FANS of promising actress Cristina Suzanne Stockstill have been puzzling over her "disappearance" these past four years.
"I've just taken a break to focus my energies on being a mum to my little son," replied the 39-year-old beauty and award winner at the recent launch of her latest movie 'Babah'.
'Babah' marks Cristina's comeback to cinema as well as the first time she is playing a mother on the silver screen.
"My son is four years old now, and big enough, so I can return to my other favourite job, acting," says Cristina who admits that she has never left showbiz.
"I am not one to leave showbiz because my passion in life is acting."
And it is this passion which made her participate in top actor Datuk Rosyam Nor's reality talent show 'Pilih Kasih' which ran for three seasons on Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) from 2009 to 2012.
She is still good friends with Rosyam who discovered her in the actor search for 'Pilih Kasih 2' in 2011.
"I will forever be grateful to him for helping me set my feet in showbiz."
And Cristina keeps in touch with her seniors, contemporaries and juniors from 'Pilih Kasih' such as Zulin Aziz, Reen Rahim, Ungku Hariz, Bella Dally and Fiona Benard.
"We may have gone separate ways but we bonded like a big, happy family in the show."
MATURITY
While Cristina still plays heroines and supporting characters in television dramas, she has always played women of her age group or younger versions of female protagonists.
"My characters in the past may or may not have been mums, but in 'Babah' I am specifically a mum character — the wife of the film's titular father and the mother of his daughter, the female protagonist."
As the mother of heroine Maya played by Sweet Qismina, Cristina was made to look older by a "brilliant" makeup artist team.
"They did not give me grey hair, but aged me at various stages of the movie by changing my hairstyle and wardrobe.
"Hayati is a fashionable mum who looks like any city mum in Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya."
Cristina cherishes playing the mother of a daughter at all ages.
"After all, every mother wants to see her child grow into a beautiful and successful person.
"And it is a good training ground," she says.
Cristina loved the great teamwork and production values of the 'Babah' cast and crew.
"I bonded with Kis Aisha and Sweet who played my daughter at different ages.
"And with actor Qi Razali who played the title character, my deaf husband.
"It was a great ensemble team and I hope that we will be nominated for film awards next year."
STEWARDESS
Cristina began her working life as an air stewardess and a model prior to joining 'Pilih Kasih'.
The Johor Baru native is the middle of three children.
Her father is from the United States and her mother is from Kuantan, Pahang.
She won best actress for 'Kil' in Anugerah Skrin 2013.
In that movie she starred as the love interest of actor and screenwriter Redza Minhat, who plays a depressed and suicidal young man.
NEELOFA
"My husband fully supports my return to acting and he is my biggest fan alongside my mother and elder sister."
Cristina once tried her luck in hosting an entertainment show, but decided she wasn't cut out for it.
Nevertheless she thanks actress and entrepreneur Noor Neelofa Mohd Noor for guiding her well during that brief stint.
Cristina wants to use her real name as her stage name despite some fans fondly remembering her initial stage name and persuading her to keep it.
The reason — her real name is simple, memorable and stands out.
"Tok Rosyam gave me the stage name Kris Cempaka at first.
"I thank him for that sweet name, but prefer to 'keep it real'."
Cristina reasoned that Rosyam or Datuk Mohamad Nor Shamsudin may use his stage name since it is catchy, but sometimes the actor or actress has a real name that is catchy enough, such as hers.
PILOT
"People may mistake me as a pan-Malaysian but in truth I am as Malay Malaysian as it gets.
"That is the joy of being known as Cristina Suzanne."
As a child Cristina dreamt of becoming a pilot, and she hopes she will get to play one in future films.
Nads Media Entertainment is the producer of 'Babah', a touching father-daughter story about a deaf father and his daughter who suffers from a crippling disease.
The film is set in a 30-year period from 1990 to 2020.
In the movie, Qi plays Isyak, the father of Sweet's character Maya and they go through life's ups and downs such as job loss, hearing loss. When Maya is diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome after marriage, Isyak is forced to take on the task of taking care of Maya again.
The strong bond between them shows that family love can bring them together to go through difficult times.
'Babah' will be screened in cinemas nationwide on Dec 5.