I'm currently watching the TVB series Divas in Distress (巴不得媽媽) -- well, too be specific, 'kind of watching' is the more appropriate way to put it, since I've pretty much been forwarding through most of the episodes due to not liking some of the cast and also parts of the storyline.
Not planning on commenting much about the series itself, since I technically didn't even watch majority of it, but there are a few characters that I actually like from the series -- one of them is the character of 'So Gay' played by veteran actor Koo Ming Wah (古明華).
Ok, I'm sure most people probably never even heard of Koo Ming Wah prior to this series -- for me personally though, I've known of him since the 90s, as I remember that he had some pretty good roles back then, even though the roles were small and mostly insignificant (yet he was able to leave an impression, at least on me). I really started paying more attention to Koo Ming Wah after Gun Metal Grey, since I really enjoyed that series and his performance in there was quite good. Actually, even back in the 90s, his acting was already very good, it's just that he never had much luck in terms of his career, as he was almost always relegated to playing minor characters (and he's been at TVB for 18 years already!). This is why I'm glad that Koo Lo (as most people call him) is finally getting recognition for his acting -- IT'S ABOUT TIME!!! I'm very happy for him and definitely hope that TVB will give him better roles in the future!
By the way....Koo Ming Wah did 6 interviews with various Media outlets recently and after reading all of them, I chose to translate this particular one from East Week Magazine (primarily because it's the most detailed one and also the most moving) . It's a very touching interview and after reading it, my respect for Koo Ming Wah definitely went up several notches -- the part where he talks about his mother and his daughter really got me teary-eyed! From these interviews, it's obvious that Koo Ming Wah is a good man! I wish him the best of luck!
****
This is ‘So Gay’:
Koo Ming Wah’s difficult 18 year career journey
Translation: llwy12
TVB’s currently airing drama series Divas in Distress《巴不得媽媽》caused beauty pageant winner Eliza Sam (岑麗香) to become
the new ‘Golden [Discussion Forum] Goddess’, but at the same time, it also
brought about unexpected popularity for veteran actor Koo Ming Wah (古明華) [known as
‘Koo Lo’ (古佬) to his friends and colleagues], who plays the effeminate character
‘So Gay’ (蘇基) in the series. Since the
series aired, Koo Lo has garnered tremendous praise for his performance, with
netizens creating a ‘One Person One Like – Support So Gay for an Award’ Facebook
page, showing their support for him to win in either the ‘Most Improved Actor’
or ‘Best Supporting Actor’ categories at the TVB Anniversary Awards this year. Within a matter of days, the Facebook page
received over 60,000 ‘Like’ votes and over 900 comments praising Koo Lo’s
performance – despite becoming an ‘overnight sensation’, the 48 year old actor
reveals that he’s not sure how to react to the sudden popularity.
Take today’s interview for instance – when we
asked him to do the photo shoot portion of the interview in his ‘So Gay’
persona, Koo Lo willingly obliged. As
he prepared for the interview, he bumped into various colleagues at TVB City,
all of whom greeted him affectionately, loudly yelling out: “Gay Gay!” [his
nickname in the series] or telling him: “So Gay! Support you all the way!” – some of his
colleagues even requested to take pictures with him! Towards all of this, Koo Lo responds with a
shy grin: “Thank you, thank you!”
Asked about the success of the character ‘So
Gay’, Koo Lo grins sheepishly and states:
“I never imagined the character would become so popular! Re-watching my performance, I feel that there
are still many areas where I could have done better. Back when we were filming the series, the
behind-the-scenes crew would tell me:
‘Wow, this character will definitely become a hit!’ but I would respond
back with: ‘Oh, stop being crazy! You
guys always say that with all of my performances! Tell me, which performance have you not said
would be a hit?’ Hahaha! Actually, many behind-the-scenes crew
contributed to the success of the character ‘So Gay’ – but of course, I have to
thank the series producer Tak Gor (Poon Ka Tak 潘嘉德) for being
brave enough to cast me in the role! If
it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have so many supporters now and wouldn’t be able
to understand how wonderful this feeling of ‘perplexity’ [over the sudden
popularity] truly is! But, to be honest,
this moment could very well be a temporary thing that will eventually come to
pass.”
See, this is how ‘So Gay’ is like in real life!
The past 18 years
After the photo shoot, Koo Ming Wah stepped out
of his ‘So Gay’ persona and went back to being ‘Koo Lo’ – the difference in his
appearance was significant, as his looks instantly returned to being
‘scruffy-looking’ without a single trace of the character’s ‘effeminate nature’ about him. Koo Lo states: “When Tak Gor first suggested me for the role
of ‘So Gay’, there were people who doubted his decision, but he simply stated:
‘He can do it! Koo Ming Wah can do it!’ With that, he gave me the role! The mutual trust that we have in each other,
to be honest, it would probably never happen with any other producer! Actually, the role I had in the series Street
Fighters 《廟街．媽．兄弟》[aired in the year 2000] was also pretty significant and had a lot of
screen time – that series was also produced by Tak Gor. So going from being a ‘nobody’ to being
recognized now, I am really very grateful to him!”
In 1993, Koo Ming Wah earned a ‘Best Newcomer’
nomination at that year’s Hong Kong Film Awards (HKFA) for his performance in
the film Sex Racecourse《旺角馬場》. Even
though he didn’t win the award [TN: he lost to future HKFA Best Actress winner
Anita Yuen], he did capture the attention of TVB and not long afterwards,
he was recruited to join the TV station.
In the 18 years since then, Koo Lo has participated in more than 40 TV
series (he had to look up the info in Wikipedia to confirm): “Counting through the series – The
Driving Power《非常外父》, Ten Brothers 《十兄弟》, The Wintermelon Tale《大冬瓜》, Street
Fighters, etc. – if you ask me how many series I was truly happy
filming, there are probably less than 8 altogether! And that’s over a period of 18 years!”
From our calculation, the reason for Koo Lo’s
‘dispirited’ feeling was probably because the majority of the roles he played
in those 18 years were either insignificant villain characters such as a
rapist, murderer, criminal, debt collector, etc. or if he happened to play a
‘good’ guy, he was usually a one of a group of workers at a café or perhaps
even a street vendor.
There were times when the characters he played didn’t even have a name
and his status was even less than that of a 4th or 5th
line actor: “Actually, throughout these
18 years, the time I spent NOT working was even greater than the time spent
filming! If we talk about time spent
actually filming something, I would say it was only about 100 days out of the
year – so pretty much I only spent a third of the year filming!”
Koo Lo continues:
“I’ve never been disappointed about not getting to be male lead – all I
hope for is that the characters I play can have a little bit more to do. For example, in the series Gun
Metal Grey《刑警》, I played the role of a veteran cop – with that
role, I was already very happy that I was able to find myself in that character
and in that performance! Because I truly
truly love acting!”
Path to becoming a voice actor
Luckily, Koo Lo still had his job as a voice
actor to help him make a living. As a
voice actor, Koo Lo participated in the Cantonese-language dubbing process for
foreign films such as Puss In Boots, Toy Story 3, Shrek
2, Transformers: Revenge of the
Fallen, Three Kingdoms, etc.: “Prior to joining TVB, I worked at the HK
Repertory Theatre – one day, Ting Yu (丁羽) [renown veteran voice artist] came to visit and
said that he was looking for some ‘new voices’ – just like that, I became part
of the theatrical group and from that point on, I would film series as well as
do voice work on the side.”
Two years prior to accepting the role for Divas
In Distress, Koo Ming Wah had actually already made the decision to
transfer to the voice acting department at TVB and not film series
anymore: “To be very honest, the first 2
years after I joined TVB, I felt happy because everything was so new and fresh,
but then 5 years went by, then 10, then 15 and I started to see creativity
becoming more and more limited – I started feeling that my ‘fighting spirit’
was slowly diminishing, so I thought perhaps it was the time for a change.”
Koo Lo continues:
“But then prior to switching over, I got the chance to film Gun
Metal Grey and work with actors such as Felix Wong (黃日華), Michael Miu
(苗僑偉), Vincent Wong (王浩信), Oscar Leung (梁烈唯), etc. –
seeing them have such passion and heart for acting, it immediately reminded me
that in actuality, the company didn’t really change and such actors were always
present, it’s just that my attitude toward acting had changed. After switching to the voice acting department,
I swore to myself that I would take my work and life more seriously going
forward – as a result, I was able to learn a lot more about acting, since I had
to watch a lot of films for my job in voice acting. Then, at the beginning of this year, Tak Gor
challenged me to take on the role of ‘So Gay’."
The youthful HKAPA days
Koo Ming Wah graduated from the HK Academy of
Performing Arts (HKAPA) in 1990. He
revealed that back in the day, he decided to apply to the HKAPA because of his
friend, comedian / actor Tat Ming Cheung (張達明): “Tat
Ming and I were classmates in primary school and high school, so we were really
good friends. After graduating, he
continued with his studies, whereas I went to work at my brother’s factory as a
machine operator. Not sure what
triggered it, but one day, all of a sudden, he came over and asked me if I was
interested in joining a theater company with him – just like that, we ended up
joining [veteran actress] Law Koon Lan’s (羅冠蘭) theater troupe.”
“Later on, we found out about a place called the
HK Academy of Performing Arts, so Law Koon Lan suggested that we try to
apply. Since my factory job at that time
was extremely boring and I wanted a change in environment, I decided to go with
Tat Ming to apply. Only Tat Ming was accepted
the first year -- I tried applying again
the second year and finally got in.”
Koo Lo emphasized that the 4 years he spent
studying at the HKAPA were the happiest years of his life: “If I didn’t have those 4 years, it
definitely would have been regrettable!
Since grants and loans were available back then to help with schooling,
seven of my male classmates and I pooled some money together to rent a house in
Sheung Wan to serve as a dormitory --
with 8 guys going to school and hanging out together day and night, imagine the
fun we had! Haha!” [Koo Lo’s 7 male classmates
included Sunny Chan (陳錦鴻), Emotion Cheung (張錦程), Tat Ming Cheung (張達明), Joey Leung (梁榮忠), Chung Chi Wing (鍾志榮), Desmond Tang (鄧偉傑)].
Koo Lo continued:
“After we got off from school, we would all hang out at the house and
review through the stuff we learned or sometimes just sit around and chat. Of course, we had fun outside of school too,
eating and drinking, hanging out with other friends, partying, etc. Haha!
The school environment was very nice too
-- the buildings were clean and pretty, there were a lot of glass
windows with a view of the harbor, pretty girls dancing upstairs [TN: referring to the dance department at
the HKAPA]…haha! Those few years, we
didn’t have any burdens and could do pretty much anything we wanted (except for
illegal stuff and things that might embarrass our families). That was definitely the ‘good
life’…haha! It was also during those 4
years that I got the chance to really study acting and explore it in depth –
because prior to that, I didn’t feel that I had any talent for performing at
all!”
A mother’s love for her child
Aside from Tat Ming Cheung encouraging him, Koo
Lo also decided to go into acting because
of something his mother said to him:
“At that time, I asked my family: ‘If I wanted to go back to school,
would that be okay?’ The reality is that
back then, my family would not be able to support me financially, since our
family was big and only my dad was working – therefore, when I asked the
question, my dad did not give an opinion, since he knew he would not be able to
support me…however….” (Koo Lo’s eyes start to tear up) “…my mom took the matter to heart…” (the tears
slowly start to flow) “…my mom told me: ‘Little brother [his nickname as a
child] – life is short! If going back to
school is what you want to do, then go ahead and do it! Mom will support you no matter what!’” (at
this point during the interview, Koo Lo could no longer hold back the flow of
tears and sobs silently).
After regaining his composure, Koo Lo
continued: “Those words from my mom gave
me tremendous strength and energy! It
completely changed my life!”
Growing up as the 5th of a total of 6
children, Koo Lo’s family lived in a small house in Ngau Tou Kwok. During the day, the place where they lived
was a manufacturing center for wicker chairs and at night it become the place
where they ate and slept: “My dad was
the only breadwinner in the family.
Every morning, my mom would make porridge and some eggs and that would
be our breakfast – once a month, we’d get the chance to go out to the city and
have a bowl of noodles. A lot of times,
we would help boil water for the workers making the chairs so they could take a
bath, then after they finished eating dinner, we would help clean the tables –
after they got off work, we would help clean up the place…life was pretty
difficult back then!”
Out of the 6 children, Koo Lo was the one who had
the closest relationship with his mother:
“My mom and I were very close!
That’s because as a kid and even when I was growing up, she never had to
worry about me – at school, I always made sure that I was on my best behavior
and never did anything that could get me in trouble. Even though my mom never went through much
education, she was a very reasonable and understanding woman who loved all her
children dearly – she sacrificed a lot and invested all her time and energy in
raising us to be good people. She is a
model mother!”
Two years ago, Koo Lo’s mother passed away: “She had diabetes as well as heart problems...she
went into the hospital one day, but the doctors weren’t able to save her….” As Koo Lo recounted his mother’s passing,
tears once again flowed down his face: “…but
the benevolence and love that both she and my dad showed to us children really
impacted me greatly and helped me understand what type of parent I should be in
the future!”
This is truly what we call ‘teaching with love’!
He is willing to die for her…
Koo Ming
Wah is married and has a 14 year old daughter named Tammi: “I met my wife back during my Acting Academy
days – she was in the dance school (specializing in Chinese dance) and I was in
the drama school. We dated for 8 years
and this year, we will be married for 16 years already.”
After his wife graduated from the HKAPA, she
became a freelance dancer – unfortunately, not long after they married, his
wife got into a car accident that caused permanent injury to her leg and ended
her dancing career: “After that, she
became a ‘lazy bug’ – even when I told her to go out and work, she wouldn’t do
it! Haha!” (He pretends to be upset.)
As for his daughter Tammi: “Hahaha!
She is very independent! Her
classmates know that I am her dad, but they’ve never bothered her about getting
celebrity pictures or autographs – but even if they do, she always handles the
matter very calmly, though it could also be that I’m just not popular enough!
Ha!”
Koo Lo continues:
“The great love that my mom showed me definitely affected the love I
have for my daughter! When my daughter
was born, she had difficulty coughing up the spittle in her throat and I
thought to myself: ‘can I cough it up
for her instead?’ Her health is not very
good and even when she was a child, she would constantly get sick – she also
has asthma as well as kidney problems.
Sometimes when I see her getting really sick, I get scared that she
might not be able to make it through and worry that she might leave us – each time,
I pray to God and ask him to take my life instead! It’s true!
If you ask me who I would be willing to die for…my wife – no, but my
daughter – absolutely!”
Seeing Koo Lo’s eyes start to well up with tears
again, I [the reporter] couldn’t help also feeling a knot in my throat.
