Rurusama spends over $2,000 on acting lessons for 1st movie role: ‘I think it was very worth it’, Entertainment News

Local cosplayer-actress Rurusama is giving her best efforts for her first movie role in upcoming Chinese New Year film Luck My Life.

Speaking to AsiaOne on Feb 9 while promoting the film, the 26-year-old shared that she accepted the role of mahjong trainer Cat as a “challenge” to herself.

“I was really glad when director Eric Wong reached out, through a lot of hoops actually, to get my contact… When he showed me the character, I was really intrigued by it, because I feel like he really chose the character that suits my online persona and it was an interesting experience,” she said.

Luck My Life centres on Zhuo Tiancai (Richie Koh), who was born with luck on his side when his mother (Joey Swee) gave birth to him on a mahjong table after a lucky streak.

Growing up privileged, he becomes an overconfident and arrogant young man who wins at every mahjong game, until the day he meets legendary mahjong champion Gu Lei (Tay Ping Hui), who taps him on the shoulder and tells him to know his limits.

Waking up the next day realising his luck is mysteriously stolen, Tiancai is on the verge of losing everything in his life. He embarks on a journey of redemption and self-discovery, guided by his love interest Xin Yi (Cynthia Li) and four enigmatic mahjong masters — Principal Wu (Yang Shi Bin), Cat (Rurusama), Ji Ge (Nick Shen) and Ah Shu (Tan Ting Fong) — each with their own unique skills and philosophies.

As Tiancai races against time to regain his luck and defeat Gu Lei in a mahjong competition, he realises that the warmth and love from family and friends as well as hard work makes him the luckiest person in life.

Rurusama’s ‘sexiness’ and ‘sassiness’ help to clinch role

In casting Rurusama as Cat, Eric shared that she embodied the character’s charisma.

“Cat is the only female teacher, so she has to be played by an actress who is sexy, sassy and ‘stylo’ enough. I think not many local artistes could fit Rurusama’s level of sassiness, so I like [the casting] very much,” he said.

To bring Cat to life, Rurusama shared that during the first meeting she had with Eric and his team, they read through her lines and discussed how the character should be portrayed.

She revealed she also took up 10 acting classes, each lesson costing a “couple hundreds of dollars”, to hone her acting skills.

“I think it was very worth it, because there are really a lot of things that I don’t know about acting… I need to learn the lingo of the directing world, and I need to be able to switch on the spot when the director asked me to change something and I think that was the biggest challenge,” she said.

“But I am grateful because the amount of practice that was put into it was paying off.”

Richie almost vomited while playing Tiancai

Richie shared that playing Tiancai was a break for him after acting as drag queen Jiahao in local director Ong Kuo Sin’s A Good Child (2025).

The 32-year-old, who was nominated Best Leading Actor at the Golden Horse Awards 2025 for his performance there, told us: “Eric spoke to me about the role in February 2025. At the time, our conversation about the character was that it’s more relaxing and comedic.

“I felt that taking on a more relaxed role after A Good Child can let me catch a break, so I think it’s quite fun. On set, we added in some comedic impromptu acting, so it’s more flexible and very different from Jiahao.”

He also told us about one difficult scene in Luck My Life that left him nauseous. In the scene, Tiancai has lost his luck and everything turns out badly for him, starting from his visit to the toilet in the morning, where faeces get into his mouth from a plumbing issue.

Richie laughed: “I had a tough time filming that scene, because I really had to imagine it and after the second or third take, I really felt like I was going to vomit and couldn’t continue anymore. I told the director I couldn’t do it anymore.”

Tay Ping Hui and Richie Koh ‘comfortable’ to bounce off each other on set

The film also marks the second time Richie worked together with local actor Tay Ping Hui, after they both appeared in local director Yeo Siew Hua’s shorts Dragon Gate Assembly from the SG60 film Kopitiam Days in 2025.

The 55-year-old praised Richie for his acting skills and added: “It’s very comfortable working with him. He’s not arrogant. I think this young man has great potential. I like working with actors like him. We have mutual respect, and we were able to play off each other. I think that’s the best.”

Richie shared he was a little “scared” of Ping Hui when he first worked together with him because of his aura, but after working together, he respected him as a senior and had fun while learning acting from him during filming.

We also asked if the actors felt that luck is required to achieve success in showbiz, besides talent and hard work. All of them believe that focusing on doing their job well should come first.

Ping Hui explained: “Luck is important to a large extent, but it’s not a random thing. We can actually increase our luck.

“Everybody says hard work is 98 per cent, but I believe if you work hard and you are serious about your work, it will increase your luck. In a sense that if you are good at what you do and you take it very seriously, eventually people will see it and recognise your hard work, professionalism and attitude, and they would think about casting you [in their project]. So in a way, it increases your luck.”

Luck My Life opens in Singapore cinemas on Feb 17.

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yeo.shuhui@asiaone.com

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