While Chantalle Ng's first villain role in local spinoff drama Emerald Hill — The Little Nyonya Story had been challenging for her, she is not afraid of being compared to her actress mum Lin Meijiao, who also portrayed an iconic antagonist in the original blockbuster The Little Nyonya (2008).

Speaking to AsiaOne while promoting the new series recently, the 29-year-old told us: "My role is actually quite different. I'm completely open to people comparing it with my mother's. I don't think I'm afraid of it, instead, I think it would be very fun."

Although she is ready to receive negative comments, she is concerned about the online harassment she's received from one particular netizen in the past few years.

Chantalle revealed: "There's this individual who got so involved and so extreme that he actually went online to say things like, he wants to disfigure me if he were to see me, or he wants to kill me.

"This is even before the show (Emerald Hill — The Little Nyonya Story) aired. I think there are people who are very extreme and sometimes I really do feel a bit concerned about my and my mum's safety."

She told us the hate began a few years ago when the netizen commented about other actresses negatively on her social media account. After she deleted the comment, the netizen created many accounts on different platforms to direct his vitriol at her.

When asked if she had considered taking legal action against the individual, Chantalle said: "Because this person is anonymous, we're not sure if legal action can be taken, but the police are working on it."

Aside from the threatening situation, Chantalle believes in taking negative comments in stride as a public figure.

"I think one thing that really helped me is that if you don't ride the highs, then you won't have to go through the lows.

"So to me now, it's just the art of taking everything neutrally. If you don't get very happy when people compliment you, then you won't get very sad when people criticise you. That's what I'm trying to do, to keep a healthy distance between my personal life and career."

Emerald Hill — The Little Nyonya Story centres around the ups and downs of the wealthy Zhang family, who face tragedies and conflicts over the years while living together.

Anna, who is the daughter of Zhang Jinquan (Romeo Tan) and Kang Sili (Dawn Yeoh), returns to the family when she is 10 years old after being sent away as an infant to be raised by distant relatives.

Underneath her beauty, the adult Anna (Chantalle) is malicious and often commits shocking deeds. She is at odds with Zhang Xinniang (Tasha Low), finding every opportunity to drive the latter out of the family.

Emerald Hill — The Little Nyoya Story is now available on Netflix and Mewatch. It premieres on Channel 8 tomorrow (March 19), airing on Mondays to Fridays at 9pm.

yeo.shuhui@asiaone.com

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