Gordon Lam Thankful to Alex Man

Actor Gordon Lam (林家棟) did an interview with i-Cable’s Star Chatroom <星級會客室>, where he talked about the struggles he faced in his 28-year filming career. The 48-year-old actor, who entered the industry after graduating TVB’s 14th artiste training class, said he spent the first few years of his career playing minor roles in numerous television dramas.

“A lot of these roles didn’t even have dialogue,” said Gordon. “It was a frustrating situation for me. It was to the point where I had to find another part time job to do for a living. I once worked as a salesman selling parallel-imported shoes. I was also a water bar worker for a period of time.”

Gordon then earned a regular spot as a variety show host, catching the attention of a few TVB producers and directors. He believed that he had closer shot to success, but Gordon’s hopes were brutally shot down when a TVB executive called him a “yee da look”, a Cantonese expression meaning a person of inferior status.

“A director once recommended me to film this new program, but the executive said I was just a yee da look, so I was eventually dropped. I got very dispirited. I hugged my mother and cried. It really wasn’t fair—even after working hard for five years, even after receiving so many praises from seniors, it still didn’t mean that I would get more opportunities. After that incident, I decided to not do variety anymore.”

But Gordon found his way to the top, eventually becoming one of TVB’s top actors in the late nineties. Gordon said, “It’s all thanks to Alex Man (萬梓良). He really takes care of his juniors. He kept encouraging the directors to film me more and got the executives to notice me. That gave me the chance to get a leading role.”

Source: On.cc

This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.