Image courtesy of yule.sohu.com

Let me repeat: Leanne Li attended Ada Choi’s wedding. Ten years from now this could be a momentous occasion because it could mark the passing of the banner of Hong Kong’s Most Popular and Holy Celebrity from the present titleholder Ada Choi to up-and-comer Leanne Li.

Maybe.

Or it could just mean that Leanne Li attended Ada Choi’s wedding…and that’s it. We shall see…

[Stay tuned as I will soon post pictures from the wedding, and my own commentary.]

To Become A Christian!

Leanne Li speaking/performing at Yeah Show 2007. Photo courtesy of 基督新报.

Love Is…, the latest film from The Media Evangelism Ltd., has just finished production and will be released in August. This is the third film in ME’s Life Movies trilogy, which is inspired by real-life calls to a Christian telephone counseling service in Hong Kong. The first film in the series was The Room starring Yoyo Mung and Sharon Chan and it was about depression. The second film was Fearless starring Roger Kwok and Kenix Kwok and it was about childhood trauma and homosexuality.

And now we have Love Is…, the Chinese title of which can roughly be translated as Real Love?

One of the most interesting things about this movie is…the cast, which you can see above. Examine that picture closely.

First of all, note the crazy gender imbalance: eight females to four males. That’s pretty much the male-to-female ratio among Hong Kong Christian Entertainers. Why that is, I’m not sure. Women are holier? More religious? Perhaps their somewhat more vulnerable socio-economic status, particularly in Asia, drives them towards religious structure and stability? Maybe it’s the influence of overseas study for some of them? Or maybe they really like the bottomless security of unconditional love?

No idea.

Second, there’s a disproportionately large number of former beauty pageant contestants represented here (three) and one former Mr. Hong Kong contestant. This probably has to do with the fact that, as with most ME productions, much of the cast consists of television actors, primarily from TVB, a Hong Kong television studio/network that tends to recruit contract artists from their Miss Hong Kong, Miss Chinese International, and Mr. Hong Kong pageant franchises.

Here’s some info about each of the cast members, starting with the back row, going left-to-right…

Leanne Li: Miss Chinese International 2005, Miss Chinese Vancouver 2004, and now a contract artist with TVB, where she currently hosts Mandarin-language programming and acts in Cantonese-language serials. Born in Shanghai, Leanne emigrated to Canada when she was ten, which is also about when she started attending church and/or became a Christian. She majored in art at the University of British Columbia, where she was also a member and student coordinator of the school’s chapter of Campus Crusade for Christ. After being crowned Miss Chinese International 2005, she moved to Hong Kong to join TVB. Earlier this year, she performed in Rev. Enoch Lam’s evangelistic stand-up comedy show, Yeah Show 2007, and now she’s appearing in Love Is…, just two years after entering the industry.

Two years!

For a Christian HK entertainer, that’s a lighting quick turnaround time from debut to partaking in an ME production. However, it’s not really surprising given her past ministry experience (I believe she also taught Sunday School when she lived in Canada…). If her acting improves and she becomes a lot more famous (a lot more), she could be the successor to superstar Christian HK television actress Ada Choi, whose ministry activity over the past few years has been admirably relentless while her acting has remained consistently excellent. Can Leanne Li do it? We’ll see…

Zac Koo: I know him primarily as one of the rotating hosts on TVB’s showbiz show E-Buzz (or maybe it was Scoop–they’re basically the same show). For a time, Koo also co-hosted the Teen Power radio show with Sheren Tang (Christian) and performed in a musical during the 2007 Hong Kong Arts Festival. He had a bit part in Jackie Chan’s New Police Story, and has appeared in various TVB serials. As for Christian-ish activity, he rambled on about his testimony at Rev. Lam’s Yeah Show 2005 and appeared as a young deaf medical resident who has issues with paternal authority figures in the ME production New Born. Apparently, he’s also a singer and songwriter/lyricist.

Basically, Koo’s multi-talented, but not particularly famous.

Incidentally, according to his rambling testimony at Yeah Show 2005, Koo’s mother passed away when he was six, and he has four siblings: three sisters and an older brother. I think he also mentioned that once upon a time, he was a playah…

Siu Kam-chi/Otilia King/Mrs. Roy Chiao: A radio broadcaster by profession, Siu Kam-chi was married to Roy Chiao from 1958 until his death in 1999. Aside from being a versatile actor, Roy Chiao was pretty much the foundation upon which Christianity in the HK entertainment industry was built (aside from Jesus). Siu Kam-chi appeared with Chiao in his last film in 1999, a Christian one called Sometimes Miracles Do Happen. She also had a cameo in 2004′s The Miracle Box, an ME biopic about SARS-fighting doctor Joanna Tse. She had a hand in founding Home of Artistes, the fellowship for Hong Kong Christian performers, and probably accompanied Chiao on numerous ministry/missionary trips throughout the Pacific Rim.

Basically, Widow Chiao is the matriarch-sage of Hong Kong Entertainment Christendom. I have no idea how old she is, but I’m guessing well north of ninety. Maybe 100. So if she’s appearing in a film, you know the producers mean business. When they have her cocked, locked, and ready to rock, the Gospel is about to get preached. Count on it.

Kong Wah/Kwong Wa: Ex-TVB actor of some prominence. News emerged in December 2006 that he and his wife had converted to Christianity within the last year. This was interesting because you don’t often encounter fortysomethings converting to Christianity. Love Is… is his first ME production, though I think he’s been involved in some other ministry-related activities. Random trivia: he’s a fan of the Alien film series.

Ben Wong: A somewhat past-his-peak TVB actor possibly slipping into character actor status. He plays the head of the counseling agency around which the Life Movies trilogy revolves. Dude also has one serious tan. Look at that thing! I think he and Kong Wah are competing against each other in a tan-off to the death…and Wong is winning.

Clearly.

Byron Pang: Pang was a contestant in the Mr. Hong Kong 2005 pageant and took home a bunch of side awards, but not the main title. In the Life Movies Trilogy, he plays a young and enthusiastic, but inexperienced, crisis hotline counselor. In real life, the tabloids have insinuated that he and TVB leading man Bowie Lam are gay lovers. Hmm.

Moving on to the front row…

Tracy Ip: Miss Hong Kong 2005 and now a contract artist with TVB, where she hosts and acts. Frankly, there has never been a better picture of Tracy Ip than the one above. In every other photo of her, she looks nowhere near as attractive. There’s something to be said for breaking out the “Mona Lisa,” a slight smile that doesn’t reveal any teeth and keeps the eyes wide open. No teeth and no eye crinkling–good move, Tracy. Other than that, I’ve got nothing. Nada. Don’t know if she’s a Christian, why she’s appearing in this ME production (the paycheck?), what she’s been in before, etc.

But her dad’s a fireman and her mom has some serious kidney issues…

Selena Li: A contestant at the 2003 Miss Hong Kong Pageant, Selena Li won the Miss Talent and Miss Photogenic Awards, but surprisingly did not crack the final five.

Although the jury is still out on Tracy Ip, from the internet chatter, it looks like the Cantonese diaspora is slowly but surely turning in Ms. Li’s favor. Apparently, she’s shown consistent improvement with the acting opportunities TVB has provided her over the last few years, and the folks online really seem to dig her now. The general consensus also seems to be that she’s quite attractive, though I don’t quite see it from the photo above (should have gone with the Mona Lisa).

But I’ll take the internet’s word for it…cause the internet is never ever wrong.

Ms. Li’s parents are divorced, she has two younger siblings, and she spent at least part of her childhood/teenage years in Toronto. She studied Commerce (business) at Lorne Michaels’ alma mater, the University of Toronto. A few years back, her father’s business imploded, which was a difficult time for her. According to news reports, she is an unbaptized Christian of undetermined fervor.

(Remind me some day to write about my HK Christian Entertainer Devoutness Scale, which ranges from offering human sacrifices to Satan on one end of the spectrum to being able to walk across Victoria Harbour without the aid of the Star Ferry on the other.)

But look! She’s wearing a crucifix in the picture! That seals it, doesn’t it? There’s no surer confirmation of a devout HK Christian Entertainer than crucifix-wearing…

So perhaps Selena Li, not Leanne Li, will be the next Ada Choi. (Either that or the next Queen of Tejano…) Mark it down right now: some actress surnamed Li is going to succeed Ada Choi as the most prominent Christian entertainer in HK Christendom. Or maybe it’ll take both of them to fill La Choi’s huge shoes (see Catherine Hung story below). In any case, keep a watch on this pair of Li’s.

Ooh, just picked up a snippet about Love is… from some Selena Li fansite: apparently it contains three stories about “love in different stages” and Ms. Li plays a woman whose boyfriend cheats on her…with Bowie Lam!!!

Sorry, random Bowie Lam Slam. Just trying to spice things up and pull this entry together with a common thread, i.e., Bowie Lam’s [alleged] homosexuality.

Frankly, I believe it. In fact, I believe everything written on the internet.

Anyway, Ms. Li apparently does play a woman whose boyfriend (Zac Koo) cheats on her with Tracy Ip. And from on-set pictures, it looks like there are feathers involved…something that hasn’t happened in a Hong Kong Christian film since Roy Chiao’s Sometimes Miracles Do Happen.

Ready or not, the heavenly feather’s are coming back, baby!

Cindy Au: Until last year, when she married TVB leading man Roger Kwok in a ceremony attended by Mickey and Minnie Mouse at Hong Kong’s Disneyland, I had never heard of Ms. Au. Originally, she started out as a singer, but when her music company tanked, she transitioned into hosting and acting for TVB. I’m guessing her involvement with Love is… relates to Kwok’s starring role in Fearless, the immediately preceding production by The Media Evangelism Ltd. (BTW, Kwok gave a great performance there, but Fearless, like most ME productions, was flawed–deeply so, in some ways. Someday, I’ll post a more in-depth review.)

Take a look at that picture of Ms. Au. I’m not a fan of the pageboy cap. Frankly, it looks like she’s about to report that General Lemarque is dead. (To the barricades!!)

Catherine Hung: Another not-so-prominent television actress, but a veteran one whose career has spanned over twenty years. This is her first ME production. How she became a Christian is rather interesting…

Hung was born in Fujian Province and describes her childhood as difficult. She has two brothers and a younger sister, but her family was poor. Her parents divorced when she was still very young. When she was five, she moved to Hong Kong with her mother and siblings. However, due to her mother’s poor economic situation, Hung went to live with her strict paternal grandmother and help her take care of her infant cousin. Hung had little contact with her parents, was forbidden to interact with other children, and was scolded frequently by her grandmother for being a despondent wuss. After her cousin reached school age, Hung went to go live with her paternal aunt, but longed to be reunited with her mother.

She entered the entertainment industry in an accidental, almost Lana Turner-esque fashion. While at a discotheque (I think) someone asked her if she wanted to be a star and then invited her to audition at a management company. With her aunt chaperoning, Hung auditioned, and the company offered her a contract. Her mother was against her entering the entertainment industry, but her father let her decide, and so she was signed to a contract. She was 17.

From there, she filmed a number of movies and television serials in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the Mainland. In the early 1990s, she filmed several serials with Ada Choi, and the two became friendly and opened up to each other about their struggles. In 1995, Choi experienced some severe personal and professional difficulties, but underwent a revolutionary spiritual transformation the following year. Choi began to talk openly about Christianity, expressing gratitude to God for what He had done for her life. Hung was skeptical, believing that humans could only rely on themselves and their own efforts to succeed. When Choi tried to speak to Hung about Jesus, Hung turned a deaf ear to her and soon became fiercely hostile. Seeing Hung’s reaction, Choi eased back on the God talk with her.

In 1999, Hung became pregnant. Because she enjoyed children and had experience taking care of her infant cousin, Hung wanted to have the baby. However, the child’s father did not agree and also indicated that he did not intend to marry her. Knowing that it would be difficult, Hung still wanted to have the baby, but no one supported her decision. In fact, they actively advised against it. A friend of hers told her she was insane if she chose to become an unmarried mother because life would be difficult and society would be cruel to her. Initially, Hung was afraid to reveal her pregnancy to her mother and brothers, so she discussed it with her younger sister. She, too, urged Hung to think very carefully about having the baby. Hung did, but still wanted to have it. Her younger sister then took her to see their family doctor, who had taken care of her since she was a child, and even he encouraged her to have an abortion.

Hung was at a loss: how could it be that absolutely no one affirmed her choice to have the baby? Hung had hoped to receive at least a little support, but all she heard was opposition. Although she questioned whether she was wrong, Hung nevertheless became determined to seek out some support.

Then she remembered Ada Choi. “Surely Ada will support me since she is a Christian,” Hung thought.

Hung wasn’t familiar with the Bible, but she didn’t think having an abortion was appropriate. She called up Ada Choi and shared her situation with her. That evening, Choi came over to her house and affirmed Hung’s decision to have the baby, telling her that life was a gift from from God and humans should not be destroying life. Hung opened up to Choi about her other fears: the societal stigma of being an unmarried mother; the potential negative impact on her public image and career as an actor; and the expense of raising a child by herself.

But Ada Choi comforted Hung, encouraged her, and attempted to allay her fears. Gradually, Hung’s heart settled down, though she still lacked Choi’s confidence. Hung noted that Choi was always talking about God as she was encouraging her, but Hung did not know God, and didn’t have Choi’s faith. Choi pointed out that over the past several years, she had changed a lot because of Jesus, and God had been faithful in taking care of her as she faced huge decisions in her life over and over again. Hung acknowledged that Choi had indeed changed tremendously, but Hung’s confidence was still insufficient. Choi said that God asks that we be like Him, to be holy like He is holy: what the world thinks is right is not necessarily right in God’s eyes. We are God’s children, and He loves us, wants to protect us, and make us like pure running water.

At that moment, Hung faced another life decision, one in which she knew she had no other choice: to believe in God.

Formerly, Hung only relied on herself, but lacked a sense of security. After believing in Jesus, she still encountered difficulties, but her heart was steadfast because of God, and she knew that her decision to have the baby was correct. And God showed His faithfulness to her throughout her pregnancy. Fellow believers supported her and referred her to a Christian obstetrician who guarded her privacy. Early medical complications with the fetus resolved themselves. Her mother, a traditional Fujianese woman, whose friends couldn’t accept an unmarried mother, supported and encouraged her. The press did not find out about her pregnancy, so they could not make a scandal of it. And when friends worried that Hung would suffer from depression during her pregnancy, she assured them: she now knew Jesus, so no matter how difficult the road ahead would be, He would strengthen her. As long as she followed Him, she wouldn’t go astray–and the path that she was on now was better than the one she was on before.

“Jesus Christ was the turning point in my life,” Hung says. After her son was born, he brought a lot of happiness into her life. (Ada Choi is his godmother, by the way, which is rather appropriate) And Hung’s life has changed a lot, going from the insecurity of self-reliance to prayer about all things and a reliance on God; from being melancholy, introverted, and overly self-protective, to being more open and warm with others; from frivolity and materialism to responsibility and simplicity. Thus, through the grace and mercy of God and the encouragement of fellow Christians, the life of Catherine Hung, this unmarried mother, was transformed.

And now, eight years later, she is appearing in an ME production about true love.

Yay.

Candy Law: I have absolutely no idea who this woman is. However, I just found out that there may be six separate stories contained in Love Is…, not three. Six! That’s a twofold increase! Whoa.

Apparently, each story fleshes out a different aspect of love, at different stages of life, in order to depict it thoroughly.

First, there’s the love triangle story with Zac Koo, Selena Li, and Tracy Ip.

Second, there’s the story about the middle-aged husband and wife couple who’s been married for twenty years, when the husband’s old flame re-appears–that story stars Kong Wah, Candy Law (whoever she is), and Catherine Hung.

Third, there’s the story about the counseling center manager coping with the death of his wife, starring Ben Wong as the manager who seeks the advice of his old guidance counselor (Siu Kam-chi), whose own husband has been dead for many years. Leanne Li has a part in this story, but I’m not sure what her role is.

The fourth story has Cindy Au waiting for her true love…until a feather appears.

The fifth story finds young crisis center counselor Byron Pang falling for a girl named Monica, played by Lulu Ng (an ATV actress and Miss Hong Kong 2004 finalist), but his love is unrequited.

I’m not sure what the sixth story is about, but I think it involves Miss Lee, the character played by…

Fiona Leung: another former TVB actress, who semi-retired from the entertainment industry, before becoming a Christian. She now makes the occasional appearance in Christian films. Here, she reprises her role as another counselor at the crisis center. Last year, Leung had her own crisis as she was filming for ME in Australia, when the van she was in rolled over. She was severely injured, and has been recuperating and rehabbing since. I believe this is her first role since the accident.

So there you are, the cast of Love Is…

In any case, we’re back for the moment, so let’s get caught up on those missing six months with a cursory look at some of the more notable events that took place in Hong Kong Entertainment Christendom since my last post.

First, in September 2006, Ada Choi & Company came to evangelize North America…and I was there! I went to see their show in Pasadena and even dragged my parents along. Ada Choi talked about her gambling-addicted mother. TVB actress Esther Wen talked about beating cancer. Singer Angela Pang talked about getting knocked on the head, losing consciousness, and then ending up in the hospital for six months. TVB character actor Wong Cho-Lam talked about being a short, unattractive teenager who couldn’t get chicks (until he started doing impressions…and found Jesus…and started doing impressions of Jesus). And veteran actress Tomi Wong pretended to be even older than she already is by performing as a geriatric grandmother in some skit with Wong. Interestingly, one or more members of my immediate family could directly relate to the experiences of four out of the five entertainers who spoke. Afterwards, we went to Monterey Park and ate dinner at a Chiu Chou restaurant.

In October, news emerged that TVB actress Maggie Cheung Ho-Yee had converted to Christianity while taking an extended break from acting to recuperate from Graves disease. If you can read Chinese or are adept at snatching coherency from the snapping jaws of obtuse translation software, then check out her blog here.

As most observers of Hong Kong pop culture know, this is the “other” Maggie Cheung, not the more internationally renowned film actress who was severely miscast as a recovering wannabe punk singer/addict opposite a raggedy-looking Nick Nolte in Oliver Assayas’s Clean. Perhaps Nolte and Cheung should have switched roles. Ironically, both Maggies spent their formative years in England, both participated in the Miss Hong Kong Pageant, and both were/are actresses for TVB.

December was a huge month for news and happenings. First, after numerous rumors and tabloid allegations, Sammul Chan pulled a Mike Piazza and announced that he is NOT gay. Well, then.

Second, former TVB actress Fiona Leung was injured in a car accident while in Australia to film a program for The Media Evangelism, Ltd. Reports indicated that Ms. Leung suffered broken ribs, as well as a broken face. Thankfully, the most recent reports indicate that she is more or less on the road to recovery.

Third, a December news article revealed that former TVB actor Kong Wah and his wife had become Christians within the last year…although their kids did not, which is interesting.

Fourth, actress May Kwong got married. Christian artistes in attendance included Angela Pang (she of the bopped head and six-month hospital stint), Gary Chan, Noel Leung, and Leanne Li.

Finally, after several aborted attempts over the last year or so, Ada Choi managed to make it all the way to Israel to film a travel program about the Holy Land for TVB. More on this in another post.

The new year has also brought news of babies, babies, babies. The following Christian actresses are either pregnant or have already pushed out a kid: Noel Leung; Cecilia Cheung; Eugenia Lau; and Pauline Yeung. (Wait, is Cecilia Cheung still Christian? Or was that just a phase? Uh, will have to get back to you on that one.) Also, Boston-bred Catholic Flora Chan got married for the second time, to her manager.

Alright, now we’re pretty much caught up with what’s gone on in Hong Kong Entertainment Christendom during the last six months or so.

Next time: “Ada Choi in the Holy Land…” Or, “Who Took My Pita?” Or, “That Sea May Be Dead, But I’m Alive in Christ!” Or, “Kiss Me, I’m Israeli!”