Kenneth Ma Renews TVB Contract for 7 Years
Freshly crowned TV King, Kenneth Ma (馬國明), is off to a great start in the new year thanks to his big win at the annual 2019 TVB Anniversary Awards. Having missed out on the Best Actor award 12 times despite his 21 years of loyalty to TVB, many fellow actors and fans are glad the actor finally got his much deserved recognition.
Although it was previously speculated that Kenneth is leaving TVB, the hefty award likely motivated him to renew his contract with the company. Recent reports suggest he exchanged a seven-year contract for the award, as he seemed disinterested in contract renewal earlier in the year and only renewed it just before the awards ceremony.
Kenneth has always possessed a good and well-behaved image throughout his career at TVB. A versatile actor, he has challenged himself with countless of diverse roles over the years. Playing a more charismatic character in Big White Duel <白色強人>, his portrayal of a cool and talented doctor was a huge hit among viewers, and this garnered him great support for TV King.
However, his success at work did not translate into his love life when his ex-girlfriend Jacqueline Wong’s (黃心穎) cheating scandal became the talk of the town for months. But her betrayal provoked him to become more ambitious and work harder for the Best Actor award, and he finally took home the trophy this year. With Kenneth renewing his contract, it looks like he’ll be taking advantage of the opportunities that comes with the award – viewers can look forward to seeing him in more upcoming TVB projects.
Source: Oncc
This article is written by Minna for JayneStars.com.
2019 TVB Anniversary Awards: Kenneth Ma and Kara Wai Win Best Actor and Best Actress
What a surprise of the century that he traded his slave contract for a BA award. /s
@anon lol…right BS awards….but then again does he really have market in the mainland like many others? my answer would be NO. haha
@wm2017
Agreed! Kenneth Ma doesn’t have “the look” that the mainland market seeks, nor is he young enough nor act well enough to play a lead role.
If he was in the Mainland, he would be fortunate to play second lead, but most likely play minor roles – similar roles that Ray Lui and Michael Miu nowadays get in the mainland.
@anon if he didn’t decide to sign, where he would have been to? To China? No way because he is even not that famous to get second lead in their series. To movie field? Well, to that field, his position is even lower than Ron Ng.
So in the end of the day, TVB is the best choice.
@alluka Well, we dont know for sure the opportunities he could get in China. It’s a mixture of connections, looks, luck, ambition, hard work, and much more!
@anon it’s not like TVB said if he signs the contract, then they will give him the award. Selena previously announced she’s leaving TVB, but still got an award. Miriam isnt a TVB actress
while everyone else venture out of the once golden nest Kenneth chose to stay i say TVB clipped his wings pretty well but i am happy that he’s crowned TVB king
One of the things that annoyed me about the awards ceremony was all the talk about how long artists had to wait for an award…Selena had to wait 17 years, Kenneth had to wait 21, etc. Honestly, that’s nothing compared to all the veteran green leaf artists who’ve had to wait 30-40 years, sometimes their entire lifetimes for an award. Take Lau Dan for example, that Lifetime Achievement award he got this weekend was his FIRST ever acting-related award after 42 years of dedicated service to TVB…here’s an actor who has played characters that ran the gamut from benevolent fathers to evil villains (and everything in between), has done comedic as well as dramatic roles, has given solid performance in every role he’s gotten, is versatile and convincing no matter what role he does, has numerous memorable (I would even say “iconic”) roles/performances to his name…in fact, he is more of a household name to most Hong Kongers than many of the TVB leading siu sangs and fa dans who have come and gone over the past 20 years. Lau Kong too — been with TVB 37 years and only got that Professional Acting pity award several years back….same story with like 90% of the senior / green leaf actors at TVB.
So yea, next time an artist says they had to wait x number of years to finally get actor/actress award, my response will always be: you should be grateful you only had to wait that long when there are so many veterans who waited longer (and some even die waiting)…so unless you waited 30 years or more, please shut up and stop whining!
@llwy12
Amen!
@llwy12
Totally agreed.
@llwy12 While your point is valid, I don’t necessarily think it’s a fair comparison. TVB Awards have always been systematically biased towards siu sangs and fa dans and ignores veteran actors because they don’t resonate with their core audience (not that they have much nowadays).
I would imagine that veteran actors have become jaded with TVB’s awards and don’t see much value in them because they care more about audience recognition anyway.
But I find it sad that TVB can’t even honour those deserving of awards without making it into a gimmick. Selena was largely ignored by TVB throughout her 17 years at TVB (despite having audience recognition and better acting skills than a lot of previous fa dans) and when she finally breaks through, she has to share the award with Miriam Yeung.
There’s no loyalty or respect from TVB all around.
@hazel Yes, that is correct in terms of the anniversary awards in recent years….but back when the awards were first established in the late 90s, that wasn’t the case. There were actually more opportunities for artists outside of the main siu sangs and fa dans to get awards, since they had the 10-15 favorite character awards and a bunch of other ones such as best villain, etc….there were also categories specifically geared toward the veterans – I can’t remember the exact name of the award (I think it was called Accomplished Acting or something like that), but they had it split out for Actor / Actress and pretty much all the winners were either veterans or artists who put in solid performances but they knew they couldn’t give them the main actor/actress award…it was only when they overhauled the entire awards show in I think 2005 (I would have to go back and look up the exact year) that they changed it to pretty much the format they have today (with some additional categories added / removed at whim over the years). Overall, I felt there was more respect for veterans and recognition of talent back then, both in terms of awards and operationally as a whole…the mentality basically began to change after the 2000s when the new management group came in and continued to deteriorate from there.
Agree with the rest of your comment though! 🙂
@llwy12 Thank you so much for the insight! I wasn’t aware of the overhaul (probably cause I’m a millennial LOL), but I vaguely remember some of the old awards. It’s so sad that TVB chose neglect the veterans who deserved more recognition. Literally, no one cares about the newbie actors who are getting awards now.
TVB can only blame themselves for driving away veterans and viewers.
@hazel you comment is so accurate I had to reply. Even before Nancy or Kristal Tin were lead in dramas, Selena was already the first lead acting with people like Kevin Cheng and Kenneth. It can be said that she lacked luck or maybe didn’t suck up enough, but I think the main issue is that TVB is just horrible at spotting true talent and giving actors with high potential more screen time. I.e. whoever does casting decisions suck.
@bubbles23 I think it has a lot to do with popularity at the time. She was just one of the actresses no one really cared about. I dont think her acting is that great, and her high pitched voice still grates at me. Right now most the previous Fadans have left TVB so naturally she is left to fill that space.
@bubbles23 I’ve always felt that Selena wasn’t a “people person” at TVB, meaning that she didn’t know how to network for more opportunities (I think she admitted it too). She was never a factor in the Virginia Lok, Catherine Tsang, or Stephen Chan promo triangle when most fadans and siusangs were and it contributed to her stagnancy.
I thought she was for sure going to be promoted after Just Love cause she showed so much potential, but TVB never gave her the opportunities that they gave others. Even Leila Tong, who isn’t really a good actress, in my opinion had more opportunities than her even though they were treated relatively the same.
@hazel agree that “TVB Awards have always been systematically biased towards siu sangs and fa dans and ignores veteran actors.”
I think Selena just recently got high audience recognition. Barack O Karma is one of a few dramas she was lead in & it got good ratings.
I guess it’s his choice to renew his contract as long as he’s happy about it that’s all matter.
TVB may suit him better and it’s too late to enter china market. China has many upcoming young actors.
Just hope TVB will treat him better with better drama & opportunities
Congrats for the award BA