James Ng Denies Being Set Aside by TVB
When James Ng (吳業坤) traveled to Japan on a working holiday for five months last year, he missed the TVB Anniversary Awards. Returning to Hong Kong recently, he immediately recorded several new songs to appease the “angry” executives at his record label due to his extended absence. Although he is also ready to dive right back into filming work, James was shocked to find out he was dropped from a new TVB drama.
In earlier discussions to portray an investigator in ICAC Investigators 2022 <廉政行動2022> with Hera Chan (陳曉華) and Sharon Chan (陳敏之), James did not receive any further filming notice after patiently waiting for the script since the beginning of May. The notice was constantly delayed, and he finally received news that he has been dropped out from the cast.
James Falls Out of Favor With TVB?
It is rumored that James fell out of favor with TVB executives due to his high-profile collaboration with ViuTV boyband Error member Denis Kwok (郭嘉駿). He posted controversial photos of them holding each other’s TV station mascots, and Denis even put two cigarettes on TV Buddy. James tried to protect himself by saying that he was merely fulfilling a promise made a year ago to sing with Denis. Many netizens had already predicted that TVB would not react positively to James’ behavior.
When reached for comment, James cautiously replied that he had always been in talks to film the drama, but he also has other work to schedule as well. James explained that he would be taking on Olympic reporting duties instead and he would not have time to be involved in both projects.
Overtaken by Colleagues
When it was pointed out that although James was the first to hold a concert at the Hong Kong Coliseum among fellow competitors Hubert Wu (胡鴻鈞) and Alfred Hui (許廷鏗), they have now overtaken him. Hubert has won TVB’s Most Popular Male Singer, and is now a leading actor in dramas.
Emphasizing he has not angered upper TVB management and denies being frozen by the company, James said he just returned to Hong Kong and hopes to take on different types of jobs. Asked whether he feels that he has been set aside by TVB, James stated there are some things that cannot be forced, but he is still very grateful for any opportunities.
“I have not achieved male lead status, but I have been given roles with heavy screen time and have sang drama theme songs. I’ve also filmed Come Home Love: Lo and Behold <愛·回家之開心速遞> for almost a year. I was considered a fourth or fifth line actor, but this opportunity allowed audiences of many different ages to recognize me,” he said.
Aware of his limitations, James said, “I am not what you call traditionally good looking and not male lead material” but he tries his best to make his characters live and breathe. He also prefers to “tackle challenging characters that have room for development.”
His Own Music Style
As everyone’s fate is different, James joked that he is also considered a “Most Popular Male Singer” to many producers. He revealed that he has his own music style and “would not copy them, but rather turn the song into my own.”
Good friend Alfred has since left Warner Music and is currently a free agent. Reporters asked if he would ask Alfred to join his record label, James immediately turned down the suggestion. “I don’t want him to come fight me! It’s not that I am scared of him, but rather there is no need! The world is so big–let’s just meet at a certain spot.”
Since their music styles are different, there is no need to compare them. Even though they are not label mates, this does not mean that they are not good friends. “We’ve both been very busy in recent years so we haven’t been in touch as often, but our friendship has not changed.”
Source: On.cc
This article is written by Kiki for JayneStars.com.
i feel that they over promoted him in acting. he’s a descent singer and tvb should focus on that instead of promoting his acting.
@m0m0 yeah. It was really obvious in Destination Nowhere that his acting was sub par compared to most on that show.
These 3 people are only good at singing. But then, I’m sick of them singing TVB themesong over and over again.
@snoopy not Alfred. TVB sidelined him a long time ago. Prob political reason…pity, I prefer his voice to the other 2
@conan2209
Alfred wasn’t sidelined, he got fed up with singing theme songs so he left TVB ages ago. But yeah, they are better at singing than, though Cantopop is dead now so who cares lol.
I must say, I think Hubert is a better actor than James, which is surprising to me since they both entered the industry as quiet, stiff individuals.
@eleven I read somewhere he has problems with his label company too…I quite like his vocal
Not a bad thing because his acting is god damn awful.
Honestly would not say I particularly enjoy James as an actor (he’s okay – has had good moments but also very bad ones) but I do like him as a singer. I’ve always found him a bit out of place at TVB so I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing if he gets frozen/dropped by TVB. His personality and awkwardness would do very well at ViuTV so I actually hope that if he does get dropped, they don’t keep him on some stupid contract.
I’m glad Alfred left TVB and is doing his own thing. My biggest issue with TVB’s record label is that they really box their singers in. They’re all reduced to themesong artists and their songs all kind of have the same vibes. Such a shame since several of their singers are actually quite good. I’ve also been watching Star’s Academy and am blown away by Gigi’s talent. I have a pretty big feeling she’ll end up taking it all but I’m sad knowing that she’s going to be stuck in this same rut of themesongs/songs that all sound the same. Won’t be likely to happen but really hope that Gin and Aga’s record label (Universal) swoops her up.
@scarlett013 I watched Star Academy for Gin and any record label would be an idiot to not sign Gigi. She can sing and already has a great image and style with her haircut. Really hope she doesn’t sign with tvb, but Universal already has Jace Chan so seems unlikely they will sign another female singer.