Bobby Au Yeung and Joey Meng Are No Longer at TVB
Not long ago, the best on-screen partners Bobby Au Yeung (歐陽震華) and Joey Meng (萬綺雯) reunited for TVB’s police crime drama Buddies Do Big Things <伙記辦大事>, which also stars Joe Ma (馬德鐘). Buddies Do Big Things is Joey and Bobby’s comeback drama since their last respective projects at TVB several years ago. Although viewers are excited to see the duo’s return to the small screens, it turns out they won’t stay for long. According to reports, Joey decided to not renew her contract with TVB this year, and Bobby already ended his contract earlier.
After Joey joined TVB in 2012, she tirelessly accepted dramas back to back. Within three years, she filmed Inbound Troubles <老表,你好嘢>, A Change of Heart <好心作怪>, Gilded Chopsticks <食為奴>, Come On, Cousin <老表，你好hea!>, and Officer Geomancer <牛頭愛搭馬嘴> without a break. The actress rested for half a year before taking on Dead Wrong <致命復活> in 2016, but she has not filmed any more dramas since then because of her deteriorating health. She revealed that the long filming hours took a toll on her health, so she has to consider her body condition before accepting offers.
As for Bobby, he began his career at the station by playing background extras after graduating from TVB’s Artiste Training Academy in 1982. Nobody knew who he was until 1992 when he gained public recognition with his legal drama File of Justice <壹號皇庭>. From then onwards, all of his dramas achieved fairly high ratings, which naturally earned him the nickname “Guarantor of Good Ratings.” He along with Frankie Lam (林文龍), Michael Tao (陶大宇), and Bowie Lam (林保怡) were regarded as “Housewife Killers” in the 90s.
In 2000, Bobby finally won Best Actor at TVB’s Anniversary Awards for his performance as Sung Chee in Witness to a Prosecution <洗冤錄>. By becoming the first TV King to have graduated from TVB’s training class, he paved the way for other artists.
Source: Topick
This article is written by Minna for JayneStars.com.
It’s widely known that these two no longer have contracts with TVB, so I am not sure what this news article is even about as it’s nothing new.
With that said, Bobby Au Yeung is the last of his kind. Not attractive in the traditional sense, but rose to the top of the HK TV industry through hard work, talent and charm.
These days any talentless hack with a pretty face can make it in the HK industry. I don’t think actors like Au Yeung, Michael Tao and even Bowie Lam would make it in TVB if their career started today, not because they didn’t have the talent nor drive rather they aren’t attractive enough to be considered.
@anon
it was a surprise back then that bobby ever made it. bowie is just a great actor. michael is not ugly, he could probably lead a couple of dramas like ben wong. bobby, i still don’t see what’s in him, never really thought highly of him anyway.
@m0m0
Bobby displayed great versatility in his acting repertoire earlier in his career in the ’90s when he was given a variety of roles to display his range of acting until the 2000’s they turned him into a comedic actor which limited his roles. Coincidentally, he was also gaining a bit of weight around that time. What a shame.
As for Michael Tao vs. Ben Wong, I think Michael is a far superior actor in his ability to act and can demand a greater on-screen presence than Ben can. If it wasn’t for Michael’s off-screen issues, he would’ve been far more popular than what he is today. Acting-wise, Michael is among the TVB greats. Ben, I think he would be a second-lead at best if he wasn’t at TVB. He’s playing lead now because of TVB’s shortage of qualified actors, to be honest.
@anon Bobby is also in many mystery genres such as Witness to a Prosecution 1&2, Forensic Heroes 1&2, A Pillow Case of Mystery 1&2
@anon
I think Bobby’s weight gain was what made him popular. It’s not like he was super charming in the looks department to begin with. I didn’t know Michael Tao had personal life issues but he’s a great actor
Love Bobby’s acting! Too bad he doesn’t act much now. TVB suck at retaining talents ):
wow so Bobby was an extra for 10 years as “nobody knew who he was”
@luye That’s actually not true…whoever wrote this article must be a millennial or perhaps someone not around during the 1980s.
Bobby wasn’t an “unknown extra” — the first 2 or 3 years, yes, but he actually had quite a few meaty and memorable roles throughout the mid 80s and early 90s, it’s just that he didn’t become a household name until Files of Justice. There’s a huge difference between what the article conveyed and what the facts are.
This is one of the reasons I can’t stand entertainment articles written nowadays…majority of the time the people who write them are ignorant about the past and don’t bother with due diligence, resulting in them usually getting their facts wrong…
@llwy12
Bobby lacked the looks and talent compared to his future superstar classmates. Although he started with some decent support roles in the mid 80s, it wasn’t until ‘Breaking Point’ where he got noticed by a director to star in ‘Files of Justice’. Bobby somehow found his niche in comedy which didn’t look like his type of thing at all early in his career. Nearly all his series have been classics or near classics ever since with plenty of sequels. Joey has been lead since early career and one of the few to actually make it out popular in the poor ATV station which is a huge feat in itself…
@luye
All I remember was that he was playing transitory roles for a while while before becoming famous. Like actors you see but can’t name. I was quite supprised to see him in the old condor hero dramas playing a character in the background. I think that show also had a few big name star with a single line role.
I will miss Bobby. Hope he is still going to make a couple of series here and there. He’s so comforting to watch.
I always get a kick out of spotting him in old series. Lots of bit roles. A much thinner version of him, lol.
With exception to Michael Tao, the other two didn’t make it first lead until they were middle aged.
And I’m still not a fan of any of them.
@coralie
Unless you consider 32 to be middle-aged, Bowie was already a first lead actor in 1997’s Untraceable Evidence playing alongside with Flora Chan. Youth was never on Bowie’s side, even when he was in his 30’s he looked middle-aged.
@anon never heard of that drama. I don’t remember bowie being popular until that series with Steven Ma (Ultra Protection.) but even if he wasn’t middle aged, he sure looked like he was (which is to your point.)
To be fair, Moses was promoted quickly; Raymond Lam, too. Vincent Wong took a while, but he’s number one, now. All of them became leads through hard-work and perseverance. Most of them toiled awhile before getting to lead, but eventually got there.
@coralie Raymond’s first role was Qin Shi Huang emperor in A Step Into the Past. He portrayed the character very well & he was only 20 y/o at that time. Nowadays, TVB doesnt promote young actors.
@luye
Raymond’s first role non extra role was ‘A Taste of Love’, I think..
@coralie
Yeh Bowie was already in meaty support roles(Greed of Man) and low budget leads before he starred in ‘Untraceable Evidence’ with Flora. That was probably the start of a run of successful mystery case genre series for TVB which still runs to today…
@coralie
Bowie raise to the top sooner than the other two. I think file of Justice really bought everyone into the limelight
In my opinion, Joey and Bobby is much better than any of those way too overrated china mainland actors and actresses whose dramas i dont even bother to watch at all, not even for 1 minute, LMAO.
I hope both of them will keep a door open to film drama in the future as I can never get bored of these two.
I love seeing Bobby act although I werent that impressed when TVB paired him with actresses that were way too young and pretty to be believable.
Will definitely missed them. I think they forgot to mention With or Without You.
Will definitely missed Bobby. Good actor & flexibility acting skill. Really sad to see all good actor & actress leaving TVB.
TVB really need to catch up with good scripts, they are way behind and losing viewers
Aw I will miss Bobby. He’s definitely a good actor. Very talented and humorous