Fala Chen Compares Hollywood to Hong Kong’s Entertainment Industry
Fala Chen (陳法拉) dished on her career development in Hollywood at a Cathay Pacific event in Hong Kong today. The 37-year-old actress, who announced her departure from TVB back in 2014, often flies back and forth between Hong Kong and New York after enrolling in The Julliard School to study drama. Her journey has been nothing short of extraordinary, especially when she became the first Chinese to receive a Master of Fine Arts in Drama with straight A’s. Her hard work paid off when she landed a role in the upcoming HBO miniseries, The Undoing, not long after graduating – marking her official debut in Hollywood.
Having been missing in the Hong Kong entertainment scene for quite a couple of years, Fala expressed, “I really want to film something in Hong Kong, it’s been awhile. The last time I was in Hong Kong, it was for a stage play, which requires a different way of acting. I’m really looking forward to acting in Cantonese – I haven’t done it for five years.”
She believes she can show something new to the Hong Kong audience with the skills she’s picked up during her time at Julliard. Thus, she’s awaiting the day she can work with Hong Kong actors again, however, Fala said TVB has not contacted her yet.
Hollywood Is Very Competitive
The actress shed some light on the competitiveness of the American entertainment industry and revealed she did over ten auditions since graduating. “It’s stressful over there because of the strong competition. America is so big, but so many people are competing for the same one or two roles, so the success rate is low. We have to face many setbacks and failures, so I think I’m pretty lucky for landing a role shortly after graduating,” Fala shared.
On the differences between Hong Kong and America, Fala said the cultures are different. “They are both challenging in their own ways, and both have their own quirks,” she stated. “The filming schedule abroad is very lax since the longest we’ll film for is 10 to 12 hours. But Hong Kong is very efficient and flexible, whereas for abroad, you can’t change anything once the arrangements are in place.”
She continued, “The paparazzi are on your tail in both places, but it depends on how big you are. Since no one really knows who I am over there, I don’t have pressure.”
Sources: HK01, MingPaoCanada
This article is written by MelodyC for JayneStars.com.
Fala, stay far far away from TVB and Shaw Brothers.
You’re better than that.
@anon Honestly, if Fala returns to TVB, I will be VERY disappointed in her, as she is essentially throwing her hard earned degree away. True, her acting was nothing to shout about before and she has yet to prove herself even now (though I assume her acting has to have improved), but I admire the fact that she took her profession (acting) seriously enough to invest so much time and energy into pursuing higher education and bettering herself….to turn around and work for an institution (TVB) that doesn’t give a crap about acting talent is akin to dismissing all the hard work she put in to learn the craft, at least in my book. Hopefully she is smart enough to not throw away her education like that….
@llwy12
Exactly, she’s at that point in her career where she gains little if she returns to TVB or even HK film, and Chinese media.
Once you’re in Hollywood, she needs to stay in Hollywood to further her career. Anything outside of that will pretty much be a waste of her time for career advancement.
If she works in Hollywood for a few years, and she can’t make a career out of it then I can see her returning to Chinese media. At that time, given her experience in Hollywood, I don’t see any reasons why China wouldn’t pick her up immediately for leading (meaty) roles. She will be making alot of bank, enjoying the fame, and still be better off than returning to HK.
Returning to TVB/Shaw Brothers at this point forward, at any point in her career, would be a failure in my eyes given her circumstances.
With her credentials, I don’t think she should agree to things tvb offers. Especially if it’s just with who they have now. Unless if they bring back veterans to be on the same project for example: Lousia So, Anthony Wong, Sunny Chan etc
I don’t mean it has to be these people, just can’t think of any others at the top of my head.
If Fala does participate I think she’ll want more control over the project, being able to tinker more things on the script or whatnot to improve it.
Just don’t want her to waste her talents while carrying a whole series that people will lose interest in….
@tungamy
Only Raymond Lam and old veterans return to TVB to do the same repetitive sequels. Fala has ambition and would never come back…
As I grew up watching her, I’m really happy for her prospects here in America! Excited for her HBO show. I would love to see her return to TVB/Shaw Brothers, but I hope it’s for something good + with a good cast! Also would be excited to see how her acting has changed/grown from the past 5 years with going to Juilliard.
@tvbrama
“As I grew up watching her”
Damn I feel old reading that statement. Fala has only been around TVB since 2005, and left in 2013. You must be young.
I guess I am one of the few that grew up watching TVB in the early 90’s around here, during the golden era of HK TV and movies. In my eyes, nothing has impressed me in the last 20 years of HK entertainment.
@anon LOL…I grew up watching TVB in the 80s…so I’m feeling ancient right now…. 🙂
But I am absolutely on the same page as you in terms of not being impressed by anything in the last few decades of HK entertainment, though for me it goes back further than…it’s more like 25 years for me….
To be honest, none of her acting has impressed me all these years. Even her last TV series, Sound of the Desert. It’s one thing to be privileged enough to be able to attend Julliard, especially with her US citizenship, but just because she has this extremely prestigious academic credentials isn’t going to automatically change what I think of her acting
She just wasn’t good. I do like her though
@linda
I don’t like her acting when she was with TVB either, but her acting must’ve improved in the past 4 years that she’s good enough to be casted in a Hollywood TV series. I am sure she’s better than any actor at TVB right now so I am cautiously optimistic that she will, at the very least, not disappoint.
@linda Very true. At first, I thought if she was trained by Julliard, hopefully that means she’s going to really impress me. But on the other hand, getting into and being trained by Julliard doesn’t guarantee that her skills are Oscar-level. At most it just tells us her skills are sufficient. Not sure if you watch the show Super Vocals, but one of the contestants on it graduated from Julliard (for singing), and as a result, everyone had high expectations of him. He still gave decent performances, but as another contestant put it, “he graduated from Julliard, but didn’t live up to the name.” It was harsh, but true. A lot of the stronger competitors never went to Julliard’s but they were much more amazing. Prestigious titles don’t mean her acting skills are great; we can expect decent performance, but it’s no guarantee, as with everything in life.
@coralie I also think that at Julliard they teach you the other skills involved in the major you’ve picked. Like Fala learned makeup, directing, script writing etc etc
So her acting may not improve(maybe) , but she’s become a better well rounded artist