Petite actress is no pushover
She is slim and ladylike, but do not dismiss her as a pushover.
Standing at 1.65m and weighing 47kg, Brazilian-Japanese model-actress Caren Utino packs a mean punch - literally.
Twice, the Los Angeles-based beauty was attacked by robbers in her hometown in Sao Paulo in Brazil but managed to escape largely unharmed.
"People think of me as sweet and cute, but I can be quite tough. I think it's the Brazilian side of me," the 34-year-old told The New Paper yesterday.
"Last year, a man broke the window of my friend's car to rob us when we were on our way to watch Billy Elliot the musical.
"I punched and kicked him through the window with my high heels on as he tried to pull me out by my jacket."
"The police usually tell me that they wouldn't think that a small Asian woman like me would fight back."
Utino stars in local production Afterimages, a horror flick directed by Singapore-based American director Tony Kern, which will premiere here tomorrow.
In the locally-produced film, she plays film student Tess Ling, who, together with her groupmates, receive five horror film footages in return for burning paper effigy cameras as offerings during the hungry ghost month.
Utino, who got the role after receiving a referral to Kern through talent company Red Carpet Agency, stayed in Singapore for two weeks during the filming process.
She stayed in the home where her scenes were filmed, together with fellow co-star and on-screen boyfriend Jeremy Meyer.
Unfortunately for her, no one told her that the building in the east, which had belonged to a Chinese scholar, was thought to be haunted.
"I thought it was nice so that we could get to know each other better," she said.
"The house was old and had all these weird, creepy objects but luckily I didn't feel any sort of presence.
"Besides, the house was always full of people when we were filming."
BEAUTY QUEEN
The business management graduate won her first beauty contest in Brazil when she was 15. She has since won two more.
She has also landed movie roles in Brazil and secured international modelling projects, taking her to countries such as Hong Kong and Japan.
Still, it is in Los Angeles, where she has been based for the last six months, that she hopes to score her big break.
She has gone for auditions and has a few projects in the pipeline in the US, but she would not reveal details.
"Everyone's trying to make it big there.
"People look at me and think, 'She's a model, everything will come for free because she's a pretty face', but it's not like that," she said.
"If I count on my appearance alone, I won't go very far."
DJ Mike Kasem makes feature film debut
Class 95FM DJ Mike Kasem (above) features in one of the five horror clips in Afterimages, called Skin Deep.
He plays a dentist called Harrison, who is trapped in a lift with other shoppers in a mall.
Little did anyone know that Kasem is actually claustrophobic.
"I'll be fine, but at some point, I'll have to tell myself to calm down a little bit," he said.
He also had his own spooky encounter to share.
Two months ago, while hosting evening show Cartunes with co-host Jean Danker, the pair heard a little girl greet them.
But there was no one else in the studio apart from them.
"The voice said 'Hi guys!'. Jean was looking at me wide-eyed as she gave the traffic updates and I told her later that I had heard the same thing. It turns out that other DJs had heard the same voice too," said the 41-year-old Singapore-based US-born radio personality.
"I'm okay with it, it doesn't scare me too much. It sounds to me like somebody who enjoys being in the studio and listening to us. It got to Jean a little bit because she didn't want to go to the bathroom after that."
Afterimages is Kasem's first big feature film appearance.
NEXT MOVIE
He will next star as a Pakistani reporter who spends time in London in upcoming local film 1965 directed by Randy Ang.
In preparation for his role, he has sought help from Afterimages co-star Daniel Jenkins, who is British.
"The first time we met is on the set of this film and I've asked him for some acting lessons," said Kasem.
WHAT IS MOVIE ABOUT?
Afterimages, which premieres here tomorrow, is a locally-produced anthology of five short films - Ghost Pool Leg, Xiao Bao Bao, Skin Deep, Rekindling and Burnt Offerings.
In the movie, a group of film students burn paper effigy cameras as offerings during the hungry ghost month and receive horror film footages in return.
Each footage centres on different urban legends and superstitions often heard in Singapore.
At the end of it, the students realise that they got more than they bargained for.
The largely international cast includes familiar actors like Pamelyn Chee, Keagan Kang, Mike Kasem and Lim Kay Tong.
The film will be released at selected cinemas in the US next month.
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