Chen Hanwei is looking terrible these days. Downright ugly, in fact. In place of his silky shoulder-length locks is a nerdy brylcreamed 'do. His doleful eyes are hidden behind dweebish Buddy Holly glasses. His jeans are stone-washed and worn chest-high. And his protruding chompers would put a beaver to shame.

    Thankfully, that's just the image he sports for his role as a love-starved graphic designer in the Ch8 comedy Love Me, Love Me Not. A more image-conscious artiste would've had a major bone to pick with the casting director. But it would seem that Hanwei relishes looking like road-kill.

    "With all the roles I've ever played - teacher, cop, rich man's son - I've always been somewhat of a cool cat. Like the way I look now," says the affable 32-year old, wispy locks and perfectly-lined pearly whites intact today, surveying the stylish black suit he has on. We're at the MediaCorp make-up unit, and Hanwei is on a one-hour break from filming his new mega-drama Hotel, where he plays a hotel manager "who has to smile all the time".

    "I'm quite tired of having to look mei mei (pretty) for every role. Playing a not-so-nice-looking character was a refreshing change for me," he adds.

      And for the viewers too, it seems. For Hanwei makes one top-notch nerd, copping laughs with his geeky gait and flunkey fashion sense. In fact, he wears his dweebish demeanour with such consummate ease, we suspect that it's not all acting, if you get our drift."   

     I used to wear my jeans like that too. Hiked them up right up to my chest. he confesses sheepishly, assuring us that all that's in the past, "a long, long time ago" He tells us fashion faux pas like "lantern pants, baggy at the thighs, tight at the calves", "buttoned-up shirts with shoulder pads" and "belts with three to four straps" no longer share closet space with his Hugo Boss-es and Calvin Kleins.

    Of course, we all remember that he took a break from acting three years ago for a two-year stint as a style consultant at MediaCorp. These days, a tight filming schedule doesn't allow him to dispense fashion 'dos and don'ts in an official capacity. But he still plays fashion guru to occasionally style-stuck colleagues like Chen Huihui and Hong Huifang, dishing out advice like whether they should go bra-less ("as long as you think you can carry it off with the outfit") or if they should change their hairstyles ("sure, but don't waste your money if it's not going to be very different from what you have now"). Maybe someday, Hanwei's name, too, will be invoked in thank-you speeches by Top Ten artistes at the Star Awards.

8DAYS: What was the most difficult thing about your role in Love Me, Love Me Not?

Hanwei: Those teeth! I had to have two sets of teeth specially made for the show and I had them adjusted seven or eight times. Because they didn't fit well, I developed migraine after wearing them. It was quite intolerable at the beginning. 

But it was well worth it, wasn't it? How does it feel to be the first guy who gets to kiss Li-Lin onscreen since she returned to acting?

It's no big deal. I've worked with her before on a telemovie. She's very angmoh, very chatty, very happy-go-lucky. It was a lot of fun working with her and we're great friends now. Even though she's in China right now, we're SMS-ing each other constantly.

Not really. I've done quite a fair bit of shopping in recent months but it's all stuff for my new house [a three-room apartment]. It's very Zen-like, I like things clean and simple so you won't see any junk or knick knacks lying around. No, they're all hidden in the cupboards.

Yes, yes, I've had my friends over lots of times.

No lah, we cook up a storm in the kitchen and then proceed to play UNO. 

Surprisingly, there are times when I win. But I'm really very good at UNO.

Don't go out of your way to be someone you're not, or even go about trying to imitate someone else. You can never take the place of someone else, nor can someone take the place of you, so it's important to have a personality or image that's yours and unique to you.

I think I stood out initially because of my long hair, but I've realised you can't rely on your appearance. Looks are transient. On TV, I may come across cool or stuck-up but I 'm always very friendly and respectful in person. Maybe my fans like that about me. 

How surprised were you when you were amongst thetop Ten Most Popular Artistes at last year's Star Awards?

It's really gratifying to know that I have a bunch of staunch supporters. And my fans are very guai (well-behaved), they re not the sort who scream and go "Ahhh!!" They're a very quiet bunch, setting up fansites on the Internet for me. And would you believe it, they're been updating the sites regularly for over 10 years now! 

Catch Hanwei in Love Me, Love Me Not,

Mon-Thur, Ch8, 7pm.