Thai soaps are full of mia noi, or mistresses. A typical mia noi is a wicked woman who usually wears red lipstick and sexy outfits in order to lure married men into her trap with her evil plans. Whenever people come her way, the mistress doesn't hesitate to fight them, physically and psychologically.
Unlike the typical image of an adulterer, new melodrama Mia Noi (Mistress) presents a picture contrasting with the stereotypical mistress we see on television. Currently airing on GMM25, Mia Noi tells the story of a nice, naive 18-year-old girl called Chala, who is manipulated into becoming the mistress of a businessman, Choochai. But even though this lakorn chooses to show mistresses in another light, lead actress Worranit "Mook" Thawornwong who plays Chala insisted that the production has no intention of encouraging audiences to think being a mistress is now a good, acceptable thing.
"The world shouldn't have mistresses," the 22-year-old told B in an exclusive interview. "This drama reflects another side of being a mistress and focuses on Chala, who is a nice person, a good student and a great daughter. But we don't mean a mistress has now become something that should be admired."
In Mia Noi, the boss of Chala's father, Choochai (played by singer/actor Somchai "Tao" Khemklad), wants Chala as his mistress, but her father refuses. Choochai then frames him for making accounting mistakes and holds him responsible when the company loses 5 million baht. When Chala realises that Choochai wants her, she agrees to be his mistress to stop her father from going to prison.
Worranit thinks Chala makes a poor choice but said she understands her character's decision.
"Chala [feels she] has no choice. She doesn't want her dad to go to jail. But if I were her, I would find some evidence [to exonerate her father]. Perhaps, I would record conversations with Choochai," she said.
The drama contains scenes of sexual assault between Choochai and Chala. Those scenes -- especially the first night where Chala and Choochai encounter each other -- were harshly criticised due to the violence. Many viewers voiced their concern that the abusive scenes might have a bad influence on young viewers.
"If the scripts don't include abusive scenes, viewers may not feel sorry for Chala," Worranit said. "I want viewers to continue watching the show until the end. The drama will show that eventually you reap what you sow. And they will see a bad person get what he deserves."
Worranit first stepped into the limelight in 2015 in the romantic comedy show Ugly Duckling: Rak Na Ped Ngo. After that, she appeared in many lighthearted TV shows targeting young viewers, including U-Prince Series and Mint To Be. Chala in Mia Noi is her first serious dramatic role and provided her with an opportunity to work with veteran actors Somchai Khemklad and Nirut Sirijanya.
"I've watched them on TV since I was very young," Worranit said of her two co-stars. "So I felt pressure working with them. But they were nice to me. Somchai taught me how to act in violent scenes and make it look like I was really beaten up. Nirut could remember everyone's lines. He's very charismatic."
Worranit is keeping her feet on the ground. Although Ugly Duckling, U-Prince Series, Mint To Be and Mia Noi have all been big hits (they topped Twitter trends when they were first released and the first trailer of Mia Noi garnered a million views in a day), the actress doesn't attribute her success to herself. She gives all the credit to her fans.
"My fans are young and like to use Twitter. When the shows aired, the fans told one another to watch them together and tweeted about them using hashtags and stuff, all at the same time. It is in their power to share my work on social media."
Worranit said she started working in showbiz because she doesn't like desk jobs. And she isn't limiting her focus only to acting. While she was shooting Mia Noi, she also co-hosted the shopping and food-tasting show #TeamGirl on GMM25, in which she went to five top restaurants around Thailand.
"This was the first show I'd hosted. It allowed me to learn how to speak like a TV host which is different from how I use my voice in acting.
"I enjoy interviewing people, travelling around and tasting food at top eateries. The crew did lots of research to make sure that our restaurants were great."
The next role for Worranit is different from what she has done in the past. Worranit usually plays the protagonist, but in the upcoming Angel Beside Me: Taewada Ta Ja Rak, the actress has accepted a supporting role, and this time the role is more challenging.
"My character is called Selena. She's bad, but she hides her wicked thoughts inside. I haven't read the script yet, but the character sounds like fun. We shoot the show in April.
"I don't have to always play the main character," she said. "I want to work on different characters. The director of Ugly Duckling [Chatkaew Susiwa] told me to try playing bad characters. I trust her."
