ACTRESS Josie Ho takes her craft seriously.

For her role as an oral sex specialist in the comedy Naked Ambition (2003), the Hong Kong-based singer-actress recalled doing some, er, hardcore, research.

'The company took me to a massage parlour in Hong Kong, an indecent one, and a lady was demonstrating to me.' Then she added in her slightly husky voice: 'It's a nice giggle, a nice laugh.'

For her pains, she won the 2004 Hong Kong Film Award for Best Supporting Actress.

The 32-year-old, who was here for the 3rd Asian Festival of First Films which ended on Tuesday, was speaking to Life! at VivoCity's Golden Village Gold Class lounge.

Her look is youthful and casual, an eye-catching red cardigan over a white T-shirt, jeans and canvas sneakers.

Her husband, actor-singer Conroy Chan, accompanied her on the trip and sat in for the interview, chiming in from time to time.

Ho is no stranger to film festivals but it is a novel experience for her to be sitting on the jury panel.

'It's always been a mystery to me what every film festival's criteria are and here they handed a sheet to me.

'I'm gonna show these to my friends and tell them to channel their films in this direction,' she said gleefully in English.

Apart from films, the multi-hyphenate, who also sings, has released albums with titles like Sickid and Hell's Kitchen. She is working on a new release which she described as 'rockish and punkish, with a layer of pop on top'.

She said: 'Music helps me with acting. I'm exploring myself every time I go on stage to perform. How crazy can you get, how extreme can you get?'

It comes as a surprise though to hear her say that she has yet to have a similarly intense experience on film, given her wide range of eclectic roles, including playing prostitutes as well as a lesbian in Butterfly (2004).

Still, there are boundaries for the actress and nudity is a no-go for now.

'I already feel naked on stage because everyone's looking at you. If one day I could really deal with being naked, I would have reached the ultimate stage,' she said.

Chan deadpanned: 'She's just saying that because I'm here.'

After a burst of laughter, Ho said that she was once approached by the Italian director Tinto Brass, who had directed the infamous sex and nudity-filled classic Caligula (1979), starring Sir John Gielgud and Malcolm McDowell.

'He's like, 'I would like you to be in my next film. You have to be naked. Your body is a gift from God'.

'I'm like, 'Uh yeah, I don't think so.''

There is one subject that the forthright actress will not talk about and that is her father, casino tycoon Stanley Ho.

Asked if the fact that she was his daughter had helped or hindered her career, she said a little hesitantly at first, then more firmly: 'I prefer not to answer that question, no comment.'

Like her father, she's got game.