What you see is what you get: Patricia Mok

Patricia Mok is that rare celebrity — or woman for that matter — who tells her age when asked.

Then again, at 41, the TV host-actress doesn't really have anything to be shy about.

She's made herself a household name in Singapore for drama and comedy. She won the Best Supporting Actress Award for popular drama "Holland V" in 2003 and came out on the list of Singapore's Top 20 Most Popular Female Artistes for 12 consecutive years.

Recently, though, she's started taking risks with her image. She has shed 8kg this year and in June she finally chopped off the hair she's kept long for more than a decade in showbiz.

Looking positively radiant during the 30-minute interview with Yahoo! Singapore at The Scarlet Hotel's café on Wednesday evening, Mok revealed how thankful she was for the radical hairstyle change.

"I've never done a hairstyle like that before!" the bubbly FLY entertainment artiste exclaimed, but also added that the downside is that "I look like a boy if I don't dress up."

Anyway, she likes dressing up in crazy outfits for no particular reason other than to surprise people, she said. Once, she even dressed as a butch and disguised her voice so much so that the bouncer of a club she frequents failed to recognize her at first glance.

"I become a character. I like to do things like that — it's crazy, but it's fun!" she enthused.

Looking for Mr Right - or not

Despite her immense success in her career though, the down-to-earth Singaporean artiste has not been that lucky in her love life.

Revealing that she is currently single, Mok said that while she is still looking for her Mr Right, she prefers to "play by ear" when it comes to relationships.

"Life is too short to be not happy," she added, but said that her parents do not pressure her anymore because they know that she is a very independent person.

"They [parents] know that I need a man who understands me very well because they know I will not change for a man…I will not become a demure girl just to be with a guy."

"What you see is what you get. I do not want to be fake," Mok asserted.

Being a celebrity though has its price. Mok said that she has had dates who just want to "show off that he knows you". For this reason, she prefers to date men who do not know who she is, or people who don't make a big deal out of knowing her.

Speaking more of the kind of partner she is looking for, Mok said she needs her man to be well-to-do and have a stable job and income for pragmatic reasons.

Animatedly switching without interruption among English, Mandarin and the occasional Hokkien, Mok readily admits that she thinks a lot and does not wish to be financially burdened with providing for her children, if any in the future.

Being single, however, doesn't get her down.

Tongue-in-cheek, Mok also described her grand plan if she grows old alone: she and her single girlfriends (if they all are still single) will live in a row of houses and proudly form a "Spinster Village".

"老孤婆村," she hilariously called it in Cantonese, and added that maybe in the future Singapore would establish such an area.

What's next in her career

Despite all her years in show business, the 1.65m comedienne finds her work vastly fulfilling.

"Acting is my passion…I don't want to be taken away (from the stage) till the day I die" she said resolutely.

Moving forward, the actress hopes to attempt a handicapped role such as playing a mute.

"It's a very challenging role — any role that is handicapped, you cannot move your body, you're paralysed on the bed. How're you going to use your body — the struggles to tell the family or friends what you want to say, your eye connection with the audience?"

Observing people in daily life, she said, helps in her acting skills, as well as finding connections with real life experiences. Being a professional, she reminds herself to keep the skills learnt over the years alive.

"I want to tell myself, I'm so happy now, can I still do a crying scene?" she said, revealing that she had just practiced it two days ago in her bathroom though she has no roles that requires that skill at the moment.

The humble celeb said that when she is approached by teenagers sometimes, she is taken aback that they know her. But she also hopes that she can connect more with youths of today through younger channels such as Okto.

"I think I want to be remembered as a funny girl at the end of the day," she said.