Mandy Wong is a Fortunate Star
Entering her sixth year in the industry, Mandy Wong’s (黃智雯) road to stardom was not particularly difficult. Blessed with a supportive family and a great group of friends and mentors, Mandy considers herself as a fortunate star.
“There are those people who would be willing to do anything to get to the top, but fortunately, I have not encountered these people yet. Maybe someone did try to pull me down before, but I just wasn’t aware of it.”
The 30-year-old knew she was meant to be a performer at a young age. Before graduating high school, she has already decided that she would attend the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. Though she spent two years at the college studying for modern dance, she decided to switch her major into acting when she was recommended by a professor.
Mandy joined the industry through the Miss Hong Kong Pageant in 2007. A hot favorite to win, Mandy managed to become a top five finalist, but failed to win the crown. As Mandy’s sole purpose of competing in the pageant was to ease her way into TVB’s acting class, Mandy was not at all disappointed in her loss. In fact, she preferred it. Mandy immediately enrolled herself in TVB’s acting class after the pageant was over, later graduating in 2008.
Mandy’s first role after graduating acting class was “Donna Chan” from 2008’sMoonlight Resonance <溏心風暴之家好月圓>. Not only was it Mandy’s debut role, it was also Mandy’s first speaking role – a character with a name, and a script. As many TVB acting graduates tend to spend a few years portraying green leaf roles, Mandy was very fortunate.
“I have been fortunate for my whole life,” said Mandy. “I never really had to struggle. Even when my parents divorced, our relationship never changed. I live with my mother, but I am still in contact with my father. My family wasn’t very well-off when I was younger, but it wasn’t to the point where we were living by the paycheck. However, since I was really young, I worked as a tutor to earn my own pocket money. Maybe that’s why my mother is very confident in me. When I told her I wanted to be a performer, she was very supportive. She knows I can take care of myself.”
But could being so fortunate actually benefit her acting prowess? Mandy never faced major obstacles in her life, never experienced life-changing events, and never went through periods of unemployment in her acting career.
“I know my emotional acting need some work. If I was given a tragic character to portray, I would not do the role justice, because I wouldn’t know how to do it. I haven’t been through any tragedy in my life. But in the last two years, I have grown, I have seen more, and I have experience more. That does benefit my performances.”
Last year, Mandy snagged the Most Improved Actress award after awing the audience with her critically acclaimed performance as the snarky Kwan Yi So inL’Escargot <缺宅男女>. That same role also made her a runner-up for the Best Supporting Actress award.
Does Mandy have any expectations at the 2013 TVB Anniversary Awards? She admitted, “Actually, I do have expectations to win the Best Supporting Actress award this year. We should always look to the future, to the next step in life. However, I will not give myself too much pressure.”
Source: 3 Weekly via kuangaitvb.com
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
yay! Mandy! I love her acting and I like her role as Mei Suet in On Call 36 Hours. and that shy girl in that other drama. so glad that she gained recognition. I hope she wins best supporting actress this year with her role in On Call 36 Hours II. I’m really looking forward to the second installment. 🙂
Really looking forward to OC2 too. Who needs the crown when you’re talented (with good acting skills)?
agree really looking forward for on call 2 for ma ming and mandy’s performances!
agree…i love Mandy too…hope you can gained recognition…more improve…and get to 1st line actress one day 🙂
She did very well in Always & Ever. I really hated her character in that drama.
I hope either Elena Kong or Mandy Wong win the best supporting actress award this year
mandy was is moonlight resonance??
Yeh, can someone clarify this? Who was Donna Chan in the series, I have no recollection of Mandy being part of the show
I may be wrong but she was only a cameo in there as one of the models in Moses’s company but it was pretty brief.
I actually really like Mandy too! I think she’s one of the few actresses that can act nowadays. Although she gets considerably less media coverage compared to popular stars like Christine or Eliza, I think Mandy’s road to stardom reminds me of Tavia’s – a slow and steady rise to the top.
Cant anticipate for her appearance as Mei Suet in On Call 2 with Benjamin. I literally lol watching full theme mv when Benjamin show his five finger and she straight poke the finger on his face. Quite hilarious watching their antic.
Her future is: follow other TVB artists to GTFO TVB hellhole and film mainland dramas.
My favourite role of hers is still A Chip Off The Old Block! Loved her in there so much. :3
Who did she play in there? I saw that series 2 times and do not remember seeing her in there.
She played Myolie’s younger sister
She did?? I think I need to rewatch it because I do not remember seeing her.
Yeah I didn’t recognize her either but it’s her, her role was quite similar to the one she had in Suspects In Love.
Its the glasses and the haircut, thats probably you wont recognized her.
love mandy’s acting and principle! she has the most potential and strongest acting among the new generation today! mandy is like a female ruco too underrated and underpromoted!
Nah i don’t think Mandy is up to that standard of Ruco’s acting level yet. And i think she is quite promoted.
Nancy Wu has better acting skills, and she spent more time in the industry as compared to Mandy. She is still a supporting actress.
Atleast Ruco is male lead!
I thought her role in THC2 is her weakest to date, her character was too childish and despicable until the very end and it just wasn’t anything special. Her characters so far this year hasn’t been much of a breakthrough but hopefully in the sequel it’ll be different.
Her character in Always & Ever got praised by audiences. She is one of the hot favorite for the best supporting actress award.
Really? I didn’t heard a word from the audiences about her role in that series which I thought was one of the weaker roles she had this year. Her performance just wasn’t that great in my opinion but then again her character made no sense either but it was just fine but nothing memorable, Esther stole the show.
She wasn’t even great at Always and Ever either. Not much praising unless you are a Mandy fan.
I love Mandy’s shows but recently I found out that she’s being called ‘another tvb sei pat poh’ 😛
Mandy is a good actress and I hope she gets leading roles soon!