Here’s
an interview that was published just last week with another favorite veteran
actress of mine: Mary Hon.
Mary
Jeh is another one of those actresses who is hugely talented and so versatile
in her acting that she can play practically any role convincingly. I’m sure most of us have been ‘seeing’ a lot of
Mary Jeh lately, since she seems to be in every series nowadays (not that I’m
complaining) – I must say though that after close to 40 years in the industry
(working for TVB almost the entire time), Mary Jeh definitely hasn’t lost her
touch, as she still does a great job in in all the roles I’ve seen of hers in
the last couple years (even though a lot of those roles have been ‘minor’). I loved her performance in SSSS and
absolutely felt that she was one of the supporting artists who pretty much ‘held
up’ the series (I personally didn’t like
the series overall, but still tuned in to watch parts of it mostly because of
her, Damian, Elena [Kong], Ben [Wong], and majority of the supporting cast). Of
course, another highlight of that series for me was getting to see Damian and
Mary Jeh act together again because they were one of those onscreen veteran couples
that I grew up watching (gosh, lost count of how many times they’ve collaborated
together over the years). I remember the
first series that I watched of theirs was Yesterday’s Glitter – even though
they technically weren’t the main couple in the series, plus Mary Jeh was the ‘villain’
(she played the role of the 3rd party mistress who comes between
Damian and Liza Wang), I still greatly enjoyed their performances in
that series.
I
actually quite like the below interview that YCWB (Mainland paper) did with
Mary Jeh because in the interview, she doesn’t just talk about her career, but
also gives us a glimpse into some of her past personal struggles as well as her
current marriage with voice actor To Yin Gor (whom I have grown to like after
watching his awesome performance in Witness Insecurity..LOL). Reading about Mary Jeh’s struggles with
anxiety disorder and how much that had impacted her life was definitely
heartwrenching, but seeing how well she was able to come out of that dark
period was very encouraging. Oh and I enjoyed
reading the part about Mary Jeh’s relationship with her husband To Sir and how they
are still such a sweet couple even after 23 years of marriage – I love hearing
about these long-lasting relationships in the entertainment industry!
Anyway,
the interview pretty much speaks for itself, so not going to comment too much right
now. Hope you guys enjoy reading the
interview as much as I did!
.****.
YCWB Interview with veteran actress Mary
Hon: “Marriage needs to be safeguarded”
Translation: llwy12
Article originally
published January 18th, 2013
From ‘eldest wife’
in Silver
Spoons Sterling Shackles (名媛望族) to a wretched, sickly mother in Missing You (幸福摩天輪) to an honorable judge in Friendly Fire (法網狙擊), veteran actress Mary Hon (韓馬利) has been a ‘common fixture’ in many of TVB’s recently aired TV
series.
During a recent
interview with Yang Cheng Evening Paper, Mary Hon not only chats with our
reporter about the lessons she learned in her 37 year acting career, she also
shares with us her advice on maintaining a happy marriage.
YC = YCWB reporter
MH = Mary Hon
Towards ‘Acting’
Mary Hon started in
the industry working for Rediffusion Television [ATV’s predecessor] back in 1972.
Even though she had graduated from RTV’s acting class at the time [TN: one
of her classmates that same year was veteran actor Damian Lau (劉松仁)], she actually did not go into acting right away – rather, she joined
the dance department and worked as a background dancer for 2 years. It wasn’t until Mary joined TVB a few years
later that her acting career actually started to take flight. In 1975, Mary participated in her very first
TV series: famed producer Wong Tin Lam (王天林)’s wuxia classic Luk
Siu Fung (陸小鳳) – despite this being her first foray into acting, Mary was already
cast in the lead female role in the
series opposite none other than her acting class ‘partner’ Damian Lau. Around the same time, she was also chosen to
co-host TVB’s popular, highly-rated entertainment news program K-100
alongside ‘golden host’ Ivan Ho (何守信).
Several decades
later, Mary Hon is still active in the HK television industry, participating in
one series after another, and sometimes even appearing on HK audiences’ TV
screens in multiple series at the same time!
Her performance as Damian Lau’s eldest wife in last year’s anniversary
series Silver Spoons Sterling Shackles was well-received by audiences
and her cameo roles as 2 distinctly different mothers in this year’s recently
aired series Missing You and Friendly Fire both received good
feedback from audiences.
YC: In both Missing You and Friendly Fire, you played
a mother who reunites with her long lost son.
When filming both series, did you feel the story idea sounded similar?
MH: I just thought ‘oh, what a
coincidence!’ It originally wasn’t much
of a problem, it’s just that both series ended up airing at the same time and
therefore the reunion scenes in each occurred only 1-2 days apart – that’s why
a lot of audiences felt it was a bit odd.
But hey, no big deal – after all, [veteran actor] Law Lok Lam (羅樂林) also ‘died’ 5 times in the same day,
right? (Laughs).
YC: With the many characters you’ve portrayed
over the years, there are bound to be some that are similar in nature. Is it tiring to portray similar characters
like that?
MH: Being with the company so many years, I’ve
portrayed every character imaginable:
drug addict, street vendor, rich classy lady, evil villain, etc….of
course there was a bottleneck period when I would ask myself why I’m playing
the same types of characters over and over again. Is it because I’m only capable of playing
these types of characters? But even if
the characters and story concept are similar, there will still be distinct
differences – for instance, with the ‘mother reuniting with long lost son’
character, one of the mothers is a respected judge while the other is an
ordinary woman suffering from Alzheimer’s – therefore, the method of portraying
these 2 characters will definitely be different. To make each character come across different
to audiences, that is not the scriptwriter’s issue -- it’s the responsibility
of the actor portraying the character(s).
YC: Recently, there have been many TVB artists
who left to join rival stations – have you thought about changing your work
environment?
MH: Back during my younger days, I also went
through that ‘poaching’ period – there were TV stations in Malaysia and
Singapore that had approached me in the past trying to get me to join, but back
then, I felt that my love relationships were more important – since I didn’t
want to leave my other half behind, I rejected the offers. Now that I’m older, I feel that affinity with
the company is very important – after all, I’ve worked for TVB so many years
already and the company treats me relatively well. In this area, Damian Lau had a huge influence
on me – he once told me that he ‘grew up’ at TVB, so when the company is facing
a crisis, he should stay and help them fight the battle. I feel that what he said makes a lot of
sense.
YC: Back in the day, when you were at the peak of
your career, you chose to get married.
Looking back now, do you feel any regrets?
MH: I’m not the type of person who proactively
fights for things – filming series, becoming a host, etc., all of that was
arranged for me by others. Popularity
would have come easily back then, but yet I didn’t put much effort into
grasping it and because of that, a lot of opportunities were lost – looking
back now, it was a bit regrettable.
That’s why nowadays, I always tell the younger generation that they need
to constantly enrich themselves and when an opportunity comes along, grasp on
to it – every character you get is a good opportunity to express yourself, so
don’t slack off just because you feel the role is insignificant or there’s
little screen time. You never know –
maybe a producer happens to watch that performance and it leaves an impression
on them so they decide to seek you out next time.
YC: In the past few years, you’ve been getting
heavier roles and the feedback from audiences has been pretty good. Any hopes of getting an award?
MH: Of course I would want to grasp the opportunity
if it were to present itself, however as actors, we’re very passive and things
often aren’t within our control – you need to have a good script, good
director, good actors to collaborate with, etc….otherwise, even if you’re
hugely talented, things still might not work out. Sure, awards are a source of encouragement,
but shouldn’t be the main reason for doing our jobs. Do your job well first, then the awards will
come later – you shouldn’t wait until you get an award to start doing your job
well.
Towards ‘Pressure’
In the series Silver
Spoons Sterling Shackles, Mary Hon played the role of ‘eldest wife’,
but in real life, she has always played the role of ‘Big Sister’. Two years ago, the pressures of work and life
caused Mary to develop anxiety disorder – luckily, through the support and
encouragement of friends and family, she was able to overcome this difficult
period.
YC: Is it true that you once developed anxiety
disorder because of too much stress?
MH: That happened 2 years ago – perhaps the
stress that had accumulated over the years became too great and so it just
broke out all at once. When I was busy
with work, I didn’t realize I had such an illness – that time, it happened to
be my rest period from filming and that’s when the problems surfaced. Each time the anxiety attacks occurred, my
whole body would shake and break out in a sweat.. at times I would even have
difficulty breathing and couldn’t sit down – I would have to stand up and take
deep breaths repeatedly. I was afraid to
stay home alone and had to go walk around outside to take in fresh air; even
something as simple as taking a shower was difficult because each time I closed
the shower door I felt like I was going to suffocate. Sometimes, I would even hallucinate and hear
voices whispering in my ear: ‘Mary Hon, you are so useless, you should just go
die!’ or ‘Mary Hon, you’re so crazy, no one is going to care about you!’
YC: How long did it take for you to overcome this
suffering?
MH: Luckily, I discovered this illness early and
was able to seek proper treatment. At
first, I went to the hospital to get it checked out, but the doctors there were
very irresponsible – they said that I was healthy physically so probably just
imagining things. Later on, I was
talking to a friend of mine who happened to be a psychologist and she told me
all those things were symptoms of anxiety disorder – she taught me how to treat
it and a few months later, I was well again.
I’m very grateful for the group of friends that kept me company during
that time and helped me get through it.
Even though the doctor prescribed medication for me to take, I don’t
want to constantly rely on medicine – now, whenever I’m unhappy, I pray.
YC: After this experience, did it help you better
understand how to balance work and personal life?
MH: All along, I’ve always had high standards for
myself – if I didn’t meet those standards, I would get upset at myself. Plus at home, I’m the big sister, so I’m used
to always being the one who takes care of others – whenever someone had a
problem, I would take it upon myself to help them resolve it, so over time, it
caused the burdens on my shoulder to get heavier. After this experience [anxiety disorder], I
realized that good health is just too important. What’s the use of earning so much money if it’s
at the expense of your health?
Towards ‘Marriage’
Mary Hon has been
married 3 times: at 21 years old, she
married a high school classmate of hers who also worked as a director at TVB –
unfortunately, a ‘rumor’ ended the marriage a few years later. In 1981, she married veteran actress Fung Bo
Bo (馮寶寶)’s elder brother
Fung Kat Lung, however the marriage only lasted 6 years – the unhappiness and
pain of that marriage almost brought Mary to the point of suicide. It wasn’t until 1989 that Mary finally met
her life companion – her current husband, TVB voice actor To Yin Gor (杜燕歌) with whom she has
been together for the past 23 years.
YC: Your husband To Yin Gor recently switched
from working behind-the-scenes [as a voice / dubbing actor] to acting in front
of the cameras – were you the one who sparked his interest in acting?
MH: Actually, all along, a lot of people have
been telling him to try acting in TV series, but because he is used to speaking
Mandarin and filming series requires speaking in Cantonese, he was afraid to
try it. It wasn’t until producer Lau Ka
Ho (劉家豪) invited him to play a Mandarin-speaking triad leader in last year’s Witness
Insecurity (護花危情) that he got a chance to try
acting in front of the camera. Then
later on, producer Jonathan Chik (戚其義) gave him a role as a storyteller in his series Beauty at War (金枝欲孽2) – after both those experiences, he started to develop an interest in
acting, so the company signed a new contract with him – hopefully he will be
able to balance his work as an actor and voice dubbing artist
simultaneously. I’m very happy that he
is able to find a sense of satisfaction in acting because I feel that as a man,
it’s important for him to find his own position and confidence – I support him
completely!
YC: Do you usually give him pointers and advice
on acting?
MH: Definitely not! Unless he specifically asks me for my advice
on acting, otherwise I don’t want to place any unnecessary burden on him. Since I’ve been acting for so long, he of
course already feels that he has less experience than me in this area – if I
try to ‘teach’ him too, it will hurt his confidence!
YC: Outside, you are the ‘big sister’, but when
you’re at home with your husband, do you go back to being the ‘little woman’?
MH: For me, family is the most important and my
husband is the number one priority in my life.
Of course, as with any marriage, certain things that are a matter of principle
can’t be compromised, but if it’s a harmless matter, I let him make the
decision.
YC: After so many years of marriage, you two
still have a very sweet relationship – can you share your ‘secret’ to
maintaining such a happy marriage?
MH: My husband is from Beijing and immigrated to
Australia in his teens, whereas I was born and raised entirely in Hong Kong –
growing up in different environments, our backgrounds and personalities were
very different, so of course it took a long period of time for us to
assimilate. The first few years of our
marriage, there were a lot of conflicts and when we were unhappy, we wouldn’t
speak to each other – this is actually very unhealthy for the relationship
because if there’s ‘trash’ in your heart and you don’t clean it out, it will
fester over time and eventually cause irreparable damage. Later on, I felt that our paths were starting
to stray further and further apart, so we sat down and talked through it – we realized
that we couldn’t continue like this and had to figure out a way to resolve the
problems. Eventually, we learned to
communicate better with each other – now whenever we encounter differences in
opinion, we talk it over calmly and try not to say things that we’ll regret
later. And if we happen to say things
out of anger that we don’t actually mean, we always make sure to apologize to
each other afterwards.
YC: Having been married before, did
it help you cherish each other even more?
MH: When I was young, I thought that as long as
the person had the right qualifications, I just had to marry him, but then
after we married, we realized it wasn’t a good fit, so ‘divorce’ was the only
way to resolve the issue. In my second
marriage, I was too passive and basically let him make the decisions on
everything, to the point that I lost all sense of self and couldn’t even think
on my own – this actually put a lot of pressure on him and caused problems in
the marriage.
Now with my current
marriage, I approach it more rationally.
We met at a Christian Artistes Fellowship gathering and actually took
some time getting to know each other before we started dating – it’s different
from the youth nowadays who start dating almost right after they meet and then
start becoming intimate after knowing each other for only a few days. All marriages will encounter problems, but
the important thing is to be willing to communicate and not use divorce as an
excuse to resolve the issues -- if things go bad and you just ‘throw’ the
marriage away, how many times are you able to do that? I’ve seen some couples where when they get
married, their partner is worth 120%, but then when it gets to the point of
divorce, they suddenly become ‘enemies’.
I feel that if you make the decision to go down the path of marriage,
then you absolutely have to learn to safeguard and nurture it.
