Benjamin Yuen and Mandy Wong Win Favorite Acting Awards for Malaysia/ Singapore Regions
The 2018 TVB Anniversary Gala was held today, marking the first time the Favorite Acting awards in the Malaysia/ Singapore regions were distributed in one singular event. Benjamin Yuen (袁偉豪) won for his performance in Stealing Seconds <棟仁的時光>, while Mandy Wong <黃智雯> won for Threesome <三個女人一個「因]>.
Two days ago, the top three finalists in the “My Favorite Actor” and “My Favorite Actress” in Malaysia and Singapore were announced. It was predicted that this year would see new winners, who were determined through online votes by viewers in the respective countries.
Mandy was grateful to win two Favorite Acting awards in one night. Aside from thanking the cast and crew of Threesome, Mandy didn’t forget to acknowledge Liza Wang (汪明荃). “I worked with her in my first drama. At the time, I performed very poorly which Liza also pointed out. But just now, she said my acting has improved a lot in recent years. People do notice [the difference]. Thanks to TVB for giving me opportunities, my family, and good friends in the Nonsense Club and Candice Chiu (趙希洛).” Mandy is also grateful for former producer Poon Ka Tak (潘嘉德) in giving her opportunities at the start of her career.
Benjamin thanked viewers in Malaysia and Singapore for voting for him. In his acceptance speech, Benjamin spoke about the memorable moments while filming Stealing Seconds, and thanked his co-star Natalie Tong (唐詩詠). “This great news makes me truly happy. I’ll definitely remember tonight and cherish these moments. Entering the industry for 20 years, this year has been very [fruitful]. Thanks to everyone who voted. I’ll continue to work hard and continue acting until the end of my life.”
Thrilled by First Wins
Speaking with the press about their twin victories later in the evening, Mandy and Benjamin were both very excited by their awards. Mandy said she was focused on rehearsing her onstage performance for the Anniversary Gala and didn’t spend much time dwelling on the awards. “I was very nervous when the results were announced. It felt a bit like a dream, but I’m very happy.” She was especially grateful for her close friends’ support, since Mandy often doesn’t have enough confidence in herself.
Benjamin was teased that his girlfriend Bowie Cheung (張寶兒) was very excited by his awards, and Carol Cheng (鄭裕玲) even pushed the pair to get married to add onto the good cheer. But Benjamin plans to focus on his career for now and will think about marriage at a later time. Asked if he has greater confidence in winning TV King in the Hong Kong region when the awards ceremony next month, Benjamin said, “I’ll just embrace it with a regular attitude.”
This article is written by Jayne for JayneStars.com.
From the photos above it looks Ben had just woke up, put on a big coat and then went out to grab the award. Mandy looks emotional like she had just won an Oscar.
Mandy Wong yes, Ben Yuen no.
Ben Yuen would’ve never gotten close to BA if not for the mass exodus of eligible male leads. His acting is still raw and wooden. I will be very disappointed if he wins TVB BA this year.
@coralie um, ben winning ba at tvb IS A BIG NO
@coralie both a BIG NO NO … lol
@wm2017 Mandy FTW! XD. Her or Ali gets my vote
@coralie Mandy maybe but Benjamin is no, no, no
@bearbear
I think Mandy looks up to her friend Myolie a lot. Over the Top theatrical pantomime acting seem to be kind of thing . Christmas is coming soon. Mandy should participate in some school stage Christmas plays which will suit her acting style…
Mandy all the way for me. She deserves it with her great performance in ‘Threesome’.
Ben and Mandy represent the future of TVB and that future looks even bleaker now. But then again, what other choice do viewers have.
The future belongs to younger casts of series such as ‘Life on the Line’ and ‘OMG Your Honour’. If TVB continue to focus their series on the hardships of HK professions, schools, family life and housing in which viewers can relate to, then TVB still has a market. I just hope that the younger actors/actresses work hard and stay at the station instead of using TVB as a stepping stone…
Benjamin is improving all the time but giving the award to him for ‘Stealing Seconds’ is a bit of a stretch. I’m going to have to support Ben Wong and Matt because there hasn’t been any outstanding performances this year. Probably the stronger performances coming from Ruco and Shaun in Succession war from the few episodes I’ve seen. Alice although her character was written out for large parts of ‘Deep Beyond the Realms of Conscience’ probably deserves the win against a weak field Best Actress with Ali as always also in contention..
Mandy’s win…yes. Her acting in Threesome deserves recognition, plus there are not many strong contenders for the female category this year.
Benjamin’s win…definitely no. Vincent, Ruco & Kenneth who are in top 3 in the respective region all are more deserving than Benjamin.
Anyway, the M’sia/S’pore awards are more towards recognition of popularity than best performance. So still have to wait & see who will be the Best Actor & Actress in Hong Kong next month.
@diana80 I agree with you. Mandy’s win is deserving but not for Ben yet. I was hoping Kenneth Ma would win. He’s always the contender but never the winner. I hope he wins the TVB BA award next month.
@diana80 speaking of popularity, I don’t think Ben’s fanbase is larger than Kenneth, Ruco, or Vincent…TVB just give the award to whoever they want to promote…
@dtth
As I watch each episode of ‘fist fight’ it seems Vincent’s acting has gone up another level. His acting is so natural, he is just miles ahead of the field…
@dtth TVB awards are rigged. Fanbase is not as important as whoever TVB wants to promote. Malaysian don’t care much for TVB artistes anymore thus I doubt many people did voted.
The problem I have is that how is it possible that both Malaysia and Singapore audiences had the EXACT same tastes in terms of actor and actress? I can understand if they both won in one country and other artists won in the other — but BOTH being voted equally popular in BOTH Singapore and Malaysia? Hmmm…smells fishy to me. There’s no way TVB didn’t rig the results….audience voting my xxx (pardon my French)…
@llwy12
Maybe TVB are trying to put a false curtain over our eyes. In fact this year has been the most one sided races in years dominated by Mandy and Ben. Invented and proclaimed by TVB of course…
@jimmyszeto Maybe…though to be honest, what I’m ticked about is that TVB continues to treat its audiences like ignorant fools who will always lap up whatever garbage they push out, no questions asked. Though I guess I should technically be ticked at those audiences who continue to let TVB pull the wool over their eyes and afterwards even praise them for a job well done (yes, thank you TVB for continuing to treat us like idiots!). For me, the more TVB tries to pull this crap, the more disgusted I become, and of course, the less inclined I am to support them….but I guess that’s fine, since it looks like TVB is trying to push away their longtime fans / supporters anyway due to us no longer being of value to them anymore.
@llwy12
As a business, TVB needs to push and manufacture a new star and it seems this is what they are doing. Many viewers at home in Hong Kong and China will see on the news and internet who the next TV King and TV Queen are even if they have not watched a series with the artistes involved. Mandy will not complain because it is her who is selected this time after being ignored TVB all these years when the likes of Tavia, Linda and Myolie were at the station. I still don’t get all this crying on stage when they win because everyone knows the awards are all business strategies and not based on acting ability. If they get a 100 of the acting experts in the industry to cast votes then maybe we will get a fair winner. Although we might find it frustrating, TVB knows the majority of audiences are fools. There are a minority like ourselves who can analyse what’s going on but most people won’t think deeply on all the behind the scenes details of how an actor/actress wins. Many will automatically believe the winner deserves it. For example…the more awards Mandy wins and the more she appears in the news, the more everyone will believe that her performance in ‘threesome’ was brilliant. People follow each other and word of mouth or social media quickly spreads around..
@jimmyszeto Another indication that TVB thinks it’s audiences are idiots— how is it possible that EVERY year’s Gala, Liza Wang either gets chosen to play the game thing for prizes or gets some type of monetary award…I mean, come on! I have a huge feeling it’s actually written into her contract and is the only way to get her to attend the Gala. Yet everyone shamelessly roots for her during the Gala as though it’s the most natural thing in the world. The horse and pony show that the Gala has become makes me sick!
@llwy12
Haha.It’s a good thing Liza Wang does not act much anymore because if she does she would automatically become fav to win the BA award and usually TVB will have to give it to her as well or she will throw a tantrum. That year when she got pissed off because Kenix said that Liza should get the lifetime award but still took BA shows her personality and power within TVB. Every dog has its day and Liza Wang has had plenty. Now TVB will accommodate to her needs but when she becomes older and non workable, knowing the higher figures in TVB, they will release her in a flash…
It is crystal clear that Malaysia and Singapore markets lessen the demand to TVB dramas in recent time. In the future, less people will care for TVB dramas and TVB artists. Thus, the TVB artistes received the so-called awards of Malaysia in Hong Kong. Period.
These two tvb awards have become a joke. It’s really unlikely they will win at the actual hk ceremony unless tvb decides to do so since in the past winners of singapore/Malaysia don’t win BA in HK. I can’t see Mandy winning over Ali who is more popular especially how her series was not during prime time. Ben in that series he won for is nowhere near Best Actor material. I wished he won instead for his role in Line Walker2 last time but this unpopular series with an unpopular Best Actress winnner really is not worthy of a nomination. Who do you guys see winning in HK?
This is a joke… they should just remove the awards altogether. Not sure if I would agree with the results…it appears as thou, there was lack of choices… Mediocre…
what happened to roger? wayne? moses? i am pretty sure they did a better job or either one of them should be nominated. How would vincent’s character be nominated when it was only showing for less than a week or 2? i really think the quality of Best Actor or Best Actress has deteriorate greatly over the years. starting with natalie tong winning BA was already a joke. why is alice chan not even nominated? take a glimpse back to the times where sheren tang was the BA, wayne lai, etc. omg now it’s all those actors which i don think they deserve it YET. If vincent could be in the nomination i think dicky cheung should too.
@c3stlavi3 Alice was nominated for her role in “Deep…Conscience”, and was in fact in top 3 w highest no. of votes in m’sia up to the last week along w Nancy, Mandy & Ali (two of them apparently tied). Up till e last moment she was omitted from top 3, similar to Michael miu who was in top 3 in msia but was displaced by Vincent in the final top 3. Don’t forget that the Singapore msia awards are “my favourite actor n actress” so Its often just a popularity game. Ali had won last year for Singapore region w her role in “踩过界” so given e forces at work, she was unlikely to win again (though ruco has won previously in e region for two consecutive years)