IF IT hadn't been for The New Paper New Face, Jayley Woo would never have been able to score her big break on local television.

The spunky, pixie-faced 19-year-old credits this newspaper's modelling competition for helping her become the first of this year's 20 finalists to snag a debut acting role in a major MediaCorp show.

She is now filming Channel U's new youth-themed drama Jump, co-starring Jeanette Aw and Zhang Zhenhuan.

The first-year mass communications student at MDIS is also basking in the bliss of a new romance.

Jayley is dating Edwin Goh, 17, the chiselled-jawheart-throb who found fame on the Channel 5 period drama Fighting Spiders and Channel 8 hit series On The Fringe.

Coincidentally, he is also starring in Jump, which premieres next May.

"Without New Face and (The New Paper columnist and New Face judge) Yeoh Wee Teck, I'll never be where I am today," said Jayley.

Facebook find

She was offered an audition opportunity for the part of a tomboyish Secondary 5 student after Jump's art director spotted a comment she left on New Face 2010 winner Vivien Ong's Facebook photo.

"The art director left me a Facebook message, inviting me to try out," recalled Jayley.

What won the production team over was, in large part, the short, trendy crop she now sports - courtesy of a makeover session organised by New Face.

"I used to have long hair. It was Wee Teck who decided I should cut it off," she said laughing.

So, does it feel weird and awkward for the young couple to be starring opposite each other in the same drama?

"A bit lah," said Jayley. "Some of the cast and crew members know that we are dating in real life...they'll talk about it."

As for Edwin, he feels "the teasing hasn't really started yet".

"I think it'll be okay. We just need to get used to it," he said.

For now, Jayley is focusing her energies solely on Jump.

"Acting is definitely something I see myself pursuing in the future, more so than modelling," she said.

"I've come to realise that I like performing in front of the camera."

The pair, who started going out more than a month ago, didn't hit it off immediately.

Jayley thought Edwin was "a flirt".

"From pictures of him on Twitter and On The Fringe, he looked like a player," she said.

"But after we got to know each other, my view of him changed for the better."

They were already Facebook friends for a year, she explained.

"But it was only after I met him at an old folks home's outreach event in September that we finally had a proper conversation."

Street Fighter

Edwin's buddy and On The Fringe co-star Ian Fang was the couple's "matchmaker" of sorts.

"That day, Ian was also there, and when he found out that I drove, he asked if I could give him and Edwin a ride to the nearest MRT station," said Jayley.

For Edwin, a BMC International College student who is awaiting his O-level results, it was "love at first sight".

"On our first date, we went to play arcade games and she beat me 10 times at Street Fighter...I've never lost to a girl before that," he told The New Paper with a chuckle.

He confessed sheepishly that he had five girlfriends before Jayley.

"So many, right!" she quipped. "He is only my second (boyfriend)."

Edwin, who has more than 20,000 fans on his Facebook fan page Edwinspiration, said that to his surprise, his throng of female admirers were not jealous after they got word of his budding romance.

"When (the news) first broke (in Lianhe Wanbao), many fans actually left me messages congratulating us and hoping that our relationship would last," he said.

He and Jayley support each other unhesitatingly in their respective projects.

"I go on (Jump's) set to watch his filming even though there are no scenes of mine for the day," she said.

Last month, Edwin went to tvN's K-Pop Star Hunt: Cube Auditions at Square 2 to catch her in action.

Jayley was one of the talent search's Top 20 finalists.

"I don't like K-pop at all, but I went anyway, just for her," he said.

This article was first published in The New Paper.