking world is 110% but in the Chinese world, it’s directly translated to 200%. So similar yet quite different!” – Natalia Ng

Natalia Ng’s feature in Oriental News Daily Malaysia in Chinese here or the below translation for our English readers:

奋力做足200分: Natalia 黄綵玲

黄綵玲 是美姐、主持人，也是模特儿，现在她的头衔將再添歌手一职，之后还会以演员的身份出发。

打破以往人们赋予她的標籤，重新规划个人事业版图，是棠羚积极嚮往的方向。

即使是一个花瓶，她也想成为一个价值连城的花瓶。

Natalia Ng is a beauty queen, host, & model, and soon a singer and actor label to her portfolio.

To break the label of being confined to be just a beauty queen, host, & model to a multi-faceted artiste, is the goal that Natalia is aspiring to achieve.

Even if it is to be a vase, she aspires to be a priceless vase.

当棠羚走进摄影棚那一刻，我跟摄影师愣住了！「跟照片的感觉有些差距」，是我们最深刻的感受。不过，这个差別是好的──硬照里的棠羚，就像一个充满韵味的轻熟女，但在现实中，素顏的棠羚就像邻家女孩，有著令人称羡的巴掌脸，以及修长的身形。这类型的女孩，特別適合出现在大荧幕。

访问棠羚前，对於她的背景，我无从瞭解，上网搜寻也仅有一些基本的资料。

既然几乎零背景，我清除了之前数面之缘的印象，把这次的访谈，变成一场面试。「我们从零开始谈，当作我不认识你，你也不认识我…」

棠羚是以2013年马来西亚环球小姐（Miss Universe Malaysia）亚军身份出道，因为口齿伶俐，成为电视台签约主持人。她的独特气质，很容易让人在人群中对她投射注视的目光。这时，脑中闪过一个想法：比起环球小姐，她更適合参加有线电视的华裔小姐。把这个问题丟给棠羚，她先是长嘆一口气，再以遗憾的口吻回答，「很多人的想法都跟你一样，只怪小女是一个標准的『香蕉人』，这一点让我错失了很多机会。」

听到这里，我更为惊讶，因为眼前的棠羚正以一口標准兼流利的华语跟我进行访谈，这到底是怎么回事？「我即將推出个人专辑，在跟经理人沟通后，决定开始学讲华语。我被安排到上海生活、学习华语、舞蹈、表演和唱歌。」

要掌握一个语言，並不是一件易事，但棠羚仅仅用了8个月，就能跟我对答如流，不禁让我对她的毅力竖起大拇指，果真有志者事竟成。

在我看来，她的学习动力来自先前那些曾经错失的大好机会。棠羚的经理人透露，早在几年前，她曾被本地名导相中出演电影，临门一脚被撤换，原因正是「不能讲华语」。与这个大好机会擦肩而过，对於棠羚而言，有些打击，也是多年来的憾事。

When Natalia walked into the studio, our photographer and I were shocked! She looked quite different in photographs as she did in person; a good difference. Compared to in photographs, where Natalia looks like a fierce prowling tigress, in person, she was more the sweet girl-next door and an enviable slender stature.

Before interviewing Natalia, I had very little idea of her background as there were limited information about her on the internet.

With that said, we started the interview from scratch applying the <I don’t know you, and you don’t know me> method.

Natalia made her debut as the runner-up of Miss Universe Malaysia in 2013 that prompted her to go into TV Hosting shortly after due to her strong command in English and articulation of it. With her unique stature, she truly fills the room and it’s hard for her to go unnoticed in a crowd of people. At this point, my mind flashed an idea: Isn’t she more suited to have joined the Miss Astro Chinese International pageant instead? As I threw her this question, Natalia sighs and responds in a regrettable tone, “Many have told me the very same thing, but I was raised a ‘banana‘ and my illiteracy in Mandarin made me miss many chances at progressing quickly within this industry….“

Upon hearing this, I was astonished as the current girl I was interviewing was was speaking quite fluently in Mandarin. What happened? “I am preparing to launch my EP album and after discussing with my management, I decided to start learning Chinese. I was arranged to to live in Shanghai for a short period to learn Chinese, dance, vocals and performance.“

To master a language is no easy task, however, in a mere 8 months, Natalia is able to swiftly respond to my interview questions and to that, I give her two big thumbs up to her perseverance.

So it seems, her motivation to pick up Mandarin was indeed from her missed opportunities. In fact, Natalia’s manager revealed that a couple of years ago, Natalia was meant to star in a Malaysian box-office hit movie but was bumped off the role due to her inability to converse in Mandarin for the press conference and interview portion of the movie tour. Hence, Natalia resolved to not miss out further opportunities and pressed on to pick up this language.

小心经营歌手梦

幸运之神总是牵起棠羚的手，却没让她展翅高飞。在她身上所发生的憾事，何止一件。「两年多前，我被台湾唱片公司签下，不幸的是，中国投资商忽然撤资，新人首当其衝，歌手梦瞬间破灭。」在她最迷惘的时刻，她遇到了现任经理人Jamie。「Jamie瞭解我，答应帮我实现歌手梦，她还擬出了一个长远计划，建议我继续经营主持事业，再给她一年时间集资和筹备。」如今，首张专辑正在筹备中，经理人公司也为她找来《中国好声音》的製作人和本地製作人彭学斌为她製作专辑，其中还有她一手包办词曲的创作。

棠羚和经纪人一直很小心翼翼地在为演艺事业铺路，即使手上有数个很好的剧本，若与她的歌手形象有些差距，都会割爱。「我希望我的第一部作品是跟我所设定的形象是有关联的，因为这可能会与未来的戏路有很大的链接。」行为举止优雅的棠羚原来很想演喜剧，其次则是动作片。「若有一部作品事结合喜剧和动作片，我一定二话不说，答应演出，这是我梦寐以求的角色！」

曾访过很多选美出身的艺人，她们对於多年后还被冠上「美姐」的头衔，是一件很令人「彆扭」的事。棠羚却不以为然，「因为参加环球小姐竞选后，我才发掘到自己是当主持人的『料』，也是因为选美，让我在这短短的时间里结识各行各业的人。但想要闯荡演艺圈，还得靠实力和精力，美女多的是，而且长江后浪推前浪，头衔只能给你一时的名气，努力增值自己，才是王道。」

参加选美当然希望自己成为冠军，棠羚亦不例外，她坦言宣佈成绩的那一刻，確实很失落。

「失落是一定的，因为我一直以为自己是冠军人选，后来想想，没得到冠军也好，因为大家对我的『美后』印象不会那么深刻。当选后我马上投入了电视主持人的工作，很多人总认为我是一个模特儿兼主持人。」现在的棠羚，反而希望可以摆脱以往民眾给予的標籤，將她视为一个全方位艺人。在外人眼里，她是一个天才型艺人，她直言，「我不否认，但我吹毛求疵，做任何事都希望交出百分之两百的成绩，这是个人原则。」

Carefully Orchestrated Singer’s Dream

Thankfully, God has always held Natalia’s hand but did not let her fly high. What happened was only to her regret, and no one else. “I was first signed by a Taiwanese record label more than 2 years ago. Unfortunately, the investors from China suddenly withdrew their capital and the new artistes under the same management bore the brunt of this,” leaving the singer’s dream momentarily shattered. As her most confused and down phase, Natalia met her current manager, Jamie Ng. “Jamie understood me completely and believe in me with the promise of helping me realize my dreams. She also drafted a long-term plan that included me to continue business-as-usual in my current profile as a TV host and model for at least one year giving her that amount of time to raise funds to prepare my launch as a singer.” As of now, the debut EP album is under preparation and features in-house music producer of “The Voice China” (黄一 / Huang Yi) and renown Malaysian music producer (彭学斌 / Percy Phang). 

In terms of acting, Natalia and her manager are very cautious in paving the way in this aspect. Even with a stellar script in their hands, if it compromises with the image that they are building for her, unfortunately, they’ll have to turn it down. “I hope for my movie debut to not veer to far off from the image we want to set.” The graceful actress-to-be would love to act in comedies as her first choice and action films as her second. “If there is a film that has both comedic and action elements in them, that’ll be the dream!”

她的时尚Q&A

你认为时尚是…

给人第一的印象！「人靠衣装」这句话虽然很现实，但也是事实。时尚很主观，每个人有自己的见解，所以没有一个標准答案。

你的时尚偶像?

多纳泰拉范思哲（Donatella Versace）。她的风格蛮中性的，跟我著装风格也很像，强势中带有女性化韵味，所以范思哲（Versace）每一季的时装秀，我都会特別关注。

最常购买的时尚品牌?

我有自己的时尚品牌Duchess & Co，出席晚宴和活动，自家品牌成了首选。Duchess & Co服饰与我的著装风格非常相似，也是照著我的喜好而设计的。

至於日常著装我就会推崇Zara和Miss Selfridge。

最热衷时尚单品?

我有很多鞋子，特爱买鞋。Christian Louboutin是我的爱牌（当天就是穿著品牌的铆钉球鞋），若比较平价的就是Aldo和Steve Madden，他们的高跟鞋都是我的首选。

最抗拒的时尚单品?

其实我接受度蛮广的，唯一不能接受的就是面料过於粗糙的服饰。还有，高跟鞋太高也是很折磨我的一件事，除非工作出席活动，我顶多可以忍受一个小时，我就要把它脱掉了。总之舒適最重要！

HER FASHION Q&A

Your definition of fashion is…

Giving people a first impression! “Judging a book by its cover” is something shallow yet harshly realistic. Also, fashion is very subjective and everyone has their own opinions, so it’s hard to give a standardised answer.

Your fashion icon?

Donatella Versace. Her style is a great balance between feminine and fierce. I like wearing rather masculine outfits with touch of feminine or vice versa. Every season of Versace fashion show is so stunning!

Fashion brand where you most purchase from…

I have my own fashion brand Duchess & Co, which is perfect for dinner events and special activities that require a semi-formal or formal dresscode.

As for the basic and everyday clothing, I love Zara and Miss Selfridge. 

The single favourite fashion product?

I have a lot of shoes, I have an obsession of buying shoes. Christian Louboutin is my love (she is seen sporting the white studded Louboutin signature kicks). For less ridiculous pricing shoes, Aldo and Steve Madden, are my go-to choices for high heels.

Most disliked the fashion item?

In fact, I accept quite wide, the only unacceptable fabric is too rough clothing. Also, high heels too high is also a very torture to me, unless the work to attend activities, I can put up for an hour at most, I will take it off. In short the most important comfort!

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*Article translated by Natalia herself, a proud moment for her as she grew up being a banana!

A big thank you to Oriental Daily News Malaysia, for the feature interview and special thanks to Ryan Chiu Photography and 林政贤 (Lin Zheng Xian) for conducting such a spirited interview session with Natalia.