Lawrence Ng: “I Had a Snotty Attitude and Angry Outbursts!”
After Lawrence Ng (吳啟華) lost hope for his acting career after starring in several soft porn films in the 1990s, he never imagined that he would be given a second chance. That was until he came across the defining role as Dr. Paul Ching in TVB’s Healing Hands <妙手仁心>. In fact, his portrayal of a doctor was so well-received that he won the “My Favorite Television Character” and “My Most Memorable Male Lead” at TVB’s Anniversary Awards in 1998, 1999, and 2001.
In an in-depth interview with Lawrence, he revealed, “It was an extremely rare opportunity to receive a script like Healing Hands. In the past, I mostly played the role of a villain, until Catherine Tsang (曾勵珍) asked me to return to TVB to star in Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre <倚天屠龍記> and Healing Hands where both characters carried very positive images. At that point, it wasn’t about winning the awards but how comfortable I was playing those roles. From then on, I no longer accepted playing villain characters.
“I was struggling in my early days at TVB to the point where I had to borrow money from my family. Then, I started acting in movies and made a little money, so I decided I didn’t want to play the villain roles anymore. Because of that persistence, I ended up with no scripts at all!
“Shortly after, I returned to TVB without much hope. To my luck, I was asked to replace Gordon Lam (林家棟) in Outburst<900重案追兇> to play a kindhearted cop. Then producer Gary Tang (鄧特希) saw my acting in Outburst and recognized my potential to play more complex roles. He then recruited me to portray an undercover cop in Files of Justice V <壹號皇庭Ｖ>. With the positive feedback from that role and because of a great working relationship with Gary, it opened the door for Healing Hands. And because of Healing Hands, I was able to put my less-than-desirable acting past behind me.
“Dr. Ching’s character and positive outlook has affected me as a person too. When I first entered the industry, I had a bad and snotty attitude. A lot of the crew members didn’t like me. But it was hard to control my anger because I was working such long hours, so I would have these angry outbursts – especially towards the personal assistants. Now I feel so horrible when I reflect upon my behavior because we’re colleagues after all and it’s not like I’m the boss – I don’t have the right to yell at anyone! With my portrayal of Dr. Ching, I learned to think like him and respect how others feel.”
Source: Oriental Daily
This article is written by Natalie for JayneStars.com.
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FOJ V was the “start” for many actors. It launched Michael, Lawrence, and Bowie’s careers. Michael = DIF; Lawrence = HH; Bowie = UE.
Michael and Bowie already started in FOJ1. Lawrence, Ada, and flora were the new additions in part 5. It definitely launched flora’s career b/c she was very good as the character “cat”.
Oops, I meant to say FOJ series as a whole launched many of the top siu sangs and fadans careers back then.
What’s with Lawrence, another confession of his past deeds?
Haha, he’s coming back next year. He’s just getting the exposure now.
Ah, I was already wondering why this specific actor is making the news for several days in continue. Let the past be the past and better win us over with great new performances! Why asking for our forgiveness? To make a smoother entrance when the next series is announced? Asking for pity?
when i saw lawerence as the main the character for Heavenly sabre, i couldn’t watch it anymore. i decided to stop watching. I didn’t think he was good looking and he always the villain. However, my brother insisted of watching and i unwillingly tagged along and was growing on his acting. I learn to accept him and he did a good job! I became to enjoy his acting and looked foward to all his new series with TVB. Healing hand defintely my favorite drama of him. Very memorable!
Dr. Ching chi mei is still my favorite tvb male character of all time. Usually it’s the actor who infuses his personality to the character. It’s interesting that Lawrence was actually influenced by the character Paul in real life.
Anyway, I don’t remember Lawrence’s cop character in FOJ5 being undercover. I thought he was just a regular cop that died in the line of duty. His unfinished ending w/ Ada was a perfect setup to continue their popular pairing in HH.
Yeah, Lawrence was not an undercover cop.
He was a normal cop died for very funny reason.
Compared to his brother Ng Kai Ming, Lawrence had better luck in the industry.
good thing his bro didn’t do well else there will be two snobs, anyway he and bro not that good looking or popular
if v hv to pick, that bro of his might b a bit better than this one. this LG was like monkey skinny back in the days awwww…..very unappealing not thats hes good looking now but at least a bit more meat on him….
any pics of his bro??
I liked him in the characters Paul Cheng in Healing Hands and Ma Yao in A Taste Of Love
Lawrence is a good actor and forget about the past as it was unfortunate for him to be to manipulated in the early days. In the entertainment world, its truly ever changing. Lawrence we support you – have the inner strength to deal with the future. Hope you will have more opportunities with tvb – keep up the good work….. Cheers..
I hope Michael Tao will come back to Tvb as well!!!
He did but his negative rumors made him lose his appeal. Same w/ deric wan.
For crying outloud, enough already.
This former soft porn guy have wasted the space of three articles and said the same old thing.
Nah, not exactly the same but on the same level. Incredibly poor level.
can check out his bro’s photo on yahoo
I think the interview was done at the same time and is just published as parts. I don’t see why people are having animosity to Lawrence’s multipart interview. Just don’t read it then.