Carmen Soo

Carmen Soo (Soo Wai Ming) (simplified Chinese: 苏慧敏; traditional Chinese: 蘇慧敏; pinyin: Su Huimin) is a Malaysian Chinese model and actress.

Biography

Born and raised in Malaysia of Chinese descent, she currently resides in Petaling Jaya, Selangor with her family. She holds a bachelor's degree in Business Management and can speak fluent Malay, Cantonese and English while also learning Tagalog to help her television acting career in the Philippines.^[1] She was part owner of a boutique named 'Kushi' located in Bangsar.

Modeling

Soo began modeling at age 17 and moved to Hong Kong at age 20 to further her modeling career, which has brought her all over Asia, including Singapore. At 156 cm (just under 5'1") tall, her petite size is not conducive to catwalk modeling, hence most of her shoots tend to be print and television commercials.^[2] However, she has graced local magazines' covers such as New Man, V Mag, New Tide GLAM and Nu You. She is a spokesperson for international watch brand Longines along with Malaysian theatre personality Paula Malai Ali,^[3] and for Celcom with Singaporean singer JJ Lin. Soo is the Brand Ambassador of Uniqlo Malaysia.

Acting

Soo was an extra in the 1999 Jackie Chan movie entitled Gorgeous alongside Shu Qi, and later was in Aaron Kwok's musical special.^[4]

In September 2008, Carmen starred in an ABS-CBN (in collaboration with Malaysia's Double Vision) soap opera with Filipino actors Jericho Rosales, Cristine Reyes and Christopher de Leon in the teleserye Kahit Isang Saglit that was aired in Philippines and Malaysia, and worldwide by TFC. Kahit Isang Saglit later earned an International Emmy Award nomination.

In September 2010, she performed opposite Christian Bautista in a 4 part series of Your Song (TV series) entitled Beautiful Girl which was shot through Mid July and August between Malaysia and the Philippines. The next year, Soo returned to the Philippines for a month long series of TV5 (Philippines) short lived Sunday Afternoon Anthology. Soo is the first and only Malaysian actress to star in a Filipino TV show.

Soo was the lead actor in South East Asia's First 3D Film, The Hunter 3D, written and Directed by Bjarne Wong. Soo then went on to perform in HBO Asia Dead Mine as Su-Ling based on the legend of Yamashita's Gold lures a treasure hunter and his group deep into the Indonesian jungle.

Soo can next be seen as Na in Ghost Child. Starring actor Chen Han Wei will play Choon, a widower who experiences strange happenings in his household after he brings home Na, a mysterious woman from Indonesia, and announces that he intends to marry her. With a production budget of S$1 million and directed by Gilbert Chan 23:59, Ghost Child is due to be released in March 2013.

Hosting

In April 2010, Soo became a co-host on Wowowee along with Kelly Misa, Jed Montero, Isabelle Abiera, RR Enriquez, Valerie Concepcion, Mariel Rodriguez and Pokwang.

Film