Li Shing Cheong, TVB’s Go-to “Gambling Addict” Is A Family Man
The actor plays a reformed ex-gambler in ‘Life On the Life’.
In the medical-themed drama Life On the Line <跳躍生命線>, Li Shing Cheong (李成昌) and Matthew Ho (何廣沛) play a father-son pair, who managed to touch viewers with their deep friendship and close bond. A veteran actor, Li Shing Cheong stood out with his worthy performance as a middle-aged man who caused his family to fall apart due to his obnoxious gambling habits but later mended his ways out of love for his son.
While Li Shing Cheong has recently been seen taking on similar roles of a loving father in various dramas, he is better known for a memorable string of villainous antagonist and addictive gambler roles over much of his 39-year long acting career.
Wife is Very Understanding
In real life, the 69-year-old actor, better known as Cheong Gor, is a loving and responsible husband and father. A graduate from TVB Artiste Training Class of 1979, he signed on with the station and has been at the same job ever since. Married for over 25 years, Cheong Gor said his wife is understanding about his irregular working hours as an actor, never once complaining about him putting too much attention on his career. “She did not begrudge the fact that I had to be on set during holidays and major festivals. She understood even if I could not celebrate her birthday with her,” he said.
Describing his wife, who works in a bank, he calls her an introvert who loves watching dramas at home. Cheong Gor would use the feedback of his wife and her colleagues as a yardstick to determine how well viewers regard the dramas currently airing. While he shared that Mrs. Lee seldom watched the shows he acted in, he was delighted that she had recently started watching Life on the Line. “She told me that the series had too many tear-jerking scenarios, and asked if I was really crying in those scenes I appeared in. I told her, ‘Though I have never shed a tear in front of you, how could you not tell?’ She laughed upon hearing this.”
A Loving Father
Sharing common interests such as mountain climbing and travelling, the couple went on many vacation trips after marriage, and especially enjoyed exploring Japan. However, they hardly traveled ever since the birth of their daughter.
A loving father, Cheong Gor recently sent his soon-to-be 17-year-old teenage daughter to England for further studies, all because she loved the schooling environment over there. Cheong Gor shared that he would rather work harder now and earn more to fulfill his daughter’s dream of studying overseas, instead of regretting it in future. He and his wife are considering a trip to England to pay her a visit.
Recounting how she came to know about his profession, he said he forbade his daughter from watching television when she was young. “It was only once when she was in primary school that she spotted me [on television]. She turned her head and looked [at me], before it dawned on her that I’m actor.”
While she does not ask him much about his work, Cheong Gor, who won TVB’s Outstanding Actor award in 2012, is proud that his daughter has inherited his artistic side, and loves strumming the guitar. “She may have inherited my passion, and was influenced by me to pick up acting classes last year.” However, his daughter soon found that acting was not her passion and gave it up to focus on academics. “Of course it was boring for her because she chose theory lessons. But she strums the guitar in her free time. She even outshines me [at guitar] now!”
Revealing his fatherly pride, it seems Cheong Gor has taken to the role of the loving father as skillfully as he portrays baddies on the small screen.
Source: hket
This article is written by JoyceK for JayneStars.com.
I hope Li Shing Cheong brings his wig out of retirement. Loved his characters who provided the comic relief in Cold Blood Warm Heart and the Armed Reaction series…..
@jimmyszeto Coincidentally, my mom and I were just talking about this the other day, as we were watching old TVB classics with boatloads of veterans in them. It’s kind of funny – Ha Yu went from filming series with his “bald head” look in the 70s and 80s to using a wig in the post-2000s era….Elliot Ngok also did the same thing….Li Shing Cheong on the other hand, went the opposite route – he went from wearing a wig in his older series to going all out with the “bald look” in all of his recent series, lol. In any case, bald look or not, still love their performances!
@llwy12
Haha. I totally forgot that Ha Yu was bald. Also Elliot Ngok was baldish in Looking Back in Anger. Just shows how much a characters looks can ingrain into our minds once they keep it up for while. I prefer them all with wigs. Suits them and look more friendly. Li Shing Cheong looks more menacing when bald because of his villain characters from Square Pegs and Rosy Business.
@jimmyszeto Maybe I’m too used to Li Shing Cheong’s bald look nowadays, I actually don’t think he looks more menacing…he actually comes across friendlier to me, like a family friend or a beloved Uncle, lol. The thing I remember most about Li Shing Cheong though (aside from his wonderful acting of course) was the huge mole on his neck that was always visible in older series…but seems like that has disappeared over the years as well, haha…
I love that Li Shing Cheong is a family guy who adores his wife and child! It’s interesting that many of the veterans who usually play big bad villains in TVB series are actually sweet, loving husbands and/or fathers in real life – in addition to Li Shing Cheong, there are also Benz Hui, Lee Kwok Lun, Law Lok Lam, Timothy Cheng, John Chiang, etc. On the TV & movie side, Paul Chun and Liu Kai Chi are the first 2 who come to mind that would fall into this category as well (though in recent years, both don’t play villains onscreen as much as they used to)…
@llwy12
Yes. Even the middle aged extras/green leaf who have been typecasted as debt collectors or trouble makers all are very nice and down to earth individuals. Wong Man Piu, Deno Cheung,Yoe Biu and Cheung Ka Sang. Etr…
They are so good at their roles that we feel they are bad guys in real life when in face they can’t be more of the opposite. So under appreciated actors who have toiled half their lives at TVB without much to show for it….
@jimmyszeto Oooh, I just remembered, Li Shing Cheong is also in Looking Back in Anger, along with Ng Kai Ming (whom we were talking about just recently with that Greed of Man reunion photo) – both of them play Elliot Ngok’s sons. With the series’ re-broadcast in the midnight timeslot starting next week, makes me want to re-watch too (and probably cry my eyes out once again, especially fresh off the loss of both Elliot and Yammie)….
@llwy12
Oh yeh, Li Sing Cheong is the aggressive son who with Deric by his side mows down Canti Lau…
@llwy12
I skimmed through the first couple of episodes yesterday in a few minutes. Think there were some major flaws back in those days. Like the court case when Felix Lok was getting tested for the strength of his eyes, his wife sitting in court just mouthed the words to him further incriminating Yammie. I also don’t get how ‘Wan Yee’ suddenly becomes totally broke and penniless when her wealthy husband dies. Surely there would be at least some if not plenty passed on to her?
i love watching this guy and 11-gor. they are both great green leaf actors. tvb should make a drama to cast green leaf and veteran actors and have them lead the show like the way hktv did. it was a good one.
@m0m0 yesss, would totally watch a green leaf lead drama!
He is 69?!?! He looks at least a decade younger!! Fantastic actor.
@funnlim I’m more stunned that he has 17 yr old.
Hope TVB will cherish their veterans!
Yay, another one of my favorite veteran actors getting their turn in the spotlight! Love it when these green leaf artists get the chance to be interviewed! Seriously, they’re the ones carrying TVB right now (and have been for at least the last decade as far as I’m concerned), yet they get the least amount of recognition for their efforts. I can truly say that if these veterans were no longer at TVB, I probably wouldn’t watch them anymore period.
@llwy12
Benz Hui, Ai Wai, Li Shing Cheong, Law Lok Lam, Power Chan, Ming Sir, Chun Pui.Not many of the above left now in TVB. TVB did try and had a few awards to veterans but I found their purposes disrespectful. It was so random where some veterans got awards and most of them didn’t.Here’s the list 2012-Outstanding Artist Awards were given to Chin Ka Lok (錢嘉樂), Benz Hui (許紹雄), Sunny Chan (陳錦鴻), Lee Sing Cheung (李成昌), and Carol Cheng (鄭裕玲). The Sunny Chan one was totally out of place. Not long service compared to many and was former ATV. TVB wanted him to stay by giving him the pointless award but he left immediately anyway. This year ive watched around 20-30 episodes. Next year I think it will be less than 10. I will retire completely from watching new TVB series very soon.
@jimmyszeto Yea…out of those you listed, only Li Shing Cheong and Law Lok Lam are still working full time for TVB. Ming Sir only films occasionally nowadays, Paul Chun films movies and Mainland China and/or Taiwan drama series and web series nowadays more than HK series, Wilson Tsui (aka Ai Wai) does primarily web dramas now, Power Chan films for ViuTV (when he’s not teaching acting at I don’t remember which university), and Benz Hui ended his contract back in February and moved (or is in the process of moving) to Singapore. And that’s just to name a handful…there are tons more that either don’t film for TVB anymore or only do so occasionally….
I can’t think of the last time I watched a TVB series in its entirety, to be honest. The variety programs nowadays too aren’t worth watching anymore – even as recently as last year, I enjoyed watching Cantopop at 50, but even that show has gone down the toilet, with the change in hosts and the same guests on over and over (the times when they use the entire episode as a promo tool for particular artists are especially abhorrent)….
Yup, pretty soon I will have to go dust off my collection of old TVB series (and variety programs) and re-watch those if I want my TVB fix….
“Yup, pretty soon I will have to go dust off my collection of old TVB series (and variety programs) and re-watch those if I want my TVB fix….”
@llwy12 Actually Korea copied some Hong Kong dramas. So their dramas are very similar to TVB.
Hit The Top (Korean drama) -> Raymond Wong’s time traveling drama – Korea drama copied a lot from HK drama
Cruel City (Korean drama) -> Line Walker
Signal/Manhole (Korean dramas) -> To get Unstuck in Time
(All of them copied Frequency the movie)
@llwy12
I think it’s only a matter of time before TVB closes up shop in Hong Kong. I give it 10 years max. If they do survive, their entire focus will be catering to mainland China.
‘TVB profit drops 51% amid ‘lacklustre advertising market’
https://www.marketing-interactive.com/tvb-profit-drops-51-amid-lacklustre-advertising-market/
@anon That’s an old report – the newest one from August 2018 said that TVB’s profit actually rose due to “the popularity of their series in Mainland China” (take that for what it’s worth, lol).
10 years is generous, lol. I give them 7 years – this is based on their free-to-air TV license being renewed back in 2013 for another 12 years, which means they are up for renewal again in 2025 (7 years away). Who knows, if this whole Mainland China collaboration thing works out well (which all indication so far, from TVB’s perspective at least, points to it being a “wise choice” – again, take it for what it’s worth), then in 7 years, instead of renewing their license in HK, they can just move headquarters to Mainland and officially adopt the “CCTVB” nickname that they’ve had for years, lol.