DJ Vernetta Lopez returns to acting in Aunty Lee’s series, but it’s not the reason she left radio

SINGAPORE – On Jan 19, home-grown entertainment veteran Vernetta Lopez returns to the small screen as the star of the new local English-language comedy-drama Aunty Lee’s Deadly Delights.

But the lead role was not the reason she exited the radio scene after three decades, the 52-year-old DJ-actress tells The Straits Times in an on-set interview in June. She quit radio station Gold 905’s morning show in May.

“A lot of people are misunderstanding that I left radio to do TV. When I made the decision, I felt like a butterfly spreading its wings. It’s so momentous. People say, ‘Oh, how’s semi-retirement?’, but I’m not retiring, I’m busier than ever.

“Call it a midlife crisis, I don’t care. Maybe it is, but it just felt right. The routine on morning radio made it very tough for me to do other projects. And you look at the social sphere and entertainment – things are moving in rapid ways,” says Lopez, who married British IT professional Wayne Gladwin in 2009.

“I want to have a finger in something else, because radio has had most of my life, and I’ve given it my all. And so I think it’s okay to put that to bed for now.”

Besides acting, she is also planning to launch a YouTube channel, Three Things With Vernetta, covering a variety of topics such as cooking, travel, money and lifestyle tips. She will also make more content, such as ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) videos, for her social media platforms on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.

In Aunty Lee’s Deadly Delights, which will be shown on both Channel 5 and mewatch and is based on Singapore writer Ovidia Yu’s Aunty Lee’s book series (2013 to 2017), Lopez plays the titular Peranakan restaurant owner who is also an amateur sleuth dealing with crimes in her neighbourhood.

The cast includes local actors Rebecca Lim and Pierre Png.

To flesh out her character, Lopez – whose most recent acting credits include mockumentary series Le Prawn Park (2021) and comedy series Fam (2018) – says she tapped her own Peranakan heritage and family experiences.

“I wanted to be as natural as possible, so in terms of the ‘Peranakan-ness’, you see it more in my language and in the food. I had to go back to my history to remember what my grandmother was like. She’s so Nonya; she was one of those gigantic ladies with the sarong.”

Getting the lead role was a surprise, she says, adding that the producers approached her about the show in early 2024.

“I was given only a very general one-liner: Peranakan lady, restaurant owner solving crimes in the neighbourhood. I was like, ‘That sounds fabulous. If you can give me anything, great, I would love to do it’,” recalls Lopez, who started her acting career in the mid-1990s and is best known for playing the Tan family’s only daughter Denise in the beloved Channel 5 television comedy series Under One Roof (1995 to 2003).

“(The producers) said, just come in for a supporting role. And when I got there, they said it was going to be the lead that they wanted me to try for.”

Both Png, 52, and Lim, 39, who portray a couple on the show, say they are delighted to be working with Lopez. Lim plays the manager of Aunty Lee’s restaurant, while Png is a property magnate.

Under One Roof – which also starred the late Moses Lim, Koh Chieng Mun, Nicholas Lee and Andrew Lim – was one of the country’s top local sitcoms, Rebecca Lim acknowledges. “They were the queens and kings, the OGs.”

Png, who joined Gold 905’s morning show as a presenter while Lopez was still co-hosting it with Mike Kasem back in January, is excited about collaborating with her again in a different medium.

Like Lopez, Png got his big show-business break on another popular English-language sitcom Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd (1997 to 2007), playing the titular contractor’s architect brother Chu Beng.

“Working with Vernetta just brings everything back home,” he says.