[JayneStars Exclusive] Mandy Wong: “Having a Few True Friends in Life is Enough”

Jaynestars interviews Mandy Wong (黄智雯), who was in Singapore to promote the launch of TVB channels on Singtel TV. The actress spills her insecurities and how she deals with stresses on the job.

Immersive Two-week Course in France

Recently completing a two-week clown acting class in France with good friend Candice Chiu (赵希洛), we asked Mandy to share the experience. Mandy said, “Whenever I visit another country, I am able to release myself and my emotions more, perhaps because the other students are all from other countries. The trip helped me realize I had lots of space for improvement. Right now, I’m still trying to digest the takeaways and what the teacher has taught us. I hope that one day, I will realize in a serendipitous way that what I have gleaned from [this trip] can be applied in my acting,” said the 35-year-old actress.

On Honing Her Craft

We asked her whether she had a preference for flashy characters like Salvia or less outward characters like Dr. Chong in The Exorcist’s Meter <降魔的>. Mandy seemed to prefer the former. “Since I am a dancer, I found it fun to think about what kind of bodily movements I can incorporate while portraying Salvia’s character to enhance the onscreen visuals. Though The Exorcist’s Meter 2.0 has less of this, as I went back to playing Dr. Chong.”

Enjoying being a student, Mandy shared how a positive psychology course she had previously attended was helpful in playing Chu Ma Lei, her social worker role in the currently airing drama My Life as Loan Shark <街坊財爺>, and an optimistic character. “The course taught me how I can deal with problems and setbacks. I wasn’t too stressed from playing this role as it had quite a few similarities with myself.” She also enjoys playing an onscreen couple with Lai Lok Yi (黎諾懿), as the two worked on how to inject romantic sparks for their characters.

On How She Keeps Her Friendships Strong

As Mandy is part of “The Nonsense Club” with Myolie Wu (胡杏兒) and Nancy Wu (胡定欣), we asked the actress how she kept up her close friendships despite busy schedules. Mandy thinks that just five to six friends who truly understand herself is sufficient. Acknowledging the modern trend that it is difficult for anyone and not just celebrities to keep up strong friendships with ongoing career and relationship commitments, Mandy said her friends keep up with each others’ lives by chatting in their WhatsApp group. Even though they meet only once in a while, they would be supportive and in tune of each other’s feelings and supportive.

“There is a strong bond between us. Any relationship, and especially friendships need to be nurtured, since we do not meet often. Just be genuine, put in effort and don’t be calculating,” Mandy said.

She also voluntarily shared with JayneStars that while she had disagreements with Candice on the trip in France, she was able to understand her better and their friendship also grew stronger as a result.

On Overcoming Stress

Recalling how she worried that she was not performing up to standard while filming 2018’s Threesome <三個女人一個因>, Mandy had a nervous breakdown and cried at home. Using meditation with candles to help her overcome this barrier, she managed to adjust her own emotions and complete the filming.

While chatting with JayneStars, Mandy shared earnestly about her insecurities. Her willingness to think through her answers rather than just trying to complete the interview as another task revealed her reflective personality.

This article is written by JoyceK for JayneStars.com. Joyce attended the Singtel press conference in Singapore on September 27 and interviewed Kenneth Ma, Mandy Wong, Lai Lok Yi and Rebecca Zhu. Stay tuned for JayneStars’ exclusive interviews with the TVB stars!

Singapore-based viewers can catch “My Life as Loan Shark” <街坊財爺> currently airing on Singtel’s TVB Jade Channel 511.