Kate Tsui Feels the Pressure of Fame
Though the Hong Kong TV Queen race happens every year, it never came to be that big of a deal for Kate Tsui (徐子珊). Now that she knows that she will get a top spot in the race, the Best Actress award has opened up to a whole new world for Kate – a whole new world of pressure.
Kate’s role as the Drug Queen, Pat Chan in Highs and Lows <雷霆掃毒> has garnered many support from Hong Kong viewers, and it is this performance that will nominate her in a spot to race for 2012 TV Queen along with popular candidates, Tavia Yeung (楊怡) and Michelle Yim (米雪).
Having starred in over 24 dramas with eight years in the making, Kate Tsui never knew that she would come up as a top contender with a dark Drug Queen role. Just two months ago, Kate was still running in and out of the studios trying to finish her schedule of the day without much thought.
“All of sudden, I’m living in a whole new world,” said Kate. “This all came too sudden! In the past, I always tried to maintain an ordinary spirit when it comes to the Anniversary awards, but Highs and Lows has created so much noise for me, and now many people think I have a chance to win. Although I am very lucky and honored to have such a great role like Pat for me to play, I do not dare to consider the role to be my representative work.”
When producer Lam Chi Wah (林志華) decided to cast Kate for the role of Pat, Kate already knew that Highs and Lows would be one of her most challenging roles. The amount of pressure that was built around creating the role of Pat almost caused Kate to mentally break down.
“Producer Lam Chi Wah made it sound like [my role] was the most important thing in the world! He literally said things like ‘You have to do really well! Drug Queen, it’s all on you!’ And he would remind me of that every day. I had built up a lot of stress!
“This year, the TV Queen will be determined by popular vote. The other nominees have a lot more fans, so I don’t know if I will win… but the fact that I am part of the race is already a kind of pressure all in itself. I really don’t know how to respond to it…”
Since it is so stressful for Kate to even be nominated for Best Actress, would she still want to win the award?
“Of course! Everyone wants to win this award. Not only can this award gain you acceptance, it can also bring you other things. The reason why we all work hard is to earn money. I don’t think there are many people out there who work for their own enjoyment…. Well, I do like acting, but I still need to support myself. There is no point to continue acting if I can’t even earn money from it. I have to take care of my family.”
Kate continued, “Yes, I do want to win, but I need to help myself to be well-prepared psychologically as well. Whether I win or lose, it is still a happy and honoring thing to be even considered. Not winning does not necessarily mean that I did badly. It just means that others did better.”
Even if Kate ends up losing the race, at least the audience has accepted her drug queen role. “Yes,” said Kate, her eyes now brimming with tears. “To get accepted… that is the best thing. I hope it is this… I really don’t know how to handle this….”
And with one look at her manager, Kate broke into tears.
“Even to this day, I know… I really know… there is still two months left, and I should not be worried about it now. Every time I go back home, I try to relax myself, but I could never do it. I know that I am just putting more stress on myself by thinking about it all the time, but how do I relieve it? How do I take it easy? I really can’t take it anymore…”
From Happy-Go-Lucky to Best Actress
Since the broadcast of Highs and Lows, more people are beginning to connect the name “Kate” to the epithet, “Best Actress.” Normally, many striving artists like Kate would be overjoyed to hear such a connection, but for Kate, it is just another stressful thing to live with.
“I haven’t had the appetite to eat that much recently. Every day, when I open the newspaper, they would only talk about that…. In the past when people watched my older dramas, they would tell me that I am too happy all the time, but now, whenever they see my name, they would automatically connect me to the Anniversary awards. I did not expect that all. I cannot really sleep at night anymore either. When I fall asleep, I wake up in minutes, and then it would be hard for me to fall asleep again.”
Kate has recently been doing a lot of volunteer work to keep things off of her mind. She also told her manager to find more jobs for her so her mind would stop lingering on the future and focus on the present.
As Kate’s family does not live with her in Hong Kong, it is hard to confide her feelings to anyone without bringing more stress to others. “I would love to talk about it with my friends, but they have jobs too. It is not right to have them listening to my problems and complaints all day and night if they have work the next day. They already have enough problems themselves. I don’t want to make matters worse.”
Kate to Her Friends: “Do Not Buy 16:9 TV”
Stress and pressure aside, Kate is actually a very carefree, loopy, and laid-back individual. Kate may seem gentle and lady-like on camera, but she describes herself to be nothing more than just a tomboy.
“I am very boyish, very frank, and very, very unlady-like. I am forgetful, clumsy, rough, and pretty simple-minded.”
Kate also debunked another myth of herself – she is actually a very, very skinny person.
Onscreen Kate looks perfectly healthy, and some even say that her face is too big for the camera. But real-life Kate is actually quite skinny in person – her cheek bones are high and prominent, her legs are thin like sticks, and she walks as if the wind could carry her away at any moment.
Kate smiled, “Yes, I know I look terrible. Everyone has been telling me this. They tell me that I look much smaller and childish in person. I really don’t know why I look so big on camera. I already warned my friends to not buy 16:9 aspect ratio television sets. It’s sad.”
Source: 3 Weekly # 681 via kuangaitvb.com
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
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It has been a media blitz for Kate since the broadcast of “Highs and Lows,” likely even beating Raymond Lam in number of interviews with all the TV Queen speculation!
I like this interview very much, although she admits that she feels pressure and uncertainties (towards the future and herself), she retains her sense of humor.
Oh do it means ypu want to translate LF’s new mags? There are a lot recently and it would be great if you translate :).
Fox,
We’ve been featuring Raymond Lam a lot on our site, at least 3 to 4 times every week. Have you noticed?
wouldnt mind more 😀
Yes but there are more that hasn’t been translated, like some recent interviews in magazines :D. Most of articles you translated recently were not from magazines so maybe some will be fresh. So it would be great to have some :D. Of course if you dun want to translate then ok :D.
honestly, is there MORE we need to know about raymond lam? he’s been featured so many times already. let other rising stars get the chance instead.
I think Kate Tsui wants to make more noise in her nomination.
So true but she has already lost the battle.
Yah, so over the publicity storm by her!
Can’t blame her evernody want to win, is like we can’t blame TY to have faith in winning this by answer like she did.
Oohh, brave Linnh bringing in TY into an unrelated post. Be prepared for the after math!!! 😉
Uhm that wasen’t negative. Lol what I really ment was people keep saying negative about TY comment, I found it as alright. I just tried to say that each artists has their own way on how they look at the awards.
Haha, sorry Linnh,nit was a light hearted comment. Really meant no harm. Sorry. 🙂
Don’t be worried, this comment of Linhh won’t be complained because ppl can understand what she wants to say and she dun rant or wanna pull someone down to make other look better.
Lol it’s alright. But my though on this is still Ithink Kate is honest, she just want to tell how stressfull it really is with those pressure.
Because Kate dun talk about it with an arrogant tone of voice and she knows where Txb put her in.
No, it’s not Kate who makes the noise, it’s the media and the audience like us (both like and hate her) actually creating the noise.
Don’t have fame, craves for it. Has it, wants some peace.
HDTV is cruel to many stars, TVB has yet to go truly HD but I am sure Kate can pass that dreaded test
That’s so true. Applies to all artistes and some of us.
Her acting wasn’t natural in the series. Any experienced actress could pull it off as well, if not, better. So I’m not sure why such an overhyped hoo haas over this role of hers. Media can really influence viewers mentality to believe her acting’s extremely good, sigh.
I agree, all hype, no real goods. She has improved, but still exaggerated and unrealistic portrayal of a druggie. Before someone pounce, yes I have seen a number of films with real druggies as part of my uni psychology research. Peace.
There is a different side of the story: The media in fact echoes the comments on internet more, so there are a lot of viewers who commented that her acting is good then the reporters go with the trend to say her acting is good.
I actually think it’s both sides, some audiences first think she’s good then the meida jumps in and creates noise, consequently, some truly believe she’s good (but I think that’s minority). And the majority of Kate’s haters always think she’s bad actress no matter what she does, good and badmouthing are everywhere.
The media doesn’t report accurately. There is a mixture of comments on the forums but the media goes and reports one side so naive ppl who read that will only believe just that. You know there are other articles that say the opposite right? Unfortunately English readers who dont know Chinese who don’t go into other forums and just hang around Jaynestars and based their knowledge of what Jayne posts here is uninformed. Because Jaynestars do not represent the whole media and she only posts stuff she feels like. She does not post every news article out there.
Fez,
“Because Jaynestars do not represent the whole media and she only posts stuff she feels like. She does not post every news article out there.”
We consult a sampling of popular HK and mainland Chinese sites for our news articles. Due to the high volume of reported news, it will always be impossible to post every news article. We try to cover popular artists, hot shows, and hot upcoming films.
Whether in news reports or reading readers’ comments, it will always be a sampling of perspectives and impossible to cover all perspectives.
However, you obtain a sense of what the hot topics and a sampling of fan reactions out there, which is our intention.
Enlighten me by some articles?
Btw I rmb that you once gave out fake info so don’t forget to put the link :D.
I actually liked this article, I think that Kate is just been honest. If it was me I would have been stressing out too.
I’m with you, Linnh. I think her interview was very honest and a bit humbling too.
I’ve always thought Kate has this arrogant look to her when she’s not smiling. But she’s not arrogant at all, I like her humbleness. Thank you for the article!
Kate looks so much prettier and younger without her fake lashes. I wish she’d stop wearing them.
This year, I’m torn between her and Tavia for TV queen. I wouldn’t mind either of them winning as I like them both but Tavia has been in the biz longer and I would prefer to see her win because of this. Also, I personally find her acting superior to Kate’s normally, even though her characters are dull.
I kinda like her hair colour in the above pic, was thinking to dye similar colour and do highlight.. yah.. its really a heat battle between TY and Kate tis year..
^5! i also think she shouldn’t wear fake lashes. they make her look so tired. plus, she or her makeup artists don’t put on her lashes for her properly! in many close-us of HAL, you can see the inner part of her eye does not have ANY lashes at all, a shoddy job IMO.she doesn’t need fake lashes to look pretty i feel.
I totally agree with you about the eyelashes. On many occasions I noticed that her fake eyelashes don’t cover the entire eye, there is a lot of space left between the fake eyelashes and the inner part of her eye. The make-up artist should have seen that and fixed it. Otherwise, she looks fine.
“”Even if Kate ends up losing the race, at least the audience has accepted her drug queen role. “Yes,” said Kate, her eyes now brimming with tears. “To get accepted… that is the best thing. I hope it is this… I really don’t know how to handle this….” “”
Gives me the impression that she REALLY CARES about this award and if she doesn’t win, its like she’ll break down, cry and fall into depression. The results haven’t even come out yet, and she’s already under pressure. Why can’t she just ‘deal with it’ and see the race calmly – whether you win or not win – let it be. Because at the end of the day, it all comes to politics. TVB Best Actress award shouldn’t and ain’t taken seriously in the first place anyway. Face reality, she doesn’t really BELIEVE that TVB awards are recognised professionally right? LOL!!!!! WE ALL KNOW ITS RIGGED so there’s no such thing as DESERVING coz its TVB! So Kate – don’t take it so seriously… its not the Oscars. LOL so funny she even thinks this way…. “omg omg i can’t sleep coz this award means soooo much to me” … and all it is – is just some crappy award that the station wants to present to their staff based on favourtism….
I think she’ll break down if she wins the award, her company is solely just TVB of course the BA award means a lot to her same goes for the other actresses. She’s stressed out because of all the hype she’s getting not really about winning or not the award she just doesn’t know how to handle it since she was never in this spotlight of fame or for the award until recently.
Kate:
Don’t take it too seriously. After all the award winner will be decided by TVB, and not under your control.
I am not Tavia nor Kate’s fans. But i think Kate’s perform is more outstanding this year
(her character is harder to perform than Tavia this year )so my vote will go to Kate this year.
Have you seen the drug addict scene in Highs and Lows? It was awful too dramatic. Harder to perform? She failed to perform her character in Highs and Lows. So final vote i would go with Michelle.
I think she did that scene pretty good. Off course she won’t be as good as those that do it in real life, but to a girl that don’t use it(I hope) then she is pretty good. Drug scenes isn’t easy to portray. But it really is subjective meaning about this From each of us.
I think she did that scene pretty good. Off course she won’t be as good as those that do it in real life, but to a girl that don’t use it(I hope) then she is pretty good. Drug scenes isn’t easy to portray, if you don’t don’t know how it actually feels. But it really is subjective meaning about this From each of us.
She’s honest about the award = money. I start to like her mor. Go Kate
I still think she needs to work on her crying scenes. There were no tears in a lot of the scenes or even when there was, it didn’t look natural.
Kate should take it easy. No matter how much of a hot favourite she is, the control is out of her hands now. She can do nothing about it. So, why lost sleep over it?
Whether she get that award or not, she still have gotten public acknowledgement. That’s good achievement already.
No doubt, Kate doesn’t have as many fans as the other fadans, her fan base is somewhat behind . So for her to actually be leading in the HKChannel weibo vote http://vote.weibo.com/vid=2062186, I’d say she gained a lot of support and recognition from the audience.
I truly hope that she’ll win…
I second that. She comes across as a great girl and I really like her off screen personality. Go Kate!
spoke too fast nicole… check again.
yea yea, of course! because some fans repeat their 10 minutes 1000 vote “trick”.
http://www.discuss.com.hk/viewthread.php?tid=21014674
whatever… so if kate wins, its legit. and if tavia wins, its rigged… sore loser.
nicole, you’re terrible. you said: “for kate to lead in weibo polls, I’d say she gained a lot of support and recognition from the audience.”
in case you haven’t watched SSSS, tavia must be gaining a lot of recognition now that the series have progressed. but you can’t accept that coz you’re hater hahahahahah… oh wellz. in your face. rocked you hard and you know it.
LOL, people showed proof of TY fans cheating from the screenshots of 10 minutes 1000 votes. I didn’t say Kate’s votes are legit, but can you show proof that Kate fans cheat? Now we only have proof of TY fans cheating.
I haven’t been watching SSSS, but I’ve saw the comments on baidu, hk discuss, etc. Not much praise for TY. You can still insist she’s so awesome, but you obviously haven’t been reading comments beyond those made by your fellow tavia cult fans.
actually. that discussion thread you show does not show any proof that TY fan’s cheat. it just basically shows there’s a quick jump in votes. how can you rule out that these are not genuine votes? you can’t. and for your information, each weibo user can only vote once. so for a person to login, logout, sign up, validate account then vote again… wow that’s gonna take more than 10min.
i’m sorry but if this is true and TY fans really cheated, then kate fans can do the same because if the system is rigged, anyone can rig it. That also applies to LF fans as well. So if LF wins, you gonna say they cheat because their numbers are bigger than anyone else?
whatever dude, tbh, goes to show kate doesn’t have such a big fan base nor does she have fans that even go to the trouble to ‘cheat’ as you say it. it takes a lot of effort to ‘cheat’ so tavia must to worth the trouble right? in other words, maybe noone’s bothered to go ‘cheat’ for kate LOL… either way, all you have are just excuses.
so before you jump the gun, and make such a conclusion, the race hasn’t finished so you can make up 1000 excuses if you want. because you are in denial and you can’t accept the truth that someone that you hate is leading lol.. awwwwwww…
＂worth the trouble” –
LOL, because they are desperate.
It’s sad really.
most people were saying, it’s just an online poll, why bother to cheat. Unless they have no lives and their lives revolve around Tavia uh. LOL
GOD, I JUST LOVE KATE NOW. I REMBER I USED TO HATE HER BECAUSE SHE WAS JUST TERRIBLE.
SHE’S SO PRETTY NOW. AND SHE’S COME VERY FAR. I’D SUPPORT HER.
These poor artists. All fighting and wanting the BA. If she cannot get this year, there is always a next year. Maybe too high expectation in her acting so some tend to feel disappointed in her role as drug queen.
lol who know what if we actually die this year? hahah…
I’m definitely rooting for Kate to win the BA award this year and I truly hope she wins. I can’t imagine the state she will be in if she loses and continues with the sleeplessness and stress. She really might go into a period of self-doubt and depression just like what Myolie went through after losing out on the award that year for her role in To Grow With Love. Correct me if I’m wrong about her being depressed afterwards and it definitely took her a while to get out of that mentality until Bosco gave her support and encouragement???
I pity Kate for not having her family around to confide in and to provide support during this difficult time. It’s tough having to deal with it herself. Hope she can take it easy over the next little while. Go Kate!
I am not Kate’s fans, but still think that her character is harder to perform then Tavia’s character this year…so i will vote for Kate. Myolie got it last year already. Linda is very yound, she will have her turn.
Kate acted very well, she deserve to win.
I hope she gets some recognition at the award show. Best Actress seems a little out of reach to be honest but she improved a lot! I love her character in Highs and Lows. Go Kate!