Emerald Hill child actress Ivory Chia, 9, becomes youngest actor to win at Asian Academy Creative Awards

Nine-year-old child actress Ivory Chia nabbed the award for best actress in a supporting role (Asia-Pacific) at this year's Asian Academy Creative Awards (AACA) for her performance in the hit Mediacorp series Emerald Hill. A couple of CNA documentaries also picked up trophies: Addicted – The Synthetic Curse and Karikal Mahal: A Silent Witness.

AACA 2025 was held on Thursday (Dec 4) night at the Capitol Theatre in Singapore.

Chia's win comes just two months after she clinched the title of best actress in a supporting role (Singapore), which qualified her to compete in the Asia-Pacific category.

Other nominees in the same category include Korean actress and Oscar winner Youn Yuh-jung (Pachinko 2), Taiwanese star Fang Wenlin (Though Dead, Still Alive), TVB actress Yoyo Chen (DID 12) and Chinese actress He Ruixian (Feud).

With this, Chia is also the youngest actor to ever win at the AACA, which just concluded its eighth edition.

Chia made a name for herself with her standout performance as young Xinniang (aka Tasha Low) – a child beggar raised by Chen Liping’s compulsive gambler Ah Zhu – in the 2025 The Little Nyonya spin-off.

At the ceremony, Chia arrived in a striking blue-and-pink floral sarong kebaya. When her name was announced, she shot to her feet in shock, hands over her mouth, before confidently prancing onstage to accept her award from 987 DJs Sonia Chew and Joakim Gomez.

"Thank you, AACA, for this incredible honour," gushed Chia before proceeding to thank Mediacorp as well as the show's executive producer, director and scriptwriter.

She also thanked the crew for taking such good care of her, all while panting from excitement, prompting Gomez to gently reassure her, “You got this.”

"Okay, I'd like to thank the audience for supporting us and my family members, thank you for encouraging me, your encouragement means a lot to me," continued Chia.

Of course, she didn't forget her Emerald Hill family too.

"My on-screen nya nyas [mums], Chen Liping and Jesseca Liu, thank you for giving me warmth and confidence in every scene," she beamed.

CNA DOCUMENTARIES ALSO BAG AWARDS

In addition to Chia's win, several Mediacorp productions also picked up trophies at Thursday's event.

These include Karikal Mahal: A Silent Witness, whose director Rowena Loh nabbed the award for best direction (non-fiction), as well as CNA's Addicted – The Synthetic Curse, which won the award for best documentary series.

The former is a factual drama about one of Singapore's oldest heritage landmarks, a mansion that was built in the early 1900s by a business man from India dubbed the "Cattle King" named Kader Sultan. Meanwhile the latter is a three-part series that looks at the world of drug production and trafficking, and its impact on communities around the world.

The song Bebas, from Mediacorp's Malay-language drama Korban Part 2, also walked away with the award for best theme song.

This story was originally published in 8Days.

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