Mandy Wong Waiting for the Opportunity to Shine
Mandy Wong (黃智雯) is steadily building her acting career by finding roles that allow her to expand her range. Currently starring in Murder Diary <刑偵日記>, she went through intensive training to prepare for her role as a bomb detonation specialist. Although the character is very physically demanding, the 38-year-old finds joy in all of her acting roles and one day she hopes to be rewarded with the Best Actress Award.
To prepare for the strenuous role, Mandy put herself on a strict healthy diet and exercised three days a week, “Before when I filmed Tiger Cubs <飛虎>, I could barely do a push-up. This time, my role required me to wear a heavy vest all day. Every time, I dread wearing the vest because it weighs 80 pounds, and it makes it difficult to film in the hot summer days. It made my shoulders sore, but it really trained my perseverance.”
Wants to Win Best Actress
Over the years, Mandy proved herself as a capable actress and won several awards such as the Most Improved Female Actress and Most Popular Female Character Awards. Although yet to win TVB’s Best Actress, she came close and was consecutively nominated for 2018’s Threesome <三個女人一個「因>, 2019’s My Life as Loan Shark <街坊財爺>, and 2020’s Line Waller: Bull Fight <使徒行者3>.
When asked if she desires to win Best Actress, Mandy replied, “I won’t deny that I will be happy to have the award in my hands. The award is an actress’ biggest encouragement. However, I can’t control whether I can receive the award. Instead, I look for the satisfaction of playing my characters, and I will be very satisfied if I get the audience’s approval.”
However, younger actress Sisley Choi (蔡思貝) has caught up and won the coveted award last year. Mandy shared her feelings about losing out,“I don’t think I am lacking something, but everything depends on timing and fate. I am waiting for a role that lets me shine again, and a character that connects with the audience. Right now, I am doing my best for all my roles. I’m more focused on finding a good script and enjoying the process of acting.”
Meanwhile, Mandy finds performing in stage plays to be rejuvenating. “It was a good learning experience, and helped improve my performance. I want to be able to do a stage play every year.”
Thoughts on Competition Among the Networks
One of the biggest changes in the Hong Kong entertainment industry is the rise of other local television networks. While some actors worry the competition will affect their jobs, Mandy sees the increased competition as a benefit, “There isn’t a lot of pressure on artistes, because they are only trying to put on their best performance. In fact, it’s good to have competition and the freedom to choose. I also watch other networks, and they cater to different audiences.”
When asked if Mandy’s work was affected after Eric Tsang (曾志偉) and Wong Cho Lam (王祖藍) returned to TVB in management positions, she said her filming jobs remained steady, but she also wants to film reality shows. “I want the audience to see the real side of the artistes. I can be myself, instead of playing other characters.”
Not Anxious to Get Married
While many of her close friends such as Myolie Wu (胡杏兒) and Paisley Wu (胡蓓蔚) are happily married or have started their own family, Mandy has been dating jewelry executive Anthony Chim (詹天文) for nine years.
“I am not anxious about marriage. My friends are more anxious, because they want to see me happy. I am very comfortable with my current lifestyle and don’t want to follow other people’s path for happiness,” she said.
At the same time, Mandy feels she is already past her “prime for childbirth” and finds “having a baby is a great responsibility.” Assessing her own life situation, she said, “I don’t want to have a baby because other people do. The most important thing is I know what I want, and leave everything else to fate.”
Source: HK01
This article is written by Sammi for JayneStars.com.
I might be the only one on this site that actually like her. Her acting is not the best but it’s better than a lot of actors nowadays. Not Ali Lee’s level but definitely above Sisley. IMO she just need to play more crazy/annoying character because she has that natural b*tch face. She was amazing in L’escargot, and her crazy personality in 3some was really great too. She needs to play more villain/antagonist roles instead of goody two shoes character.
nope, i like her too!
I feel like she’s had countless opportunities to shine but always fell short so I’m not sure what she’s waiting for at this point. She’s not a terrible actress and she has a good personality but there’s just no range unfortunately. And when you’re working at TVB where everyone is pretty much one level, it’s hard to stand out if she can’t take it to the next level.
But that’s probably why tvb loves her. Hard working, willing to take on any role. Doesn’t matter if she lacks the it factor. Line Walker 3 was absolutely poor performance from her though, and can’t blame the script for that.
I think Mandy is good but she is too in her head. She needs to let loose more, she is too controlled and it doesn’t come across naturally or charismatically.
The role in Line Walker 3 should have played to that awkward, regimented, personality, but she couldn’t bring out those qualities.
I agree with Jessiexx that she is better in scheming roles. Sincere doesn’t work.
I find her acting pretty bland. Maybe she’s got too monotone a voice, which also doesn’t help. Like when she tries to add intonation range to her voice, it sounds like she’s forcing it and it just takes me out of character for her. Not sure how she can fix it, as voices are kinda set in stone.