Love and career is balanced well for 2001 Miss Hong Kong winner, Shirley Yeung. She has been Gregory Lee for a number of years without their relationship changing and career-wise, she receives series after a series.
Recently, Shirley has been constantly promoting her new series “Pages Of Treasures”. It looks as if she has taken part in many activities, such as hosting, singing, stage dramas, etc; showing how true she is to her job. However, approaching 31 years of age, Shirley is a TVB fa dan so calling her “Sze Ki Jie” is appropriate – but she still smiles and says: “It’s Sze Ki Mui!” Not sure whether its because people have been calling her that for a long time, but Shirley believes that the distance between her and Louise Lee has been closer than before.
“Some of my friends play around and call me ‘Sze Ki Jie’, but when you ask me, my status isn’t that high to be called that. What’s funny about it is that I feel as if I’m closer to Sze Kei Jie, like pulling completely different people together. Unfortunately, we have never actually worked together before. The only time was in “Moonlight Resonance” where we played the same person. I hope there will be a series where she can play my mum, so the time I get to work with her will be longer. I think the feeling will be very cute.”
Shirley also reveals that she hopes to film a series set in the 60s or 70s period; like “Old Time Buddy” because this time period’s appearance gives her a feeling of the past, but sadly, she has not had the chance yet.
“If there is a chance, I would hope to work with Gallen Lo, because I often watch his series like “At The Threshold Of An Era” and “Cold Blood Warm Heart”. I want to learn even more acting skills from him, because its funny when he makes jokes.”
“I also want to work with Michelle Yim, she is awesome! She definitely has the skills to portray a villain really well. I remember the first time working with her was in “The Brink Of Law”, and it was also my first time as a villain!” (Aren’t you afraid that playing a villain will give the audience a negative feeling towards you?) “I have played a good, enthusiastic girl numerous times so I would like to try different roles. When I first took on a villain role, I have thought about the audience having a negative feeling towards me, but the result was very fresh and I received many comments – a surprised finish.”
Film series, movies, being a host and singing children songs, etc, Shirley has tried almost everything. When asked which her favourite part of her job is, after some thinking, she says: “Although I love filming series, but I actually want to try new things. Hope there is a chance to film movies again, where I have more screen time. Or maybe stage drama or opera, because this way I an approach an even broader audience. This really tests their reaction and is good experience to gain even more acting skills.”
In “Angels Of Mission”, there were rumours that Shirley was mistreated by Charmaine Sheh and Sonija Kwok. Now, Shirley once again collaborates with Sonija in “Pages Of Treasures”, do you feel that there are hard feelings between you to? “No, we’re all filming the same series. There aren’t much scenes with her, but when we see each other, we do greet one another. Maybe it was just for promotion, don’t need to believe everything, haha!”
In her new series “Pages Of Treasures”, Shirley will be fighting with Vivien for one guy. Shirley reveals that her character is very liberal, she won’t fight with others for something but at times, she can be a bit stubborn. Seeing how much pain Eric Suen is in having stuck in the middle, she had no choice but to give up on the relationship. When asked if in real life, she was this open-minded? Shirley says: “I’m actually not like that, because I believe you can balance anything. I think I might not be so liberal.”
It has been said that because Shirley and Gregory were “dating at a high-profile”, she was frozen by TVB. She laughs: “It wasn’t high-profile; it’s just the reporters focused on me too much! They always followed me, but since we’re more stable, they don’t need to care about me as much now, haha! I have always placed work as number one, but they seem to think I only care about dating – that’s not true, I am very serious about my work.”
When asked when the outer world wasn’t in favour of their relationship, Shirley expresses: “We both concentrate on our work because its very important to us. A lot of people in the circle are dating, so as long as it doesn’t affect work, then it’s alright.”
After competing in Miss Hong Kong, marrying into a wealthy family is the most obvious path. However, Shirley and Gregory’s relationship is obviously about the heart and not the money! “You cannot measure love with money. I would rather find a boyfriend who really cares about me. I don’t envy those who marry to rich people.” (You have been dating with Gregory for a number of years, when is it time to have a baby?) “Huh? We haven’t thought about that yet. I believe that I should put more time in my work, most important thing is to try my best.”
A little bit embarrassed, Shirley continues: “I will have a baby, but its something we have planned yet. It’s hard to talk about the future, its just that as for now, work is most important.”
In history, 2001 Miss Hong Kong winner Shirley Yeung won the most awards and entered the entertainment circle was her next resort. With her sweet smile and cute appearance, she quickly became of one of the many fa dans. As for the period where she was “frozen”, she was not “fired”, but received even more jobs – this allowed her to earn even more money and is the direct result of 7 years of hard work.
Recently, Shirley has become the spokesperson of many beauty products. At the anniversary, she wore a beautiful low-cut night gown and stole much of the limelight. “The dress was specially designed for me, it’s a bit sexy, but I won’t dress like that usually.” Shirley also says that being the image of being a spokesperson of beauty products is very healthy, and is not afraid of going down the ‘sexy’ road.
If she had to film a series where she was undisguised, Shirley would definitely say no. “If I had to dress sexily all the time, I don’t think so, because I cannot accept myself that way. I don’t think I will accept the chance to film “Lust, Caution”, haha! However, if they asked me to film a ghost movie – where I am a female ghost, I will be quite interested; for example, Hung Gu (Cherry Chung) and Chow Yun Fat in “The Phantom Bride”. I quite like these kind of bitter stories. Although I’m afraid of ghosts, but I don’t mind trying, haha!”
Speaking of filming, Shirley says that she would like to try whatever role, to challenge herself. She reveals that in her series “The Price Of Greed”, she is a mute girl and needs to perform sign language – ten times more harder than speaking; and she had to also learn sign language at the same time she was filming. “I’m very happy that I am portray a disabled person, because the chance doesn’t come very often. Therefore, when I found that I got the chance to play this role, I was very happy! Not only that, I also learnt another way of communication – when I used sign language to communicate with them, they are happy too. Definitely a very special feeling of accomplishment.”
When the smart and well-spoken Sze Ki Mui faces a heavy work load, she carries Ah Q’s spirit with her. She says: “Something’s might have to be done in a hurry – they tell you today and you will have to do it tomorrow. That way, I try to tell myself not to stress, or else I will ‘break the elastic’. In particular holding Ah Q’s spirit; which is using your heart to perform every task and because my ability to think things over must be strong, there should be time for each person to think over what they did wrong and start from there. For the parts you did well, keep that up.
Shirley also expresses that whenever every series first starts filming, it must be in a time period – maybe a few days or a week. This allows each person to slowly enter their role, but you will also have to quickly leave it too: “You must think of a way or tell yourself to leave the character. As for me, once we finish filming, I am able leave it straight away. After we finish filming a scene where I need to cry, I simply tell myself that this is a sad thing.”
A new year is coming, what resolutions does Shirley have? “Just focus on my job, and try different things – like film an every broad range of drama or host different programs/shows. When I’m not so busy, I hope to take more time off to eat dinner with my family. Tranquil is luck!”
Translated By: Blue_Angel_12
