Showing posts with label ''City Japes 城市故事''. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ''City Japes 城市故事''. Show all posts

Sunday, December 16, 2012

A Look Back at TVB’s Past ‘TV King’ Winners (1997 – 2011)

Seeing that TVB’s Anniversary Awards ceremony will take place on Monday (only 2 days away), I figured it was appropriate for me to post the translation for this article that I came across several weeks ago.  Basically, the article recaps the winners of TVB’s Best Actor (aka TV King) award starting from the very first awards ceremony (held during the annual anniversary gala back in 1997) all the way up to last year’s (2011) event.

Reading this article was a nice trip down memory lane for me.  Even though there really wasn’t "anything new" presented in the article (meaning nothing that I didn’t already know), it was still interesting to read nonetheless.

Not sure what’s going to happen with this year’s awards ceremony, since TVB has implemented that new OVPP ‘gimmick’ thing to have audiences vote for TV King, TV Queen, and Best Series.  As I’ve said before -- personally, I feel this is a foolish move because it turns those awards into ‘popularity’ awards rather than actual ‘acting’ awards.  With these circumstances at play, it makes me ‘reminisce’ even more about the ‘olden days’ and how the TV King / Queen awards were actually prestigious and meaningful back then, but nowadays have lost all credibility and importance -- truly sad and disappointing.

Anyway, back to the article – this is actually a great recap of TVB’s past TV King winners, though the only ‘bad’ thing is that it only talks about those who won the award more than once -- the others are only ‘mentioned’ briefly at the beginning and end of the article.  Ah well...still a good recap nonetheless!

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TVB’s ‘Best Actors’

Written by:  MonJeh

Translated by:  llwy12

Source:  YumCha!(yesasia.com)

Article originally published November 19, 2012 (the day of TVB’s Anniversary Gala)


If we were asked to name the TVB program that has garnered the most ‘feedback’ in HK recently, that ‘title’ would go to the interview show Telling Maria (最佳男主角) hosted by [veteran reporter and entertainment news host] Luisa Maria Leitao (黎芷珊).  In the program, Maria sits down with some of the HK film industry’s most popular Best Actor winners from the past few decades and chats with them about career, life, and much more – having so many ‘big names’ from the industry reveal intimate details about themselves, of course it’s no surprise that the program was able to ‘attract’ so many viewers.   However, let’s not forget the ‘other’ Best Actors out there – the ones from the TV world who have a certain ‘attractiveness’ of their own that is equally appealing to audiences! 

With this year being TVB’s 45th anniversary celebration, let us take a look back at TVB’s Best Actor winners from the past 15 years (starting with the 30th anniversary celebration in 1997) and reminisce about their careers as well as ‘classic’ performances.

Starting in 1997, TVB added an awards element to their annual TVB Anniversary Gala (萬千星輝賀台慶) event.   In 2006, the awards portion was ‘broken off’ into its own independent program -- the TVB Anniversary Awards show (萬千星輝頒獎典禮) – and over the years, it has become one of the station’s most highly anticipated events.  Two of the event’s ‘top honors’ -- TV King (Best Actor) and TV Queen (Best Actress) – are awards that the station’s many actors and actresses ‘battle’ over every year.  

In the 15 years that TVB’s Anniversary Awards has been in existence, a total of 9 TV Kings (Best Actors) have been crowned.  Amongst them, actor Gallen Lo (羅嘉良) tops the list as the ‘TV King of Kings’, as he has won the coveted award 3 times (a record that has yet to be broken);  close behind him are 4 actors who have each won the award twice:  Roger Kwok (郭晉安), Wayne Lai (黎耀祥), Kevin Cheng (鄭嘉穎), and Louis Koo (古天樂).  Rounding out the rest of the TV King winners list are Bobby Au Yeung (歐陽震華), Moses Chan (陳豪), Bowie Lam (林保怡), and Ha Yu (夏雨).

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Gallen Lo (羅嘉良)



Nicknamed ‘Lo Kar’ (撈家), Gallen Lo entered the industry in 1984 after participating in that year’s New Talent Singing Competition, where he caught the attention of renown songwriter Jim Lo (盧國沾).  Possessing an ‘honest, clean-cut, gentlemanly’ image, Gallen was often cast in the shy, quiet, introverted good guy roles early on in his career – such as the role of Mimi Lau’s (劉淑華) ‘wooden’ boyfriend ‘Johnson’ in 1986’s City Japes (城市故事) [TN: which was also Gallen’s debut series], the late Tang Bik Wan’s (鄧碧雲) shy son ‘Sai Dee’ in 1987’s The Seasons (季節), and ruthless villain Luk Kwok Wing’s [played by veteran actor Kenneth Tsang (曾江)] introverted son in 1988’s ‘classic’ series The Final Verdict (誓不低頭).  Even though Gallen’s ‘honest good guy’ image was extremely well-received by audiences since early on in his career, it unfortunately also limited his development in the TV industry, as he continued to play similar type roles in many series through those first few years.  In 1990, his performances in the series Rain in the Heart (成功路上), The Hunter’s Prey (烏金血劍), and Silken Hands (自梳女) continued to gain favor with audiences, however there was still not much ‘breakthrough’ in terms of his career.

It wasn’t until 1992, when Gallen showed a ‘different side’ of himself as the main villain ‘Kiu Lik’ in that year’s hit series Vengeance (火玫瑰) that he started to gain recognition, with audiences finally realizing that Gallen was indeed capable of playing villain roles.  In 1994’s remake of Legend of the Condor Heroes (射鵰英雄傳), Gallen got the opportunity to play ‘Yeung Hong’ [a role that Michael Miu (苗僑偉) made famous in the 80s version of the series], which was a pretty big challenge for him acting-wise at that point in his career.  However, the role that truly catapulted Gallen to fame and popularity was his portrayal of ultimate villain ‘Tsui Kar Lap’ in 1996’s grand production series Cold Blood Warm Heart (天地男兒).  With the series spanning 65 episodes, audiences got to ‘witness’ Tsui Kar Lap’s transformation from ‘promising youth’ to ‘ruthless murderer’ practically every night – a character that was willing to sacrifice anything for power and money, not only betraying his closest family members, but also causing the death of the woman he loved most.  While watching the series, audiences hated his character (Tsui Kar Lap) with a passion, yet at the same time, they also started to see Gallen’s acting prowess in a different light.

Cold Blood Warm Heart helped Gallen establish his ‘leading actor’ status at TVB and also brought him many new opportunities.  Subsequently, he continued to expand his acting skills by taking on a variety of different roles, such as those in 1996’s Dark Tales (聊齋), Once Upon a Time in Shanghai (新上海灘), Criminal Investigator 2  (O記實錄II) , etc. --all of which brought him praises for his ‘high quality’ performances.   However, if we were to recount the role that left the deepest impression on audiences, it would have to be Gallen’s performance in 1997’s Old Time Buddy (難兄難弟), where he starred opposite a strong leading cast consisting of Francis Ng (吳鎮宇), Jessica Hsuan (宣萱), and Maggie Cheung (張可頤).  In the series, his portrayal of ‘Lui Kei’ (one of the Shaw Brothers era’s most popular leading actors) was so realistic and convincing that many audiences felt that he WAS ‘Lui Kei’.  His performance also led audiences to realize that in addition to playing ‘good guy’ and ‘villain’ characters so convincingly, he was also able to grasp comedic roles perfectly as well – therefore, he was dubbed as one of TVB’s most ‘versatile leading actors’ at that time.  Not only did the series Old Time Buddy garner high ratings for TVB, it also created a ‘ripple effect’ popularity craze unlike anything seen before at TVB – first, the original soundtrack album to the series sold out in various stores in HK, then the series was made into a movie version entitled Those Were the Days (精裝難兄難弟) that same year (1997); the following year (1998), the series was made into a theatrical stage play and a follow up sequel to the TV series – Old Time Buddy:  To Catch a Thief (難兄難弟之神探李奇) -- was also released.

In 1998, Gallen led an ‘all-star’ cast in another grand production series, Secret of the Heart (天地豪情), playing the role of ‘Cheuk Seung Man’ – a person that women both loved and hated.  In addition to his leading role in the series, Gallen was also tasked with singing all of the theme and sub-theme songs for the series, which all became huge hits when the series aired – in fact, at the time, the original soundtrack album for the series reached 75,000 units sold in a few short weeks, which landed it in the number one spot on IFPI’s Top Sales chart for many weeks!  Because of this,  Gallen also got the opportunity to hold his very own concert for the first time at the HK Coliseum.  That same year, due to his role in Secret of the Heart, Gallen ended up winning the TV King award at TVB’s Anniversary Gala for the second time in a row [he had already won his first TV King award in 1997 for his performance in Old Time Buddy].

It can be said that from the late 90s to the early 2000s, the television industry ‘belonged’ to Gallen Lo – in addition to being crowned TV King twice, all of the series he participated in during that time were also hugely popular among audiences; in addition, starting in the year 1997, Gallen was selected as one of the ‘Top Ten TV Artists’ by the HK Media for 7 years straight. 

In 1999, to commemorate the arrival of the new millennium, TVB gathered many of its top artists together in the special 100 episode grand production drama series At the Threshold of an Era (創世紀) [1999-2000] – of course, TVB’s ‘number one brother’ Gallen Lo was included amongst the ‘all-star’ cast that consisted of many top siu sangs and fadans such as Roger Kwok (郭晉安), Sunny Chan (陳錦鴻), Louis Koo (古天樂), Kenix Kwok (郭可盈), Ada Choi (蔡少芬), Flora Chan (陳慧珊), Liza Wang (汪明荃), etc. and got the chance to ‘battle’ acting chops with this stellar group of actors and actresses.  In 2005, when the series was re-broadcast in the midnight timeslot, so many audiences tuned in to ‘chase’ the series that it ended up achieving 94% ratings share, which is recordbreaking for that particular timeslot.

The 2002 anniversary grand production series Golden Faith (流金歲月) became Gallen’s last ‘representative work’ prior to leaving TVB.  It was also the series that gave Gallen his 3rd TV King award, achieving a ‘record’ in TVB anniversary awards history that no other male artist has been able to break (so far).  This series also ‘reunited’ Gallen with his long-time on-screen partner Jessica Hsuan  – the onscreen chemistry between these two was unquestionable, but most importantly, audiences loved their pairing so much that even to this day, there are many who still wish to see another collaboration between these two ‘old partners’ someday.

In 2008, Gallen made a brief return to TVB, filming the series When a Dog Loves a Cat (當狗愛上貓) as well as 2009’s anniversary series Born Rich (富貴門).  Since then, Gallen shifted his career to the Mainland and has not filmed any more series for TVB.

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Roger Kwok (郭晉安)



Right behind Gallen Lo’s record-setting 3-time TV King win are 4 siu sangs who have each won the award twice.  The first one we would like to introduce is Roger Kwok.

Just like Gallen Lo, Roger was ‘discovered’ back in 1985 by songwriter Jim Lo (盧國沾) – not surprisingly then, Roger’s debut series at TVB was also the 1986 sitcom City Japes, which was also the first time that he became ‘familiar’ to HK audiences.  In 1988, Roger also starred alongside Gallen in The Final Verdict (誓不低頭), in which he played the son of Adam Cheng’s (鄭少) character in the series.

Since his debut in 1986 at TVB, Roger’s ‘steadfast youth’ image was very well-received by audiences – in addition, his handsome looks and physical stature at the time resembled singer/actor Leslie Cheung (張國榮), which resulted in him being dubbed as Leslie’s ‘successor’.  Therefore, a few short years after he started in the industry, Roger was already playing lead roles in many modern and ancient series, such as 1988’s The Saga of the Lost Kingdom (嬴單傳奇), 1989’s The Vixen’s Tale (萬家傳說), 1990’s Rain in the Heart (成功路上), the 1990 sitcom When the Sun Shines (同居三人組), 1991’s Mystery of the Twin Swords (日月神劍), etc.  With his healthy image and steady acting skills, which endeared him to audiences, Roger was able to quickly make his way to ‘first line siu sang’ status in the late 80s.

In the mid-90s, after filming the series The Intangible Truth (生死訟) [1994], Instinct (笑看風雲) [1994], When a Man Loves a Woman (新同居關係) [1995], etc., Roger left TVB briefly to try his luck outside.

After his return to TVB, it wasn’t until 2003 that Roger encountered the ‘breakthrough’ role of his career:  the character of ‘Ah Wong’ in the series Square Pegs (戇夫成龍).  Winning the TV King award for the first time due to his performance in this series, Roger’s hard work over the years finally paid off.   In 2005, Roger played the same ‘Ah Wong’ character in the ‘modern’ version of Square Pegs – the series Life Made Simple (阿旺新傳) – which gave him his second TV King title and at the same time made anniversary awards history by being the first (and ‘only’ so far) artist to win TV King twice playing the same character.  In addition to bringing ‘good luck’ for Roger himself, the character of ‘Ah Wong’ also proved to be TVB’s ‘secret weapon’ over the years, as the character continues to be very popular with audiences – every time any ‘Ah Wong’ related memorabilia is released into the market, the items are quickly snatched up by fans.

Despite already having 2 TV King titles under his belt, Roger continues to work untiringly over the years to enhance his acting skills and bring more depth to his roles by participating in a variety of different series  -- for example:  light, comedic series such as 2005’s Scavengers’ Paradise (同撈同煲), 2008’s D.I.E. (古靈精探) and 2009’s D.I.E. sequel (古靈精探B);  series involving the battle of mind and strength such as 2004’s To Get Unstuck in Time (隔世追兇), 2008’s Last One Standing (與敵同行), 2009’s Wax and Wane (團圓), etc.

With his strong acting skills as well as his ability to grasp the essence of each of his performances accurately (plus that ‘eternal babyface’ of his), we’re sure that Roger’s ‘first line siu sang’ status will continue to remain steady, even 10 years down the road!

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Wayne Lai (黎耀祥)



Another artist who was crowned TV King twice and also has been in the industry for more than 20 years is ‘talent path’ actor Wayne Lai.  Even though he may not have the physical ‘looks’ that other actors may have, one thing he does have is a steady foundation [in acting].  He joined TVB back in the 1980s, however, for the majority of his career, he never got the opportunity to rise to ‘leading actor’ status – it wasn’t until a few years ago that he finally made it to ‘first line siu sang’ level, taking on the lead role in one TV series after another and also being crowned TV King for 2 of those roles.

After graduating from TVB’s Acting Class, Wayne Lai started participating in TVB series in 1986, however he mostly had minor roles [TN:  what we call ‘kelefe’ or ‘extra’ type roles].  It wasn’t until 1990, when he participated in the series The Challenge of Life (人在邊緣), playing the role of Leon Lai’s (黎明) buddy ‘Cockroach’, that he first left an impression on television audiences.

In the mid-90s, Wayne filmed quite a few series that were either remakes or spinoffs of renown author Jin Yong’s (金庸) works, such as 1992’s Rage and Passion (中神通王重陽), 1994’s Legend of the Condor Heroes (射鵰英雄傳) as well as The Condor Heroes Return (射鵰英雄傳之南帝北丐) and 1995’s Return of the Condor Heroes (神鵰俠侶) – playing the role of ‘Chow Bak Tung’ in all 4 series.  Aside from veteran actor Chun Wong (秦煌) [who portrayed ‘Chow Bak Tung’ 5 times in HK television series], Wayne is the only other actor who has played the role of ‘Chow Bak Tung’ the most times.  In addition, his portrayal of the character was very well-received and to this day, is still considered one of Wayne’s most ‘classic’ characters.

After that, Wayne once again got to play the same character in 2 grand production series:  1996’s Journey to the West (西遊記) and 1998’s sequel, Journey to the West 2 (西遊記).  In both series, he played the role of Pig (Zhu Bajie) to near perfection – this was another one of his ‘classic’ roles that still leaves a deep impression on audiences to this day; in fact, 10 years after his portrayal, Wayne was tasked with hosting a documentary program about the historic ‘journey’ in TVB’s special program Master of Monkey King (大唐西遊記) [2008]. 

Aside from playing the characters of ‘Chow Bak Tung’ and ‘Zhu BaJie’ multiple times, Wayne has also played the character of Eunuch Li Lian Ying (李蓮英) twice as well.  Of course, we all know that he plays the character of Eunuch Li in the currently airing anniversary series The Confidant (大太監), however not many people remember that he also played the same character 17 years ago in 1995’s Man of Wisdom 2 (金牙大狀II ) .  Based on this ‘record’, Wayne Lai could very possibly be the only actor in HK television history who has played the same characters the most times!

Wayne’s other ‘representative works’ in the 1990s era include the Files of Justice (壹號皇庭) franchise [1992-1997], 1994’s Filthy Rich (豪門插班生), 1995’s From Act to Act (娛樂插班生), 1995’s To Love with Love (水餃皇后), 1997’s A Road and A Will (香港人在廣州), etc.  Among those works, Wayne’s imitation of legendary pop superstar Roman Tam (羅文) in 1997’s Show Time Blues (樂壇插班生) left a huge impression on audiences and helped him gain recognition for his ‘imitation’ skills – after that, he continued to imitate Roman Tam in various events.

Wayne left TVB in 1998 to pursue a movie career and after his return in 2002, he didn’t miss a beat, continuing to give strong performances in numerous series, such as 2004’s The Conqueror’s Story (楚漢驕雄), 2005’s The Gentle Crackdown (秀才遇著兵), 2006’s Safeguards (鐵血保鏢), 2007’s Devil’s Disciples (強劍), 2008’s Moonlight Resonance (溏心風暴之家好月圓), etc.  He also participated in over 1000 episodes of sitcoms, including 2007’s Best Selling Secrets (同事三分親), 2008’s Off Pedder (畢打自己人), and 2010’s Some Day(天天天晴) – with filming that took place over a span of 3 years, this allowed Wayne to remain a ‘fixture’ in HK audience’s households for a long period of time.

Wayne can actually be considered the ultimate ‘representative’ of the Chinese saying ‘a great talent matures slowly’ (大器晚成) – after having ‘toiled’ diligently and silently for more than 20 years, Wayne’s efforts finally paid off in 2008 when he received his very first TV-related award:  Best Supporting Actor for his dual role of two brothers in 2008’s The Gentle Crackdown 2 (秀才愛上兵).  After that, Wayne’s acting career went smoothly and he was quickly elevated to ‘first line siu sang’ status.  In 2009, Wayne’s portrayal of the character ‘Chai Gau’ in that year’s runaway hit series Rosy Business (巾幗梟雄) pushed his popularity to a level that he had never experienced before in his 23 year career – to this day, every one still remembers his ‘golden phrase’ from that series:  ‘How many 10 years are there in life?’ (人生有幾多個十年?).  The impact of the series was huge and the positive feedback from audiences was overwhelming, culminating in both Wayne and his ‘partner’ in the series, actress Sheren Tang (鄧萃雯) being crowned TV King and Queen that year (2009).  Wayne himself also won the ‘My Favorite Male Character’ award as well as the ‘Tvb.com Popularity Award’ that year, thereby becoming the first ‘triple award TV King’ [TN:  for ‘bagging’ 3 awards that night] in the history of the anniversary awards.  He is also the first artist to receive the TV King (Best Actor) award the year right after he won the Best Supporting Actor award.

In 2010, Wayne was crowned TV King once again for his portrayal of ‘Lau Sing’ in the sequel to Rosy Business:  2010’s anniversary series No Regrets (巾幗梟雄之義海豪情).  He’s the second artist in anniversary awards history to win TV King 2 years in a row [the first artist was Gallen Lo for his wins in 1997 and again in 1998].

After winning TV King for the second time, Wayne’s next series was 2011’s anniversary series Forensic Heroes 3 (法證先鋒III), which ended up being one of the most highly rated series that year.  This year (2012) appears to be another great year for Wayne – he has 3 series released this year, including The Greatness of a Hero (盛世仁傑), King Maker (造王者), and the currently airing anniversary series The Confidant.  In addition, his performance in The Confidant has made him a ‘hot favorite’ for the TV King award once again this year.  Will Wayne be able to match Gallen Lo’s record by winning the TV King award again for the 3rd time?  We will have to wait until the awards ceremony takes place on December 17th to find out!

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Kevin Cheng (鄭嘉穎)



The third artist who was crowned TV King twice is singer turned actor Kevin Cheng. 

In the 1990s era, Kevin signed with one of HK’s biggest record companies – Polygram (now Universal) and in 1993, upon release of his first album, he quickly became the ‘newcomer of the year’, winning numerous music awards.  Unfortunately, he later had a ‘fall-out’ with his manager and mentor Dai See Chung (戴思聰) and ended up leaving HK for Taiwan, where he started his acting career filming TV series.  In 1999, Kevin’s portrayal of the character ‘Kong Yuk Long’ in Taiwan’s version of The Legendary Siblings (絕代雙驕) caught the attention of TVB and he was invited back to HK to film series for them.  After joining TVB, he participated in a bunch of series, including 2002’s Burning Flame 2 (烈火雄心II), 2003’s Loving You (Loving You我愛你2) and Not Just a Pretty Face (美麗在望), etc. -- but mostly in supporting roles.

2004’s Hard Fate (翡翠戀曲) proved to be the turning point of Kevin Cheng’s career – not only did he get the chance to take on a lead role in the series, it also marked the first time that he paired up with his ‘best onscreen partner’ (and rumored girlfriend) Niki Chow (周麗淇).  The Kevin/Niki pairing was so popular and well-received by audiences at the time that TVB decided to keep up the momentum by pairing the two of them up again in 2006’s Under the Canopy of Love (天幕下的戀人) and 2008’s The Seventh Day (最美麗的第七天).

The series Under the Canopy of Love also brought Kevin the first peak of his career, ultimately resulting in him being crowned TV King in 2006.  Despite his popularity that year, unfortunately Kevin was not able to gain the recognition of audiences and the general public, causing his TV King win to be shrouded in controversy – the backlash and negativity he received at the time definitely impacted his confidence.  Luckily, he did not give up and instead, worked hard to improve his acting the next few years in a variety of series, such as 2007’s Devil’s Disciples and The Ultimate Crime Fighter (通天幹探), 2008’s Forensic Heroes 2 (法證先鋒II) and Last One Standing (與敵同行), 2009’s Burning Flame 3 (烈火雄心III) and Beyond the Realm of Conscience (宮心計), 2010’s Fistful of Stances (鐵馬尋橋), 2011’s Only You (Only You 只有您), etc.

In 2011, Kevin’s breakthrough role as rogue lawyer ‘L.A. Law’ in the hit series Ghetto Justice (怒火街頭) not only gave him the second major peak of his career, it also earned him a second TV King award.  This time around, the reaction from the audiences was very different –  his willingness to let go of his ‘handsome gentleman’ image to play a boorish rogue lawyer paid off, as he received widespread recognition for his acting and became the ‘expected’ winner of the TV King award that year.  In addition to winning TV King, Kevin also won the ‘My Favorite Male Character’ and ‘TVB.com Popularity’ awards that same year, thereby becoming the second actor (after Wayne Lai) to become ‘triple award TV King’.

In recent years, Kevin has been actively pursuing the Mainland TV market, filming many series there in a short period of time – in addition, he is planning on making a comeback to the music world, as he recently signed with record company EEG.  Despite all this, Kevin has not forgotten his fans in HK, as he had 2 TVB series released in HK this year – Gloves Come Off (拳王) and Ghetto Justice 2 (怒火街頭2).  In addition, he is also nominated once again for TV King in this year’s anniversary awards.

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Louis Koo (古天樂)
 
The last ‘double TV King’ winner we’ll look at is an artist who already left the TV industry many years ago and is currently a ‘super star’ in the movie industry – Louis Koo.

Out of all the TV King winners featured in this article, Louis Koo’s career with TVB was the shortest – from the time he was ‘discovered’ in 1993 (due to filming a music video) to his departure in 2001 (after winning his second TV King title), he was only at TVB for a total of 8 years.  Even though Louis’ career in the TV industry was short, it was a bright one nevertheless.

After entering the industry in 1993, Louis’ first official series was 1994’s Knot to Treasure (婚姻物), which starred audience favorites Ekin Cheng (鄭伊健) and Nnadia Chan (陳松伶) – even though Louis’ role was only a supporting one, the positive feedback that he received was no less than that of the main leads.  Therefore, TVB decided to heavily promote Louis by first arranging for him to participate in the sitcom Happy Harmony (餐餐有宋家) [1994] to brush up on his acting – not long after that, he was selected to co-star with Heavenly King Leon Lai in the 1994 grand production series Class of Distinction (SIR早晨) – from that moment on, his acting career took off.

In the subsequent years, Louis continued to be heavily promoted by TVB – along with Leo Ku (古巨基), Carlo Ng (吳家樂), Hawick Lau (劉愷威), and Keith Ho (何遠恒), Louis became part of the ‘new Five Tigers’ group that came about in the mid-90s.  In addition, Louis was ‘hand-picked’ to take on the heavy role of ‘Yang Guo’ in the 1995 remake of Jin Yong’s classic Return of the Condor Heroes.  After soaring to popularity with this series, Louis continued to star in many heavyweight series, including 1996’s Cold Blood Warm Heart, 1997’s Recipe for the Heart (美味天王), 1998’s Burning Flame (烈火雄心), etc.  In 1999’s Man’s Best Friend (寵物情緣), Louis got the chance to collaborate with music queen Sammi Cheng (鄭秀文) for the first time – the pairing was very well-received by audiences and set the stage for their pairing in film projects later on.

In 1999, Louis also collaborated once again with long-time onscreen partner Jessica Hsuan (宣萱) in heavyweight series Detective Investigation Files IV (刑事偵緝檔案IV), which ended up becoming one of the most popular series of that year.  In addition, both Louis and Jessica were crowned TV King and Queen at that year’s Anniversary Awards, which also marked the first time that the leads from the same series received those 2 awards at the same time.  The following year, Louis also participated in grand production series At the Threshold of an Era (創世紀) – his villain character ‘Cheung Chi Lik’ proved to be the biggest acting challenge of his career at the time.  That same year, he also joined the music world, releasing an album and also singing the subtheme songs for a few of his series.

In 2001, Louis filmed what was to be his last series with TVB – the time-travel mega production A Step into the Past (尋秦記), in which Louis was once again ‘reunited’ with his ‘best onscreen partner’ Jessica Hsuan.   To this day, the series is still hugely popular and is considered a ‘classic’ by many audiences – it also earned Louis his second TV King title, marking a ‘perfect’ end to his TV career.

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Complete list of TVB’s Anniversary Awards ‘Best Actor’ (TV King) Winners:

>> 1997: Gallen Lo for Old Time Buddy
>> 1998: Gallen Lo for Secret of the Heart
>> 1999: Louis Koo for Detective Investigation Files IV
>> 2000: Bobby Au Yeung for Witness to a Prosecution
>> 2001: Louis Koo for A Step into the Past
>> 2002: Gallen Lo for Golden Faith
>> 2003: Roger Kwok for Square Pegs
>> 2004: Bowie Lam for War and Beauty
>> 2005: Roger Kwok for Life Made Simple
>> 2006: Kevin Cheng for Under the Canopy of Love

>>2007: Moses Chan for Heart of Greed
>> 2008: Ha Yu for Moonlight Resonance
>> 2009: Wayne Lai for Rosy Business
>> 2010: Wayne Lai for No Regrets
>> 2011: Kevin Cheng for Ghetto Justice

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Interview with former TVB veteran actor Leung Kin Ping: “Accept all filming offers and find a way to break through”

Here's interview that I came across a couple days ago with another veteran TVB actor:  Leung Kin Ping. 

Not sure how familiar most audiences are with Leung Kin Ping, but I'm willing to bet that -- just like with most of the veteran 'green leaf' actors at TVB --  majority of the audiences out there are able to recognize his face but not his name.  Of course, there's nothing wrong with that, but it's just sad that many of these veteran actors -- most of whom are talented actors / actresses -- toil for so many years at TVB, but yet either never get the recognition they deserve or only do so way way way late in their careers.  I guess that's the sad but real plight of being a 'green leaf' actor at TVB:  unless you have connections or you happen to 'get lucky' and encounter a 'breakthrough' role that propels you to sudden popularity, you're pretty much relegated to toiling for decades as a relative unknown....

Anyway, the reason why I decided to translate this particular interview is because, unlike majority of audiences, I actually have known who Leung Kin Ping is for a long time already, as he's another one of those green leaf veteran actors whom I grew up watching (no surprise by now, huh?). 

I first became familiar with Leung Kin Ping as an actor back in the 80s, as he was one of the recurring actors in the 'classic' sitcom City Japes 城市故事 (also known as "City Stories") from 1986/87-- which just happens to be my most favorite TVB sitcom of ALL TIME (I've watched that sitcom so many times already in the past 3 decades that I can pretty much recite the dialogue from whole episodes!  LOL!).  He played the character 'Sam' in that series and even though his role was not particularly big, I still remember him from that series because I loved the series so much overall.

If the 80s is too far back, then perhaps audiences may remember the significant role he had in another 'classic':  the long-running sitcom / drama from the 90s, A Kindred Spirit 真情.  Even though he only guest starred in a segment of the series (that series ran for 4 years), his character was pretty important during that particular sub-storyline (for those who might not remember, he played Fiona Yuen's adopted brother cum lover -- a villain character that he played perfectly in my opinion!).   For me, when the name Leung Kin Ping is mentioned, this is really the role that I remember most.

In terms of the interview / article itself -- well, to sum it up in a nutshell:  TVB pretty much lost another great veteran 'green leaf' actor (and one who has been with them for 30 years, to boot!).  Pity....

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Interview with former TVB veteran actor Leung Kin Ping:  “Accept all filming offers and find a way to break through”

Source:  HK Channel

Translation:  llwy12




Having played crime boss ‘Brother Willie’ from TVB’s 2009 series Lives of Omission《潛行狙擊》 as well as crooked businessman ‘Luk Kwong Chiu’ in this year’s boxing-themed series Gloves Come Off《拳王》, veteran actor Leung Kin Ping (梁健平) is used to playing ‘villain’ roles. After graduating from school, Leung Kin Ping’s very first job was working for Shaw Brothers movie studio and later on, he joined TVB – therefore, it can be said that Sir Run Run Shaw has been his ‘boss’ for practically his entire career. Now that ‘Uncle Six’ has retired, Leung Kin Ping has decided to take a ‘seeing the world with different eyes’ approach to his career – he recently joined Ricky Wong’s fledgling TV station CTI, thereby ending his 30 year ‘relationship’ with his mother home TVB.


When Leung Kin Ping was at TVB, he was actually in quite a lot of series and can be considered one of the artists with ‘heavy output’ in terms of the amount of series he participated in. Part of the reason for this is because as an ‘ordinary’ artist, he feels that he shouldn’t be picky about the series that he participates in, since at the end of the day, “any opportunity is an opportunity” – as long as the right opportunity comes along, it’s still possible to make a break through!

When he worked for Shaw Brothers, Leung Kin Ping was in the printing department, however due to the boring nature of the job, he decided to quit after 1 year and join TVB instead. He indicated that during the period he was at Shaw Brothers, the number of films being produced was very minimal, so he was able to finish his work quickly and during lunch breaks, he would happily go watch the filming that took place in the studio: “One scene I remember vividly was seeing Alexander Fu (傅聲) hanging from wires, dangling in mid-air with [fake] arrows sticking out of his body while Gordon Liu (劉家輝) and Lau Kar Leung (劉家良) sifu were standing at the doorway beneath him, choreographing the scene – they had that ‘big brother’ aura about them… it was pretty neat!” From childhood, Leung Kin Ping had always been a TV fanatic – he recounted one time how he had rejected a date with a female classmate because he had to rush back home to watch Adam Cheng (鄭少秋) in the 70s version of TV series Dragon Sword and Heaven Sabre 《倚天屠龍記》. Laughing, he states: “Of course I wasn’t going to ‘give up’ Adam because of a girl!”


Heartbroken to see colleagues not getting paid

Later on, Leung Kin Ping joined TVB and started off working in the props department – the entire time, he continued to ‘wait’ for an opportunity to come along: “Back then, TVB really had high status, as a lot of film production companies would often come to TVB’s studios to ‘choose’ artists for their movies. I remember seeing Dodo Cheng (鄭裕玲) and Chow Yun Fat (周潤發) filming in Mongkok and the crowds of people numbered in the ten thousands – the situation was just like earlier when Andy Lau (劉德華) was in Mongkok filming a movie! Later on, in the early 80s, I switched to doing commercials for 3 years – at the time, I pretty much had to participate in all aspects of the work. One time, I was even asked to do the actor’s job and film commercials too! That’s how my acting career started.”

Leung Kin Ping participated in so many series while at TVB, he has pretty much lost count already: “Earlier in the year, when I was filming Sergeant Tabloid《女警愛作戰》, Niki Chow (周麗淇) asked me why it seemed like I was in every single series – I made up an excuse and said that I was TVB’s ‘street cleaner’ and would sweep up whatever garbage came my way. In truth, I feel that as an ‘ordinary’ artist, I shouldn’t decline any job opportunities or be selective about series to participate in. I remember Fat Gor (Chow Yun Fat) once told me that the film you spend the most time being overly selective about usually is the one that ends up bombing -- he said that back when he filmed God of Gamblers《賭神》and An Autumn’s Tale《秋天的童話》, he didn’t have much confidence either, but both films ended up becoming huge hits. I don’t know if I’ll bump into such an opportunity or not, so to me, every opportunity is a possibility – if people feel that you are most suited for a particular position, you will naturally get chosen for it, so there’s no point to force it.” With his 2 most recent roles – as ‘Brother Willie’ in Lives of Omission and ‘Luk Kwong Chiu’ in Gloves Come off -- more audiences have started to recognize him: “One time I was walking in Tsim Sha Tsui and a group of construction workers across the street yelled in my direction ‘Hey, Brother Willie!’ I looked over and thought: ‘Wah, they’re all the way over there and still able to recognize me?’ Their enthusiasm was heartwarming! I feel that those 2 roles are ‘parting gifts’ from TVB – that’s why I’m very grateful to producers Chong Wai Kin (莊偉健) [LOO’s producer] and Marco Law (羅永賢) [GCO’s producer].”

Many former TVB artists have criticized the company for not giving pay raises and artists having to ‘survive’ with a ridiculously low base salary for a number of years. Leung Kin Ping revealed that even though he frequently exceeded the number of shows required in his contract, TVB would only give him a 50 HKD per show pay raise: “Back then, the company told me that I was actually one of the ‘lucky’ ones, as others don’t get a raise at all – they even told me that they’re unsure if the profits will start to decline in the next 2 years, so they’re afraid to give too high of a raise or perhaps not even give raises at all. I’m lucky that I was able to survive to this day and haven’t ‘died’ yet. To be honest, all these years, my salary has never been ‘OK’ [TN: meaning salary is barely enough to survive], but I still make it work – just eat cheaper and watch the spending! Fortunately, my wife has a good job with a good salary that can support the family, which allows me to continue to pursue acting. In all honesty, all I’m asking for is to be treated fairly and reasonably. After I joined CTI in May, I heard from some former colleagues at TVB that they finally got pay raises – I was very happy to hear this! Back when I was at TVB, I personally saw some colleagues not get paid at all because they didn’t have enough shows – I felt really bad and it broke my heart to see them in such a desperate situation…a lot of them wanted to leave TVB because of this. Luckily, producers such as Lee Tim Sing (李添勝), Poon Ka Tak (潘嘉德), and Amy Wong (王心慰) reached out to ‘save’ these colleagues by asking them to participate in their series, which helped them get through those difficult times.”


Just knowing how to cry well is not considered good acting

Leung Kin Ping indicates that in addition to wanting a change of environment, the other reason why he decided to leave TVB was because he wanted to rediscover the sense of ‘familiarity’ and ‘closeness’ that he once felt with his work: “At the new company, there are new challenges, but also a different type of motivation and morale. For example, during the filming of CTI’s musical Fantasy Love Song 201314《童話戀曲201314》, watching the ‘kids’ [younger actors] dancing and singing and having a good time, seeing their enthusiasm and vitality, it created a happy environment for all of us – this is the type of thing that we didn’t see with the previous company [TVB]. Also, while we’re filming, our boss Ricky Wong would all of a sudden ask a cook to make a meal consisting of 3 dishes + 1 soup and have someone specially drive the food to the filming location for us to eat!”

Leung Kin Ping expressed that he hopes to get the opportunity to film even better quality series: “Filming scenes that make people cry is not very difficult – just because you know how to cry well doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a good actor. More important is for audiences to be able to relate to what they are watching – do they benefit from what they watch or does it influence them in some way? For example, someone going through a breakup or experiencing the death of a loved one are perhaps able to feel differently about their own situation because of a particular scene I did or dialogue I said in the series – having that kind of impact on audiences is my ultimate goal.” Leung Kin Ping states that he hopes the government will grant CTI their license soon so that they can give the television industry a much needed boost – hopefully the healthy competition will help the industry thrive and prosper once again.


Acting Profile: Varied roles, both good guys and villains

Leung Kin Ping is currently 46 years old. Upon graduating from school, he joined Shaw Brothers movie studio and later switched over to TVB. Active in the industry since the 1980s, Leung Kin Ping has participated in countless series -- including City Japes《城市故事》, Files of Justice《壹號皇庭》, To Catch the Uncatchable《棟篤神探》, Lives of Omission, Gloves Come Off, etc. -- in roles that are hugely varied, portraying both ‘good guys’ as well as ‘villains’. Some of his most memorable roles include crime boss ‘Brother Willie’ from Lives of Omission, the cook ‘Pao Sing Kap’ in House of Harmony and Vengeance《耀舞長安》, crooked businessman ‘Luk Kwong Chiu’ from Gloves Come off, as well as others. In May of this year, he left TVB and currently works for Ricky Wong’s CTI.