TVB Announces “Aerobic Girls” Cast at Press Conference
After months of secrecy and media speculation, TVB finally announced the cast for Eric Tsang’s (曾志偉) new drama, Aerobic Girls <舞室保衛戰>. Attending the press conference were 90s stars Carman Lee (李若彤), Angie Cheong (張慧儀), Rachel Lee (李麗珍), Elvina Kong (江欣燕), Fennie Yuen (袁潔瑩), Gloria Yip (葉蘊儀), and Flora Chan (陳慧珊), confirming their appearances as the seven female leads of Aerobic Girls.
Aerobic Girls is a loose adaptation of the 2011 South Korean film Sunny, a story about a middle-aged woman who reunites with her high school friends. Like the film, Aerobic Girls will alternate between two timelines – one during present day and another when the friends were still in high school.
Twenty-three-year-old model-actress Anjaylia Chan (陳嘉寶) will portray the younger version of Carman Lee. Newcomer Winki Lai (賴慰玲) will portray Angie Cheong’s high school counterpart; Sugar Club’s (糖兄妹) Kandy Wong (糖妹) will portray Gloria Yip, Venus Wong (王敏奕) will portray Rachel Lee, AOA’s younger twin member Annice Wu (吳燕菁) will portray Elvina Kong, Super Girls’ Cheronna Ng (吳嘉熙) will portray Fennie Yuen, and Jeanie Chan (陳瀅) will portray Flora Chan.
Carman Lee Wants Children
Carman, best known for her wuxia roles in the 90s adaptations of Jin Yong’s (金庸) novels, retired from the industry after filming the television drama The Shocking Legend of Song Dynasty <大宋惊世傳奇>, which also starred Eric Tsang, in 2004. She made a television comeback for the mainland Chinese variety show, Let’s Shake It <舞林大會>, a Shanghai-based celebrity dancing competition, in 2008. Her brief return to the industry was said to be for her ex-boyfriend Martin Kwok (郭應泉), who was massively in debt after his company crashed in the financial crisis. Carman was reportedly hired for $45,000 HKD to star in Let’s Shake It.
Currently single, Carman expressed at the press conference that she has relocated her efforts to take care of her niece in the past four years. “She is my sister’s daughter. We are very close, and I treat her as my own. Some people mistook her as my daughter. I really wish it was so. I would be so, so happy if I had one!”
Although Carman loves children, she joked, “A single egg can’t breed on its own! I’ve been single for four years. I never married, and I don’t know if I have any pursuers. I am waiting for fate.”
Angie Cheong Will Consider Filming More Dramas
After breaking up with her fiancé in 2003, Angie left Hong Kong to pursue a career in Malaysia. Years later, she left Malaysia to start a food business in mainland China. The 42-year-old admitted that it was Eric Tsang who convinced her to return to acting. Planning for a longer stay in Hong Kong, Angie revealed that she also brought her 10-year-old adopted son, Hanson, to Hong Kong with her.
Angie excitedly said, “I am really looking forward to this drama!” Asked if Angie will film more dramas in the future, she said, “My focus is still my business, but I will consider it.”
Teresa Mo Still Involved
Producer Eric Tsang lamented that preparing for the shooting of Aerobic Girls is even more stressful than producing three films. He also revealed that Carman Lee and Rachel Lee will have more screen time compared to the rest of the main leads, explaining that their characters will start off the story with their conflict. “But there are many scenes with all seven of them being together, so essentially they will all have about equal amounts of screen time.”
Eric expressed that he is grateful to have found 14 enthusiastic ladies to star in his first TVB television drama. “The newcomers are really happy to finally take part in a formal production. The older seven haven’t acted in a long time, but they are all very excited.”
Teresa Mo (毛舜筠), who was on the shortlist for starring in Aerobic Girls earlier this year, decided to drop out of filming a month earlier due to obligations to her family. Eric revealed that although Teresa is unable to commit to the shooting schedule of Aerobic Girls, she will be involved in the production as an instructor. “She really likes the drama, so she recommended herself to be an [acting] instructor,” claimed Eric.
Lawrence Ng (吳啟華) will also star in the Aerobic Girls, leading the male cast. Lawrence Cheng (鄭丹瑞) has already signed on to star in a guest appearance, and Eric disclosed that he is urging old friend Alan Tam (譚詠麟) to star in a cameo role. “The girls in the story are huge fans of Alan Tam. His songs will be played throughout the drama.” Eric then added with a laugh, “I haven’t talked to Alan about this yet. I will leave this problem to [TVB head] Charles Chan (陳國強). Please pressure him, everyone!”
Source: Apple Daily via ihktv.com
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
there are 7 female leads in this drama
The scipt writter must be really good to focus on every one of them. It’s so hard to divide the screentime for 7 main characters
D script might not even be good as suggested above… a liitle late for some, seem as years had leaps.
Sometimes somethings alt to be left alone in broad daylight.
I agree- it would be extremely difficult to divide the screentime between 7…i hate it when series focuses on a particular character for a couple of epsiodes, then jumps and focuses onto the next main character neglecting the others as their way of ‘spliting up’ the screentime..it makes the drama so choppy and I find that I do lose interest or tend not to follow the rest of the series when that happens.
dun look forward to this movie becos all old lady
hahaha yeah me 2
lol pair them up with 7 old mans. LAME!
…well if age defines whether or not a production is interesting or not, then how about a series with a cast full of newcomers aged in their early teens/20s? The ‘old ladies’ would surely have better quality in acting…
…but their wrinkles would make ppl vomit
…seriously-grow up.
I am a fan of aoa (twin sisters) .They can sing ,dance and act brilliantly.
Check this out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ0wgNxfFHQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpBme0ZtSFc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa2ICfu-DL0&list=PLq3pYu39Svw1PI2qE_zEoNDCTzBxzFQ06
Ageist
honestly i can hardly recognise these names
I guess you are just too young. I remember all of them and how popular they were in the 90s. I am sooo happy to see them all making a comeback and really hope that they will continue to act again. I was wondering what happened to them all of these years. It gives hope to many veterans that we have not seen for many years. Many have emerged from retirement to act again… Hope the plot and script will be good…
it is really fun to see the veteran actresses are comming back. I always enjoy their acting.
me too i know most of them the 90s i love them
Haha…me too. I used to really like Fennie Yuen back in the day. Boy, I wonder what happened to her in the days since she’s left TVB? Heard she had some eating disorder…
It’s also great to see Flora Chan again, and Loretta Lee (sorry, not used to calling her Rachel Lee). It’s a pity that Teresa Mo cannot take part in this drama series as one of the leads, because she’s by far the best female comedienne of them all!
I’t nice to see them on screen
I agree
Fennie!! She’s finally acting again! I loved her performance in Dragon Love.
I like her too!! But she doesn’t aged well 🙁
She did age too badly.
Meant to say “She did not age too badly”.
Fennie’s face looks bloated….yes, she doesn’t look very fresh but it’s because of her poor health.
CARMEN IS SOOOOOOOO BEAUTIFUL AND SHE AGED well too 🙂 Prettiest in there. How come only 3 males and all females ?
I think Carmen looks old in that photo. I almost could not recognize her. Gloria Yip aged the best in my opinion because she has a baby face compared to the rest of them.
I think the other male leads have not been confirmed yet.
Elvina Kong looks the best to me, judging from the photo. Maybe because she’s never stopped working and has maintained her looks, whilst the others have let themselves go a bit.
angie cheong still looks very pretty. yeah carmen looked old here.
looking forward to it!
I was just watching Journey To The West 2 a few days ago and wonder if Angie will ever come back and she did! She’s a great actress but she was often typecast into femme fatale roles, I liked her in Armed Reaction 4 too, great to see she’s back!
I missed Fennie as well, I liked her in the 80’s films and Draogn Love.
Loletta is another 90’s classic beauty, I know she was probably most known for her soft porn films but I never saw any of that. I remember her the most from the comedies with Leslie Cheung and another one where she played a gangster.
A series with a lot of actresses missed by the audiences, this will be anticipated for sure but hopefully it won’t flop. Never really a fan of Eric’s previous productions.
I didn’t even spot Angie at first ( skimmed the article! oops! But excited to see her back on screen too!
I missed them all and am glad that they are back. It will bring back so many memories to see all of them act again. Now, hope that the script and plot are good.
The only work I’ve ever watched of Loletta Lee is Happy Ghost. She was a pretty and fresh faced teen then.
Loletta was also in that Mad Mad World trilogy which Eric was also in. Her most memorable role was in that one with Leslie, I thought it was a classic pairing.
I guess you are referring to the movie, Merry Christmas where Loletta was paired together with Leslie. That movie is my favourite.
Yup that’s the one and also another one I don’t remember the name of it but.Leslie was a playboy who courted her it was a comedy romance.
Loretta Lee starred in two movies with Leslie. One was Merry Christmas, the other one is For Your Heart Only – which also starred Anne Bridgewater as Leslie’s little sister. Both are entertaining movies. 🙂
haha i know i did not like her characters but she looks pretty still.
i meant characters in those tv series.
The only female lead I don’t know is Gloria Yip. I’m very glad to see all of them make their come-back after many years. Really looking forward to this series.
Gloria Yip was a singer and actress in the 90s. I don’t remember any series that she was in, but she was in a lot of movies.
So glad flora’s back!:)
I’m most impressed at how vibrant Angie still is.
Ohhhh god, yep. All the “si lai”‘s are back.
So happy to read that Angie Cheung joined the cast. Missed her a lot. I liked her a lot especially after MDWAV2 and was sad when she left the entertainment industry to focus on business. I will watch this series for her. 🙂
Time really is no kind. The ladies all age so much. Flora Chan actually look the best now among the cast.
I’ve noticed this for quite some time. If a woman look mature in her young days, she usually will look good when she’s older. But, for the girly cute girls with feminine features, they will look older when their age increase.
Flora was already mature looking when she started out. So, she looks like she doesn’t change much.
Gloria Yip and Fennie Yuen was the cute type, and now they look aged.
fennie and gloria are the ones who gained quite some weight, thats why they look auntie and older
I think angie cheung looks the best among the cast. I will also watch this for angie!!
yep agree even i didnt like her roles before lol.
@ Kidd
Yes, in general people who look old for their age when young seem to age quite well because their looks stay the same. Whereas people with more youthful looks will have a harder time maintaining that.
Honestly, several of these ladies are older than my time, but I’m mildly curious just because TVB bothered to seek an outside cast. Still, I don’t trust Eric’s sense of humour so I hope it won’t be a comedy and I also hope they spend some time on the script.
The only person I don’t really recall is Gloria Yip. Everyone else, glad they’re back. They’re kind of old, but hey if they can bring forth some nostalgic acting and a good series.. why not?
Btw, is Carmen that tall or is it them heels?
yep she is tall.
at least compared to the rest of the cast.
I’ve seen the ones on the right before, but have no idea who those on the left are. Flora chan is backkk! 😀
I am really glad to see Flora Chan in this series, bc of her hectic schedule i was afraid she couldn’t join the casts.
Good to see the cast is finally confirmed (at least it puts an end to the Media speculation). Personally though, I’m not too excited, since the only one in the cast I was looking forward to seeing was Flora….I like Angie too, but not too fond of the rest of the ladies (in terms of the acting that is). The male cast is OK — Lawrence (Ng) is a hit and miss for me so it really depends on his role and the story….I like both Koo Ming Wah and Joe though, but I have a feeling their roles will be minor, since this is a woman oriented series. The story doesn’t sound appealing either, which definitely doesn’t help….looks like I will probably be skipping this one…
After all the hype and rumours, this is what the cast? I’m quite disappointed honestly. Where’s the super star cast?
How great would it be if they had the main fadans of late 90s instead? (Kenix, Esther, Ada, Flora, Jessica, etc.)
This cast… don’t remember Fennie, Angie, Grace, and Elvina as “big” stars.
Only excited to see Flora and Angie in this. Not a fan of Lawrence or Koo Ming Wah, but glad Joe is coming back!
They’re ‘big’ in their own way.
Well at least, Angie was big in terms of supporting actress, like always. But she excelled in those roles. Fennie led a couple of tvb series and they weren’t all flops. Dragon Love and the other cop show with Nick Cheung and Roger Kwok was not too bad, can’t recall the name. Elvina isn’t ‘big big’ in terms of tv series, but she’s a pretty ‘big’ entertainer back in the old days.
My favorite TVB series with Fennie is Food of Love, costarring with Wong Hei and Kenix Kwok. Fennie and Wong Hei had oodles of chemistry in this series!
omg omg i would die cause of happiness Kenix kenix i miss seeing her the most.
This is great, love the cast! Love carmen! Cant wait!! Ohh and angie too!!
If carman is single for 4 years its gonna be hard to find a bf now, also she was pretty when she did legend of the condor heroes but Athena chu was adorable
i know 5 out of 7 of them except Rachel lee and Gloria Yip
There will also be 7 other younger females who will play younger versions of the 7 leading female cast. I hope this drama does produce a refreshing storyline and not follow the plot of the Korean movie ‘Sunny’ in which they also have 7 female leads, in which 7 younger females played their youthful days.
(Sorry my mistake, not sure if it was actually 7 leads, could be less)
bet there were too many cameras so they looked in different directions. kinda funny.
I like carmen.She looked so hot in ROCH.She was funny in Forbidden city cop.She kicked ass in Knock off.
Carman Lee (39 y/o), Loletta Lee (47 y/o), Gloria Yip (40 y/o), Fennie Yuen (43 y/o), Flora Chan (43 y/o), Angie Cheong (42 y/o) and Elvina Kong (45 y/o)
Wow cant believe the third one from the left is loletta/racel lee is 47 years old. She looks so young. carmen is mix so maybe thats why she loos a bit older for her age still pretty though.
Angie is actually 39 years old
yeah i just copied info from the link. all credits from the link.
you were right angie is 39 y/o
my mistake carmen is chinese not mix.
Haha though she actually looks kind of mixed to me too! She is very beautiful for her age imo. Ageing very gracefully!
all credits to this website:
http://asianfanatics.net/forum/topic/784744-the-return-of-seven-8090s-goddesses-for-tvb-new-series-aerobic-girls/
So i went to the website and looked at close-up pic. Then, looking at the pic and age, loletta and elvina and angie look pretty young for their age esp. loletta. the rest kinda look their age.
The 2 prettiest (and youthful) IMO : rachel/lolleta and angie.
Not very excited because filled with yesteryear’s not so big stars and kinda lethargic in a sense. But at least half of them can act decently and seriously many of these back in their days have questionable acting talents. Will they fare better now? I don’t know. But at least TVB this time names the k-drama that inspired this version.
And I thought Flora says she is going back to somewhere to do something but acting?
feel so sad for flora,she married the wrong guy. now she have to work in order to pay his husbands debt.
Flora said that she was going to get a Masters Degree and then go back to the USA where she’ll get a teaching job.
No offense but that’s like the dumbest thing to do right now given their poor financial situation. She should do as many dramas as she can whilst there are still people who want want to watch her, and dig as much as gold as possible attending functions, and events as a celebrity. What she can earn as a celebrity is at least 10 times the amount she will get from a measly teacher’s pay.
My reaction when she announced that she had decided to turn down her leading role in Triumph in the Skies II to do the Masters course, was “DAMN, this woman is dumb!”. And she ended up taking this series where she doesn’t even have the largest part out of the seven.
What is so dumb about it? Maybe being a teacher is her passion? There isnt anything dumb about it at all. I mean look at all those poor college students, pulling loans left and right just.to get a Masters. They dumb too?
Also her financial situation may not be as bad as people make it out to be. Her husband… yes but thats her husband, not her. Pretty sure she has savings, perhaps dwindling due to being the person having to pay for most things in the family but highly doubt she is flat out broke.
Who are we to say she married the wrong guy? Sure, having money can be one less stress in life, but Flora has her own assets and perhaps a loving family as well.
@skinn,in the end of ’90 begin ’00 she had many admirers incl moses chan,she can get every bachelor of tvb if she wants,but she choose for the money,and never thought that her husbands company go bankrupt later on.
I agree with Crystal and what is so dumb about getting a masters and a teaching job?? It is not just all about money. Also, when you marry anyone it also should not be just about money which is why women need to be more independent instead of just relying on the guy all the time. If you only marry for money, once the guy goes bankrupt, what will you do, leave him??? that is why women should also help bring home the bacon and not just put the burden on the guy. I am glad that Flora followed her heart and her passion which are things I find admirable.
I think Rachel and Angie still looks great and age well.
yep!!!
Loretta, Angie and Flora look the best to me.
I miss Marianne Chan and Melissa Ng from TVB.
who is the young male?
The 3rd n 4th one still looks HOT…
I don’t know any of them except for Flora Chan but the one in the yellow top looks great!
Welcome to the club of premenstrual women.
You mean welcome to the club of menopausal women.
Do you reckon they are going to be young women? Menopausal are old women, they are however they acts premenstrual women.
Why do you say they act like premenstrual women? They are women – all women go through different phases. So? Do you know how they will act just by looking at their photos? Silly assumption! You are not being clever or witty, here, just making a useless remark.
Can’t understand a simple joke? Moron are running around.
Yeah, you’re the moron. No one is laughing at your ‘joke’. It’s a misogynist statement to call these women pre-menstrual, not to mention nonsensical. If you had said that they were menopausal, at least it makes more sense. Anyway, your stupid joke – fail!
You are sick!!
Go home. Ask u mom teach you manners then come out.
I, too, am really looking forward to seeing Angie back on our screens again! It was just last week when I was rewatching that bodyguard series starring her and Bowie Lam. I was thinking how nice it would be to see the likes of her, Marianne Chan, Eddie Cheung, Kenneth Tsang and Bowie back on HK television. (But Eddie has a show coming up, right?)
The only one I don’t recognise is Gloria Yip. I’m looking up her Chinese wiki page and she’s been in quite a few stuff I’ve seen though…
FENNIE YUENNNNNN!!!!!!
YES!!!!!!! THANK GOD FOR FLORA CHAN!
I dont really miss any of these actresses apart from Carmen Lee (because Return of Condors kicks ass). Half of them has had nature take it’s course…Rachel (Loletta Lee) has kept the best imo. I mean, she is one of the oldest as well!
I really liked Elvina in Best selling secrets. Though I only recognize Flora and Angie and faintly remember Gloria and Rachel, I’d still like to watch this.
The title, aye, really isn’t my cup of tea. Is it made to be like that? Like for nostalgic purposes or something? I thought we called it Cardio now? No? Then again, Cardio Girls is just as bad.
geez, some of people here are so harsh, these ladies come back to play in a series as middle age women not young girls, so doesn’t matter that they all over the hill lol.
but i’m kinda disappoint that Carmen Lee is one of the leads, though she was and will probably be the number one xiu long niu for me, she wasn’t good at anything else beside Return of Condor. her acting was pretty bad back then.
Loretta really looks good for her age despite being the oldest. anyway, i think they all look good for their age, maybe cuz i’ve watch too many American series and get used to the “old” faces in Hollywood lol.
When tvb get their veterans to come back and act, they get bashed for being old. When they try to use some new actresses, they get bashed for being talentless and cant act. When they use their stable of fadans, they complain is always the same boring faces. Cant satisfy those negative nancies.
Agreed . They like to complaint every single thing .
Most complaint because the expectations were raised but Eric Tsang only managed to recruit B or C grade older stars. Angie Cheung for example was a kelefe in her hey days. So even if I lower my hurdle bar, I still think the casting is mediocre.
Totally agree and it is like you can never satisfy the audience.
I’m so excited to see Angie, Flora and Fennie again!! The last time I saw them was on Ultra Protection, Suspects In Love and Face to Face respectively. I hope they assign new type of characters for the leads to play since TVB is known for typecasting and they always like to cast Angie in villainous/seductive roles, Flora as an independent lady and Fennie as a goody-two-shoes in the past.
Carmen Lee also starred in Stephen Chow’s 007 movie right? She’s so good!!
And yes, such a class siu long lui.
Loletta Lee is so pretty for her age.
Life’s not fair, right? Men age very well but not women. All we get here is criticism for them.
Fennie
Fennie Yuen didn’t age well from her Dragon Love days, that I agree though.
Fennie Yuen had to battle health issues, that’s why she looks haggard now. She was anorexic at one point and was dangerously underweight. At least she’s healthier now, even though she’s aged. It’s good to see her acting again.
In my opinion,the older actresses looks greater and hotter than the younger actresses up there. Esp Angie and Rachel,they give the younger girls a run for their money.
Also who says women do not age well? Just look at Michelle Reis,Carina Lau,Irene Wan,Elizeabeth Lee. And who says guys will definitely age well?
it’s like a series about a bunch of aunties.. haha.
Grandmas
So, your grandma is in her late 30s or mid 40s, is it?
It’s a bit annoying to see these ladies referred to as old ladies and I’m still in my 20’s. They haven’t aged that badly for their age and honestly, I don’t mind if they cast older actresses as long as we get variety and a few newcomers as well.
I do wonder what it’s like to see all of these actresses acting together on screen and in a modern TVB production of all thing.
‘Aerobic Girls’ reminds me of a movie I saw many years ago. The movie talk about 4 grown up friend reminiscing their teenage years. I don’t remember all 4 actresses playing the adults, only 2 of them. They are Karen Mok and Rachel Lee. The teenage version of Karen Mok and Rachel Lee was played by Annie Man and Leila Tong respectively.
at least they don’t look devoured like that newsreader on Fujisankei News who looks like
this actress:
https://www.google.com/search?q=Ky%C3%B4ko+Koizumi&client=firefox-a&hs=42B&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=rcs&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=z4HIUay6MdG-4AOZxoCwAg&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=657#client=firefox-a&hs=lNr&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aofficial&channel=rcs&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=Ky%C3%B4ko+Koizumi+2013&oq=Ky%C3%B4ko+Koizumi+2013&gs_l=img.3…15533.17311.0.17864.5.5.0.0.0.0.63.280.5.5.0…0.0…1c.1.17.img.YWu8kExJAFg&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.48293060,d.dmg&fp=438c25d0b3a6013e&biw=1280&bih=657
she really looks like life has dealt her blows
speaking of which, I guess Lam Geet Yeng wasn’t considered for a comeback.
Looking forward to watch it…