Joey Meng: “I Am Not an Ambitious Person”
Although Joey Meng (萬綺雯) may not have a management contract with TVB, she has been given many opportunities, filming one drama after another. Even then, she claimed that her aim is not to win awards, but to try new things.
After joining ATV in 1989, Joey shot to fame a decade later playing the sexy ghostbuster, Ma Siu Ling in the popular vampire series, My Date With a Vampire <我和僵屍有個約會>. The television drama was so popular that two sequels were made after. Starring in all three installments, Joey became an icon.
Prioritized Marriage
However, at the prime of her career, Joey announced her marriage to Chan Sap Sam (陳十三), and promptly quit show business. Chan Sap Sam was the screenwriter for the My Date With a Vampire trilogy. Although the couple already met in the first series, they only started dating while filming the second sequel. After dating for a short while, the couple flew to the United States and got married. Joey said, “After marriage, my status is different. I need to spend more time to look after my husband. Everyone thought that I had given up my career for him. But for me, he has also set his office in Hong Kong.”
Married for more than 13 years, marriage life suits Joey very well. Her favorite past-time at home is just to enjoy her husband’s company, even when they are not doing anything. Joey admitted that her decade-long marriage is not always smooth-sailing but the couple has managed to stay together because they have learnt how to get along well together.
A Scheming Wife
Filming for TVB last year, Joey was cast as female lead in Inbound Troubles <老表，你好嘢>. Covering the tensions between Hong Kongers and mainlanders, the comedy has earned good ratings. A few months later, Joey is back on television in the currently airing, A Change of Heart <好心作怪>. Unlike Inbound Troubles where she played a kind-hearted social worker, she portrays a scheming wife in A Change of Heart. She also has a passionate kiss and bed scene with her illicit lover, played by Benjamin Yuen (袁偉豪).
Because of an overlap in schedule between Inbound Troubles and A Change of Heart, Joey had initially rejected the role. Producer Nelson Cheung (張乾文) managed to persuade her to change her mind. She said, “After hearing the storyline, I love it! I like how my character is both good and evil at the same time. It’s so different from the roles I played previously. Furthermore, the male lead attracted me too! Since secondary school, I have been a big fan of Michael Miu (苗僑偉) and now I can play his wife! I was elated!”
In the beginning of the series, Joey’s character was a heartbroken wife watching her husband struggle between life and death. The ruthless couple were initially very loving. However, Michael had a heart transplant after his near-death experience and because of that, he changed into a good man. This made his wife suspicious and jealous and their relationship deteriorated.
As Joey still loved Michael very much, she mercilessly tried all means to get her husband to change back to his old self. Joey said of her character, “Actually I love my husband so much that everything I did was because of him. However, every step I took led me to make more mistakes.”
The role tested Joey’s emotional limits. To detach herself from the demands of the role, Joey revealed she will let go of her feelings by crying out loud while driving home every day.
In the upcoming period comedy drama, Gilded Chopsticks <食為奴>, Joey will be able to try a new challenge yet again, playing the role of Lu Siniang. With many onscreen opportunities, Joey is a hot candidate for an award at this year’s TVB Anniversary Awards. However, work, as well as winning awards is not a top priority for her.
Joey said, “I got married at the highest point of my career, so I am not an ambitious person. It’s a matter of timing. Joining TVB is an opportunity. Now that I’m grown up, I just want to try more things and take on new challenges. I don’t aspire to win awards as I believe in fate. TVB approached me just when I have rested a year after I finished my stint in China in the theater play, Spoilt Drama Queen <撒嬌女王>. I felt comfortable in our discussion, so I decided to join TVB.”
Source: ihktv.com
This article is written by Karen for JayneStars.com.
She is a good actress. I like her a lot and then I dont like her “evil” character in A Change of Heart so it means that she plays her role very well 🙂
Since she doesn’t have a management contract I rather doubt she will win the award, especially because it’s not like her shows have been getting that good ratings or buzz. She’s fabulous in ACOH, though the show itself is pretty mediocre.
Inbound Troubles is actually #1 in ratings so far. It’s just that she got overshadowed by all the supporting characters on that series. I think she’s great in ACOH and I actually really like the series, but the ratings are just okay so I can actually see Joey being nominated for her role in Inbound Troubles instead, which is not to her advantage.
inbound troubles is ratings winner but no don’t nominate joey for this because her role in inbound was boring! inbound mostly only give breakthrough to may chan, ivana wong and corinna chamberlain! not much for joey! i only watch 1 episode of change f heart but although the series sucks i already know joey will overshadow everyone in hearts because her role is amazing and joey is amazing and the producer said early on that joey will act something new for her as a villain and she has breakhrough! besides niki chow is boring useless and woodenly horrible and don’t give any challenge to joey’s acting at all!
But even though IT is the #1 drama – for now, since aside from BAW there are still more hyped shows to air – it did not get very high ratings. Sure it peaked at 37 in the first week, but the average has been around 30. Not exactly ratings bonanza. And you really need that, in addition to heavy audience support for a non-management actor to win.
I think her acting is quite natural and she has the “x factor” that wins the audience’s admiration.
Moreover, tvb has been recycling the fadans way too much, and I truly appreciate different faces as a change.
agree! bored to see the same faces of t, a and k all year long!
joey is much better than all the fadans t, a, and k above and should be given more chance by tvb! she was leggendary and already great since she was young as ma siu ling in date with vampire instalments! no current tvb fadans can measure to how memorable and legendary joey is although she was only an atv actress before!
joey is also hot and has long killer legs! only noticed hiw hot she is in change of hearts when she revealed her figure and sexy legs more! she looks younger than tv queen t who are supposed to be much younger than joey.
agree
“…she looks younger than tv queen t who are supposed to be much younger than joey.”
wow.. you’re indeed very observant. i just noticed it when you mentioned it.
i think she is a good actress potraying the role in ACOH.
A simple wish for a simple life, she’s definitely different from the rest of the pack. She has what every woman wants, beauty, a loving husband and a career. Lucky girl. I guess ultimately this is a good life for her.
TVB should just hand over best actress award to her now, she killed her role in COH. She makes you admire and hate her character at the time…not easy to do.
Love Joey! She is such a versatile actress n so pretty 🙂
I didnt get the hype Joey was getting previously, especially in Inbound troubles because her role was very bland and nothing spectacular. I get the hype now as she is brilliant in ACOH. she exudes elegance and arrogance at the same time, which is hard to do. But I dont quite like the way she speaks though, it seems very 一块块.
can’t blame joey blame wong cho lam for giving joey a boring role in inbound and giving the good roles to may chan, ivana and corinna chamberlain. that’s why joey didn’t shine in inbound and blame her bland wardrobe and makeup there too! look how she overshadows everyone and grab the limelight in change of hearts in her elegant villain roles! netizens are rooting for joey over niki which shows how great joey is!
you should download date with vampire installments because that’s joey’s representative series until now! ma siu ling was great and extremely memorable you won’t believe atv made this series
joey also fantastic and very beautiful and my date with spring!
Why is cho lam to be blamed? Joey herself should be blamed as she accepted the role. Bland wardrobe and makeup aren’t to be blamed as well because it suits well with the social worker look. Bland roles are always harder to portray but bland roles can also be successful. Unfortunately it wasnt a success for Joey in Inbound troubles.
Joey is so pretty and elegant in ACOH. She literally killed her role as Michael Miu’s evil wife. Give her the 2013 Best Actress Award TVB!!
I mean Joey nailed her role in the serie
She is great both as an actress and in looks. Look forward to see her more in TVB series.
I doesn’t matter whether she get the TVB award or not. She has already gotten ATV’s Best Actress Award early in her career.
The TV series award was actually started by ATV first. TVB followed 1 or 2 years later.