Linda Chung Back at TVB and Ready to Film “Children’s Hospital”
Completing her 14-day quarantine after returning from Vancouver, Linda Chung (鍾嘉欣) is getting ready to film upcoming TVB drama Children’s Hospital <兒童醫院>, in which it was reported that Linda was paid $3 million Hong Kong dollars for the role.
The drama will feature a star-studded cast including Kevin Cheng (鄭嘉穎) and Kenneth Ma (馬國明). This is her first drama in four years and after giving birth, so fans are eagerly awaiting to see what new chemistry the cast will bring!
During her earlier self-isolation, Linda spent her time studying the script to prepare for her role as a pediatrician. “Right now, I’m preparing myself to immerse in my role, by doing my homework and reading the script carefully.”
At TVB for a costume fitting yesterday, Linda looked well rested and in good shape. When approached by the press, Linda expressed that the production team had requested that she maintain a low profile and not divulge the details about the drama until further notice.
When asked if her 3-year-old daughter Kelly and 1-year-old son Jared are missing her yet, Linda said that they are having a great time in Vancouver without her. However, Linda will miss her children dearly as she will be staying in Hong Kong for about four months to work on Children’s Hospital.
This article is written by Kiki for JayneStars.com.
Kevin Cheng Officially Joins Kenneth Ma, Linda Chung for “Children’s Hospital”
Honestly can’t imagine being away from your own young kids for 1/3 of the year. This drama better not flop
I was looking forward to this series before her casting was announced. Linda is a below average actress even after 15 years of acting. I absolutely cannot stand her Cantonese enunciation, especially when it comes to words starting with “zh” because she grits her front teeth and over emphasizes them.
I don’t understand why no one has pointed out her enunciation problems in all these years.
@hazel
I find that her enunciation is fine compared to Yoyo Mung although her pitch is a bit irritating. Yoyo Mung’s lazy tones is maddening (to me).
@mosailan Yeah, lazy tones are annoying. LOL, I can’t stand Yoyo’s voice ’cause it’s always on the verge of cracking.
In Linda’s case though, I’m talking about her enunciation of specific words. It’s hard to describe but she does it only with words like “做“ (do)，”種” (kind) ，”彩” (colour)，“主” (host) — the overemphasizing is extremely apparent during dialogues and when she speaks colloquially. Here’s an example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbIelGf1OLY
Her enunciation has always bothered me and ruins the flow/delivery of her lines with the excessive weight on those words along with her pitch.
Lord, I hope she never co-stars with Charmaine Sheh in a series. Both of them out crying/screaming each other with their chicken voices will permanently scar me.
@hazel This made my day lol
“Both of them out crying/screaming each other with their chicken voices will permanently scar me.”
@hazel Actually Charmaine & Linda were both in Can’t Buy Me Love
@luye Good thing I didn’t watch it.
@hazel agreed on the before she was casted. She’s so irritating to watch because her acting is so overdramatic and not genuine at all.
I wish Ali was casted instead.
@tt23 LOL. She’s over dramatic even when she’s doing interviews. I literally cringed when she did an impromptu interview with her husband on the day of their wedding. Linda acted like her husband was the second coming of God with her voice shaking.
@hazel Guess she’s looking forward to taking an old aunt and an old granny role. can’t wait to see!
@hazel I’ve been noticing this all these years too! I’m not the only person lol! That’s exactly right — she doesn’t even enunciate her own last name correctly. She is a CBC after all. I also feel like her Chinese has gotten worse since she’s been living in Canada for a few years now. Every time she goes back to HK, I notice that she uses more English in her interviews.
@1piscesish Finally, someone who gets me!!! I’ve been trying to explain her enunciation problem all these years and most people don’t pick up on it, which is really annoying because it’s pretty obvious, especially in comparison to other actresses acting opposite of her in series.
I don’t think it’s much of a CBC problem as it is her bite. I’m a CBC and my Cantonese enunciation doesn’t sound like hers. A lot of Miss HK/Internationals are CBC/ABC and they don’t have Linda’s enunciation problem.
At first I thought it might’ve been a bad habit that stemmed from her translating characters into pinyin and then reciting them, but she’s been doing it for all these years so it’s unlikely. Again, I don’t know why nobody has corrected her all these years, but it’s really bothersome (for me at least) when I watch her.
@hazel I think she is ok, she may not have the best acting skills, but she still got the looks and popularity. This series will be interesting since is her first time working with kenneth and kevin. I believed she still has the best actress award in her mind, considering she got snubbed a few times.
@hazel Lol, i don’t really notice her enunciation. But what bothers me is how she talks: it always sounds like she’s trying to talk “gentle” or in a way where she’s running out of breath or something. or like she just ran a marathon. Does anyone else notice this?? Thoughts?
@meilin Oh yeah, I get what you mean. Linda talks really mousy.
I noticed that Ali has the same problem too, particularly during the confrontation scene with Kenneth Ma in Big White Duel. She ran out of breath and had no “ending notes” (mei yum).
Maybe now that she has kids she will be more believable as a pediatrician? Eh, most of the cast has a spacey look in dramatic roles, so hopefully this is more comedic.
i can already picture her usual smiley face and miss nice look. what a waste of resource
she cannot act, it was a good to have her gone in my opinion.
Def another show to skip for me
They keep going on and on about the HK$3mill paycheck. I hope it’s really worth it. I seriously don’t get the hype with Linda, her acting is mediocre and don’t even start with her ‘singing’.
At least TVB is smart enough to include other popular actors/actresses to cover all bases. Kevin’s, Kenneth’s, Him’s and Catherine’s fans will definitely help the ratings too.
@pompidur
There is much more to any series rather than just the cast. It is sad if anyone watches a series just for the cast only.
@hetieshou true that. But a terrible cast could also bring a whole series down, no matter how good the plot is.
TVB is obviously banking on Linda’s fanbase tuning into her series just to watch her, regardless of the series’ plot.
@pompidur
Somewhat true but the plot is the skeleton of any series and us what carries you through. Of course having a good cast is a big plus.
@pompidur oh pls do not have her sing. if it’s between singing and acting, pls continue acting then.
Linda Chung WAS a good actress. I was impressed by her “Heart of Greed”, “A Journey Called Life”, “The Gem of Life” and “Ghost Writer”. But for some around 2012, her acting went downhill. I wonder if it’s due to bad script or she just loses the initial motivation. I think Witness Insecurity started that stereotypical weak and gentle persona of her characters and she can’t seem to get out of that even in Tiger Cubs II. Hopefully she will return with a more refreshing take on her acting. I still watch A Journey Called Life over and over, she was so good in there.
@iciel I thought she was really good in a journey called life too
@iciel
I agree and maybe she began to lose motivation or the script was just bad. Or maybe she was just tired and needed a break. Maybe she will get back to her acting now and will impress us, who knows?
@hetieshou I think Linda is still a motivated actress. It’s def the script for Tiger Cubs II & Witness Insecurity because both characters had mental health condition. She wasnt able to pull it off
@hetieshou I loved her acting a lot too before. I saw in one of her interviews she actually hit anxiety and deoression, and was grateful for Steven Ma. She said she missed her family a lot and really didn’t feel close to anyone in Hong Kong during that time. That may be the reason.
@iciel agree, she was also good at brothers keeper. Still can’t believe she hasn’t won the award for best actress.
@scre Linda didnt win for Brother’s Keeper because Kristal Tin was 1000 x better
@luye she should have won in a journey called life.
@scre In 2008, Michelle Yim from Moonlight Resonance won. Michelle is a much better actress than Linda…
@luye fair enough.
@luye looking back though, Kristal’s acting in BK was far from her best, her best being Destination Nowhere imo. She was loud and gave off a diff vibe from all the pretty “fragile” actresses then. Also 2013 had a weak list of nominees
@bubbles23 agree, 2013 awards winners were shocking.
@bubbles23 I agree that Kristal’s acting in Destination Nowhere is better than Brothers Keeper. The role gave her an opportunity to show off her acting skills. She also played a character in Phoenix Rising with intense emotions.
@iciel Agreed
@iciel I didnt like Linda in Witness Insecurity or Tiger Cubs II either. Besides the dramas you listed, she was also good in L’Escargot.
@iciel She was absolutely terrible in Tiger Cubs II; those crazy eyes and expressions were unbelievable. Nancy out acted her so badly.
@hazel lol those expressions killed me. she’s so bad.
I watched Linda’s interview recently and she sounds like she has definitely matured and is looking forward to showing a new side of herself that reflects her age and experience. At the very least, she doesn’t want to take on weak, damsel-in-distress roles anymore (although she excelled in these.) I think she’s hoping to revive her career with a breakthrough character. Here’s to me hoping she succeeds in the new drama.
oh…
Linda Chung is mediocre in her acting and singing. Her acting was awful in Tiger Cubs II. She is so superficial even in her interviews. Would like to see if indeed she has matured and improved acting wise as well as in person. Hope she can pull it off in her new role this time.