Anne Heung Talks about the Miss Hong Kong Baggage
Participating in the Miss Hong Kong pageant is a childhood dream come true or one way of becoming an actress for many girls, including 45-year-old Anne Heung (向海嵐), who won the pageant in 1998. Not only did she take home the crown that night, but also three other major awards – Miss Photogenic, Global Beauty, and Miss Vivid Metropolitan. But who would’ve thought Anne’s big win caused her to lose herself?
“Miss Hong Kong winners are too protected. They have to have this specific image of being dignified, gentle, and noble. You’ll feel as if you lost a bit of yourself,” Anne expressed. “As soon as you’re in public, you’ll have to sit up straight and ladylike. I’m not saying that’s not me but everyone has different sides. The title of Miss Hong Kong restricted me for the first few years.”
Anne Praises Crystal Fung (馮盈盈)
However, Anne believes the burden of up keeping the Miss Hong Kong image no longer exists for newer winners. She said since Miss Hong Kong champions are allowed to venture into hosting and acting shortly after winning, they get to showcase their personal characteristics earlier on and ditch the Miss Hong Kong baggage.
In fact, she is very impressed with 2016 Miss Hong Kong Crystal’s bold remarks. “At least people will know who she is, which is a good thing for an artist because viewers forget people easily. Even if people don’t remember which dramas she appeared in, they would still remember what kind of person she is,” Anne said. “I had to be a good girl back then and keep up the Miss Hong Kong image, so people did not have a lasting impression of me. They only remembered a few of my dramas.”
Anne Rarely Watches TVB Dramas
As one of the most promoted fa dans of her time, some people still remember Anne’s noteworthy performances in Legend of Lady Yang <楊貴妃>, Love is Beautiful <無頭東宮>, and The Charm Beneath <胭脂水粉>. However, in recent years, viewers have been criticizing Miss Hong Kong winners’ poor acting skills and TVB dramas.
For Anne, she said she hasn’t been watching Hong Kong dramas because she slowly developed the habit of not watching them when she was away from Hong Kong for nine years. “I can’t say what can be improved since I don’t really watch them anymore,” she expressed.
TVB Reached Out to Her
In 2008, Anne traded her acting career for a nine to five job in Shanghai. She returned to the entertainment industry in 2015 and acted in mainland TV series, hosted talk shows, and participated in stage plays. Her former company, TVB, also reached out to her in hopes that she’d return to the nest to film a drama. Unfortunately, Anne couldn’t do it due to schedule conflicts. “We can only see if there will be other opportunities,” she said.
Source: HK01
This article is written by MelodyC for JayneStars.com
Grateful for Being Remembered, Anne Heung Considers Filming Again
It’s been a pattern at TVB, when you are crap, leave for a while and then come back straight in as a lead….
You apparently have no clue what you’re talking about. Anne was great in dramas. In terms of beauty and acting, she’s way better than any of the current “so called” fadans of TVB. Hence, I would not categorize her as “crap”.
Current TVB is “crap”.
@sol365
Acting is subjective and I never felt Anne was a good actress but compared to the current actresses, she can be considered good since the current TVB standard is terrible.
@sol365
she didn’t impress me when she was in tvb. I was almost always like oh, another drama with her again, then I’d consider skipping. The only saving grace that made me watch were her costars. I recently watched love is beautiful. The male lead was decent and ouyang mui ying was perfect. Anne’s acting in comparison was totally not on par. It was like she didn’t know how to act. Yeah, I concur with others that her acting is pretty crappy even in today’s tvb standards. I’d say she’s right up there with Linda Chung if not worst.
@sol365
It’s good to reminisce the good times but even back then, Anne was criticised every series and considered terrible. Back then I was watching almost every series and she definitely lacked talent. There was only angry expression and one scream and that was all she had. She was even close to threatening the big 5 female leads and when she disappeared some viewers were delighted and the rest didn’t notice…
@sol365
By today’s standards at TVB, Anne would be considered a good actress. Compared to her peers and the TVB standards in the early 2000s, her acting was crap – plain and simple.
I’ve said this before and I’ll say this again. Anne was lucky with the projects that she was able to participate in with the quality of casts that surrounded her at the time. Anne was never able to shine through with her acting. In fact, her acting was annoying. It was her beauty and the opportunities that she was involved in (the series mentioned above) that elevated her status.
Here is my personal opinion:
According to TVB’s old standard, Anne was not great, but as per current standard, Anne was good.
@orchid123
My thoughts exactly! Anne was not a good actress but compared to the current actresses, she can be considered good.
@hetieshou
Agreed. We shared the same feelings.
Isn’t her pageant winnings rigged due to her family’s background??
@jane626
That was a rumor back then but not sure if it were true or not.
@jane626 no, she clarified in an interview that this was not true. She doesn’t even know the Heung family.