Former Actress, Patricia Liu, Makes Accusations Against TVB
Retiring from the entertainment industry for over a decade, ex-TVB actress and former Miss Hong Kong contestant, Patricia Liu (劉倬琦), recently accused TVB executives of favoritism and abusing their powers.
Working at TVB in the 1990’s, Patricia spent 12 years with the station but was only given minor or supporting roles with little room for development. After leaving TVB, Patricia worked at ATV for a short while before moving to the United States.
Allegedly spotted posting up flyers on the streets, Patricia tried to gain attention for a mid-level TVB executive committing suicide over 12 years ago. Patricia also complained about former executives Stephen Chan (陳志雲) and Ho Lai Cheun (何麗全) favoring certain artistes, and would only promote those who constantly “polished their shoes”. Patricia called out certain “shoe-shiners” such as Amigo Chui (崔建邦), Sharon Chan (陳敏之), and Natalie Tong (唐詩詠).
Ho Lai Cheun, who is the current Chief Executive Officer of ATV, responded, “I don’t know! I didn’t read about them– I don’t really know what’s happening so I can’t really comment on this. I met with [Patricia] when she came back [from the United States] and we’ve talk about working together, but there isn’t anything suitable right now. These are all just made-up lies and I’m able to comment. Justice lies in the heart; I didn’t do it and I’m not going to care. There’s no evidence and my previous company [TVB] had a lot of regulations so there’s no way of abusing power. There are too many artistes in the company; they become famous through hard work. If everyone could become popular based on promotion alone, then that would just be too easy.”
Denying that she was putting up posters around Hong Kong, Patricia only revealed that she is currently taking medication to stabilize her emotions. Although she stated that she was close with Raymond Lam (林峯) and Tavia Yeung (楊怡) in the past, Patricia didn’t want to call them and bother them with depressing stories about her life.
Source: Yahoo HK
This article is written by Su for JayneStars.com.
I 100% believe Patricia because this happens in every company. We all know that Stephen Chan favoured certain artistes. We also know that ones who knocked on executive doors to shine shoes were given opportunities…
@jimmyszeto Yup. This happens in pretty much all companies. If the boss don’t like you, you won’t do as well as the staff he likes. Asians have a culture of sucking up to bosses so most do it even unknowingly.
Work in a Western companies and it’ll be far less sucking up but bosses will obviously still favor those that do.
@mike
In the West, bosses may find direct shoe shining cringeworthy and too obvious so they will have to distant from you. They favour people who they get along with and chat often with though even if the ability of the employee is terrible they wouldn’t realise. In Asian culture, it is more straight up ass kissing that may give you a better opportunity because bosses enjoy feeling the power. If you don’t do this, then will just get ignored.
@jimmyszeto Agreed. Ho Lai Chuen’s response is definitely laughable. Everyone knows that favoritism and abuse of power happens in every company, so for him to say that kind of stuff never happens at TVB, goes to show how removed from reality he is (or he’s just trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes hoping they won’t notice). If he’s going to deny, at least say something that makes logical sense….the way he responded just makes him look like a fool. Kind of reminds me of when former ATV chairman Nick Ip used to always come out and claim that ATV is doing fine, there are no issues, everyone is happy, blah blah blah, when the opposite was actually true and the real story was that everything was crumbling around him…
@llwy12
Yes. Some do it more than others. There have been plenty of past and present artistes who admitted to knocking on the doors of executives and producers and saying the most ass kissing words anyone can wish to here. You can compare it to the way the Miss Hong Kong contestants speak during the competition in that similar cringeworthy tone. Some people just can’t force themselves to stoop so low in saying those words so are obviously greatly disadvantaged.To dismiss this and portray a big business as perfectly fair is ridiculous by this executive….
Patricia gives me the impression of being the outspoken and direct type. Last time, she was outspoken and direct as she mentioned that she was sexually harassed by Gabriel Harrison. Most actresses, I believe, would just remain quiet and suffer in silence, which is sad. And Patricia obviously did not kiss the TVB executives’ as* during her 12-year period in TVB with her minor roles. Twelve years is definitely not a short period. I wonder if she could turn back the time, would she be less direct and join the crowd by trying to “connect” with the executives? If so, she could be given more opportunities with some meatier roles and possibly gain fame if she does have some “audience luck”.
I can see Sharon Chan being a suck-up & to some extent, Amigo Chui, too. But Natalie Tong? The Natalie that’s been toiling away in the TV industry for years and only recently started gaining approval? I mean, to me, it seems like she was pretty much stuck in the same rut as Patricia until these past few years. This accusation sounds a bit mismatched with Natalie’s profile, IMO.
But even if she is a boot-licker, what does that say about chummying up with the higher-ups? It took them years to gain recognition. Being a sycophant in this industry seems to only get you so far. To say it isn’t also reliant on audience’s fate along with talent and personal responsibility is being flippant.
I’m not saying cozying up to mgmt doesn’t help; it obviously does and is a soft-cheating skill. But at the same time, it makes me wonder if it’s all entirely reliant on mgmt team (except in cases when mgmt has it out for you, i.e., Steven Ma, Wong Hei, etc.). If opportunities come along, and the artists know how the industry works, they should do their best to fight for the role. Doesn’t have to be licking boots, but some way to display their own talent. Dicky Cheung mentioned how he was really angered by a director one time and stormed into Catherine Tsang’s office to complain and show her his acting skills. If you passively await opportunities, then opportunities will pass you by as well. This is also something I have learned in real life, unfortunately. Being good + reliable isn’t enough to promote yourself.
EDIT: I do believe Patricia, though, and think she’s voicing her complaints to make competition fairer, which is a good thing. I just don’t think groveling with mgmt is the end-all, be all answer to one’s popularity and job opportunities.
i guess raymond lam and tavia didn’t rub anybody’s shoe since she didn’t call them out?
Judging from all these power people that have been outed now, she might be hinting its more than sucking up that artists have to do?
I guess some people really need to suck up to get more opportunities…
I believe her but her acting wasnt even great to start with lol
As much as I sympathize with her and agree to a certain extent, I can’t help but question the potential motive behind this. With more and more people speaking out for mistreatment etc. nowadays (not that it’s necessarily bad), could it be that she’s generating buzz for herself? Just something I’ve considered. By no means am I insulting her, that is not the intention. However, I felt it unnecessary to name-drop, but then again, maybe it wouldn’t be as interesting to write about otherwise.
@susan
The last time I heard about Patricia, she became a widow after her foreign husband had died. She has the money but is just trying the truth whether she wants limelight or not. There are lots of stories within the TVB circle where us outsiders do not know but everyone are familiar with within the station. It’s about time people speak out.
I find it interesting that she named Amigo and Natalie who were her co-hosts on K-100. Amigo was definitely a “shoe-polisher”, but Natalie started out with minor roles too. She played a lot of sister roles when she started.
@hazel
Natalie and Amigo were both the favourites of the shamed former money cheat executive Stephen Chan. Considering Amigo is ugly and there are plenty of better hosts, he was heavily favoured. Natalie was still favoured after Stephen Wong left which shows the extent of her shoe shing ability. It’s very rare the such a average actress, zero sex appeal and no fans can last so long
This really isn’t much of a surprise. Every company has people that are favored for whatever reason. Stephen Chan had favorites, Lok had hers, Catherine Tsang had hers, etc.
Tidbit: Patricia and Tavia used to live together for a while in the past. Patricia used to have a blog where she had a post talking about her friendship with her.
@dandan
It’s a pity that Patricia will be a forgotten actress. She was involved in 2 big productions Golden Faith(Battling with Tavia to win over Raymond) and War and Beauty(Brothel Manager and Bowie Lam’s close listener) which were both bit part roles. She went to ATV at same time as Hawick when both their careers were going nowhere. Hawick pushed on while Patricia’s disappeared. It will feel painful that after being a actress for so many years but no one remembers you..
@jimmyszeto Patricia Liu has gained quite a bit of weight. I could not recognize her at first glance. She was a very slim girl when she was an actress in TVB.
@jimmyszeto
hawick is really a miracle. although his dad was a tvb veteran but how he’s popular in china now, i think it was mostly on him own. though i am not a fan but admire his persistence and accomplishment.