Celebrity BFFs: Oceane Zhu and Sherry Chen

TVB artistes Oceane Zhu (朱璇) and Sherry Chen (陳爽) share a lot of common ground. Debuting in the Hong Kong industry through the Miss Chinese International Pageant, both spoke Mandarin as their mother tongue, and had to learn Cantonese on their own.

Sherry, born in Harbin, China in 1983, represented Toronto, Canada when she competed for the Miss Chinese International crown in 2007. She finished the race as a second runner-up, and quickly earned a place as TVB’s regular entertainment presenter for TVB’s Mandarin-language station, TVB8. Oceane, born in Beijing in 1987, joined TVB a year later. She represented Paris for the Miss Chinese International Pageant in 2008, ultimately winning the crown.

Sherry and Ocean’s first encounter was not particularly pleasant. They met backstage, during the final round of the Miss Chinese International competition. Sherry, as a previous winner, was there to present the awards to her successors.

Oceane admitted that she did not have a very positive impression of Sherry when they first met. Sherry confronted Ocean backstage and said, “Do you know that you shouldn’t have done that on stage? You were too cool and stole everyone’s show.”

Oceane’s first impression of Sherry was that she was very serious and uptight. “I thought you were too solemn at first,” Oceane told Sherry. “You were distant and spoke everything very slowly. You seemed so difficult, and I thought I would have a hard time getting along with you.”

“I don’t remember!” said Sherry. “I’ve always been a very straight-forward person. There are often times when I wouldn’t even know if I had hurt someone with my words.”

Oceane withdrew her initial harsh impressions of Sherry after they got together one evening to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. Sherry opened up to Oceane at the party, and after interacting with each other, Oceane came to realize that Sherry is someone who is cold on the outside, but warm in the inside.

Sherry’s first impressions of Oceane, on the other hand, were quite positive. “When I first met you, I felt like you were an actress with potential.” Oceane’s simple personality was what moved Sherry to befriend her. “As long as she likes you, she’ll treat you well. That’s why I can freely be friends with her.”

Sherry said she immediately bonded with Oceane due to their similar backgrounds. “At the time, we lived in the same building. We also didn’t have our families with us in Hong Kong, so during traditional holidays, I suggested a get-together with everyone so we can eat and chat. We are also from the same company and are under the same manager.”

Oceane described Sherry to be like a big sister, who took care of her while she struggled in Hong Kong. When Oceane first arrived in the city, she was warmly received by Leanne Li (李亞男) and Sarah Song (宋熙年), both who were also Miss Chinese International winners, and have a Mandarin-speaking background. When Oceane was feeling overwhelmed by the TVB anniversary ceremonies, Sherry took the initiative to take Oceane around and introduce her to other colleagues.

“You were by my side the whole time, and at that moment, I felt like I’ve finally found a family member,” said Ocean.

“We’re like a big family,” agreed Sherry. “Maybe it’s also because I have a lot of younger cousins, so I am used to taking care of others.”

In 2012, Sherry married Hong Kong businessman Anthony Leung (梁梓軒) and semi-retired from the Hong Kong television industry. Seeing that Oceane is still single, Sherry joked that she is “very worried” about Ocean’s future. She revealed that she introduced several eligible bachelors to Oceane, but she rejected all of them one by one. “They are all sincere, have stable careers, and they all like you. Why?”

“That’s because you found such a good husband! He has already become a standard. So naturally, I would compare all the other guys to him.”

Oceane confessed that she has not dated in three years, and though she does not feel worried about her future, she is beginning to lack a sense of security. “Everyone is dating or married, and I am always by myself. It makes me feel sad. I don’t think that a person from the industry would choose to date someone from their own company, because we would always see each other, and that would be awkward.”

Source: Oriental Daily 

This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.