Matthew Ko Considered Quitting TVB
Matthew Ko (高鈞賢) always gave the impression of a decorous man ever since joining TVB after winning the 2005 Mr. Hong Kong title. However, he is willing to take on villain roles in order to open up his opportunities and change his image in the eyes of the audience.
Originally, Matthew was supposed to portray the rapist of Samantha Ko’s (高海寧) character in TVB drama, Friendly Fire <法網狙擊>. Unfortunately, he injured his leg and had to undergo surgery, thus losing the chance to film.
Although that opportunity was lost, another one soon came along. In the currently broadcast psychological crime thriller, A Great Way to Care 2 <仁心解碼II>, Matthew is featured as the eerie leader of a cult group. “Producer Marco Law (羅永賢) asked if I could handle the role, because there are lots of action scenes involved. Even though my leg just healed at the time, I didn’t want to lose the chance,” Matthew said.
In the drama, Matthew will share a 2-minute kissing scene with Davily Leung (梁麗瑩). Matthew revealed that it was his first time experiencing onscreen kissing, and that luckily he and Davily were familiar. The scene was completed successfully in one shot.
Matthew is unafraid that his villainous role will stereotype or negatively affect his image. As the principal of a children’s art school, he is more afraid of the children’s disapproval instead. “I told their parents to only allow their kids to watch Sergeant Tabloid <女警愛作戰> at 8:30PM, in which I portray a warm policeman.” He said.
Plans of Leaving Entertainment Industry?
It may seem like Matthew was lucky to have been offered the second male-lead role in Man in Charge <幕後大老爺> as his first job in TVB. In actuality, it was more like experiencing frustration from failure. “I was only 22 years old at the time, and I wasn’t mature enough. When the drama aired, people said my acting skills were poor. Producers then seldom contacted me. All I got were some small roles. Sergeant Tabloid is the last chance I give myself. If the results of this drama are not good, then I’ll leave the entertainment industry and head back to Canada.”
Source: Oriental Daily
This article is written by Shirley for JayneStars.com.
I cannot picture him taking Ronan Pak role in Friendly Fire…..
Agree!!
Ronan Pak rocks in that role!
Matthew Ko will definately kill that role!! He is so wooden >.<|||
Bye bye.
“Matthew is featured as the eerie leader of a cult group.”
He a strong predecessor to compare too. Ngo Ka Nin was awesome as the cult leader in AGWTC1.
He is very handsome and still young for opportunity. Such a waste leaving tv screen.
I know and i agree that he is one of the cutest Mr.HK’s. TVB never know how to promote young people i feel since most of their leads are mostly uncles now hahha lol…
Matthew should not leave TVB he is still young he still have lots of chances
The irony is that all the pageant queens keep getting heavy duty roles despite numerous criticisms and their atrocious Cantonese. Matthew Ko deserve a chance to be groomed to be the next generation of male lead. Give him a chance, not as lead, but try him out first in second lead role?
Interest how different TVB treated the Mr.HK and MHK/MCI. Matthew Ko got bad criticism for his firs big role and he was demoted to small role. The promoted MHK/CI got criticism again and again and again and TVB still gave them big roles.
Exactly my point. I’m sick of seeing Christine Kuo in every single series. Sick of reading stupid comments by obsessed self absorbed virgin Christian and others!
@Puff. There’s no need to lump them all together. I dislike Christine as an actress from the bottom of my heart. But her Christianity or virginity should be a separate issue.
Iris, sorry if I unintentionally offended or appeared to lumped it together. It’s a reflection of my perception of her developed from recent press reporting. Not intentionally trying to offend any Christian and virgin.
He has second lead roles before, but he failed so badly.
Matthew Ko has the wrong timing. When he was promoted, there were a lot of male leads in Txb hence he can’t have a chance. Now when Txb is lacking male lead, they decided to demote him.
Now TVB is lacking male lead, but TVB already has a lineup to be promoted. Sadly Matthew must be deemed as incapable to enter the lineup. If anyone realized, we are seeing the exposure of Edwin Siu and Ruco Chan a lot this year.
Yes, that’s wat I tried to say. He has the wrong timing.
Do you find Matthew’s path is similar to Lai Lok Yi and Joel Ho Chan?
going back to Canada and do what? lol….
smoke weed LOLOLOL
eh… I really like him though
But he IS a pretty bad actor. So wooden. Maybe TVB hasn’t given him many chances (i.e. stuffed him down people’s throats) but I can’t with young people complaining when we have veterans who have suffered decades and might still just be in supporting roles. If people say your acting isn’t good, you tell yourself to work harder to improve, not I will quit the job because not enough people are praising/like me.
I think he needs to keep on trying if he really has the passion for acting. He gives up too easily and has to realize that the road to fame or anything is not generally easy. Of course some have it easier than others, but I think if he thought of Wayne,Wilson and many others that have endured so much for 20+ and 30+ years, he will realize that what he is going through is not much at all. Everyone is faced with criticism when you are new to anything so to give up shows what a quitter you are. I hope he continues and does not give up. Unless he has a back up plan, otherwise, what is the point of him going back to Canada???
Totally agreed with you!!!
Why don’t you think that he has something else to do in Canada to decide to come back? This decision can be bad to him, can be good to him, who can know? 20, 30, 40 years later, wat if he still can’t be famous? Sometimes giving up soon can open a new road to a person.
I did NOT say that he does not have anything to do back in Canada. Of course I don’t know for sure which is why I said,”unless he has a back up plan”. Exactly, the decision can be good or bad and who really knows?? However, I personally feel IF he truly has the passion to act then he should not give up when he is still so new to the field. But honestly, IF he is only after money and fame, then I think it would be better for him to quit and do something else. On the other hand, IF he loves acting then he should continue to pursue it and not just give up just because he is being heavily criticized. Criticism is something that we all have to face regardless of what we do or what field we are in, so we cannot avoid it. Of course, in the circle is even worse but hey, that’s just how it is…
Passion, sometimes isn’t enough. I blv he himself knows the best wat he really needs. So if he decides to give up, he has his reasons.
True,but having interest and passion in your career or anything is very important and is a big motivator in anything you want to do in life. Anyways, whatever he does is up to him… He would know what is best for him.
In this particular case of Matthew, it’s obvious that passion and interest can’t make him continue.
Well we don’t know that for sure since we are not him. However, that may be the impression that we are getting… Time will tell and lets see if he does continue or not??
and look at ruco his road was hard as well matthew at least ur getting work
To be honest, he is still very new to the acting field. He isn’t given as many roles but I did like him in Forensic heroes 2 (:
I think he should prove himself to those who says his acting is bad. I hope he succeeds and I support him in the decisions he makes. (:
*if what hk media is saying is true*
Matthew is my fave Mr.Hong Kong. I loved him in Show Me the Happy!
no i actually really like him. i think he has improved over the years.
I don’t think I have seen him in anything yet. He should be more realistic though and wake up to the fact that he is with TVB.
There are older actors who have slaved away for 10-20 years and still only get small supporting roles or extended extra jobs.
Expecting to get a supporting lead or lead within the first few years is totally not realistic unless you are a no-talent, all-looks female.
I wish him luck though and hope he has the endurance to slave for a lead role.
Wouldn’t miss him if he really does quit…
of course u won’t miss him….he barely on tv lol..
He needs to talk to Wayne, and Koo Ming, these are people that had to slug through it for YEARS AND DECADES before ethey got their chance. Just saying
Wayne receives his big break with the help of producer Lee Tim Sheng. Similarly So Gay also receives this big break from his career defining role. Ruco is also an experienced actor with almost two decades of acting experience but he also got the help of producer Amy Wong who gave him his big break in TOT and includes him in many of her other dramas. Similarly that must be why Matthew laments that producers aren’t particularly giving him that opportunity.
Uh.. Matthew’s acting is at least 10 times worse than anyone on that list.
Why should there be an opportunity for him?
Not saying that Matthew’s acting is good, but that even good actors sometimes need help from a career changing character from a helpful producer to step up. There were also cases where mediocre actors or actresses got well known and step up from a lucky role.
Matthew is not a good actor yet, but I can understand his pressure when he almost give up after no producer is willing to give him any chance after his first attempt at leading role failed. Likewise I also spared a skeptical thought, is it Matthew himself who is unable to get close to any of the producers?
Jason Chan for example isn’t a good actor either, but after he bombed his leading role in MY and got criticized, we still saw him lined up as part of main ensemble cast Wayne and Moses’ lawyer series, wasn’t he?
I’m curious what did he do after he was criticised? Was it simply frustration, or did he tried ways to improve himself? Like learning different methods of acting? Maybe sitting in during the TVB training class? Or auditioning for roles in plays?
From someone who says “Sergeant Tabloid is the last chance I give myself. If the results of this drama are not good, then I’ll leave the entertainment industry and head back to Canada.” He sounds very defeatist.
So, was he sitting around and waiting or actively trying to get roles?
Or maybe it was his attitude? He himself said he was young and immature when he was acting in Men in Charge. Did the producer have a bad impression of him due to his immaturity? We often see those obedient ones like Linda getting promoted despite their bad acting.
Actually Jason’s case is more like Christine Kuo’s.
While Jason’s acting may have bombed, his image had not. There was a poll on Jaynestars on who is the true diamond bachelor in TVB, which included Jason and the other siu sangs like KM, Ron, and Bosco, when I voted, I was surprised that Jason’s votes were quite high. Despite his bad acting, women have a good impression of him, and to TVB = make money.
Likewise, Christine, also has a large male fanbase, judging by how high she is ranked on the hkgolden “goddess” poll, higher than any other tvb actress = make more money.
Therefore, TVB is willing to invest more in them.
There is no acting school in Txb now. The last one closed long ago and even the short-term ones for internal artists also closed.
I thought the 26th acting class just complete? Check the weibo of some of the 2012 MHK finalists. There were 30+ people in the class i believe.
Do you have the link, Nicole? Because I have a frd working for Txb and he still says there is none. They had troubles with the teachers something like that.
just go search weibo.
http://s.weibo.com/weibo/D26K&Refer=STopic_box
Nice to see if they really reopen :). It can give the new blood to Txb. It’s really tired to see same and same ppl on Txb series in a year, like some who have 4-5 series per year.
However, will Txb give these artists chance to have big roles?
Can check the list of graduates here.
http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%84%A1%E7%B7%9A%E9%9B%BB%E8%A6%96%E8%97%9D%E5%93%A1%E8%A8%93%E7%B7%B4%E7%8F%AD
Interesting to see that Matt Yeung went for TVB acting class with RL and TY, but in 2007, signed up for the class again. (I think this is the time he was in trouble with the law), and only in 2011, did TVB start giving him more prominent roles. So from 1998 to now, he’s still trying..
Matthew Ko acts much worse than Matt Yeung, so why is he complaining? I dont see his name in the training class list at all.
Matt Yeung’s scandal mostly ruined all of his chances before, didn’t him? But I always think Matt Yeung can act. I like him in The W File, he was so cute!
I didn’t know Ron was in the same acting class with Kenneth Ma. I thought he was picked straight from dancing class.
Its too early to quit especially when the producers are giving him chances and trying him out. If he is serious about acting, he should consider taking up acting classes.
i love how eric, oscar and edwin plays around
at least he’s not as annoying as Jason Chan.
I don’t know why everyone is saying that Jason Chan’s acting is bad. I personally don’t think so and he is pretty good for a newcomer. Even my mom who is very critical even praised that his acting is decent for a newcomer. I guess acting is just so subjective that can really like or hate a person’s acting.
backpack
Jason Chan = Unnatural body languages and expressions.
Jason Chan is also too old at 35/36 to be promoted like a newcomer. It showed in close ups and large TV screens. It’s more profitable in the long run to give the chance to young newcomer. TVB still has Hero Yuen and Nathan Ngai who are in their early 20’s.
Hero Yuen is too short. If TVB promotes him, he can only act in little brother roles for years (check: Oscar Leung).
Wong Cho Lam is also short but he has a lot of work and acting opportunities. If TVB wants to promote him they can also custom made a character for him. Isn’t Oscar Leung also getting a lot of exposure now despite deemed as short?
Nathan Ngai is very handsome and fit and gained attention from THC, but what was the reason TVB didn’t include him in the promotional lineup?
I found him mediocre and forgettable in ST. I think he should give himself a few other chances and prove himself worthy first in front of the producers so that they can give him that career defining role.
I’m watching the Take Care2, and his acting is not up to per in compare to the 1st Take Care with that bald guy as the church thingy again.
How come he doesn’t ask himself if acting is in his blood?
He definitely did suck in his early years, but he has had major improvements since. I hope he’ll get better jobs since TVB seems to be placing him in very kelefe roles these days.
I still think he’s the handsomest of all the Mr HKs (the first one as well I think?)
I agree that he’s the most handsomest of Mr. HK, though Benjamin Yuen ain’t bad either. I remember that Matthew was very popular in the gay community during the competition – he’s more of a twink than a bear.
No.Benjamin Yuen is most handsome.
@ Cara
I thought the one popular within gay community is Stefan Wong. That’s the impression I got from ‘We Are Family’.
You know what Matthew, you still can’t act. Sorry too that I found Benjamin Yuen more handsome and can act better than you although you start actung first!
Who said that you had to act well to get known or famous?? I feel it will be a waste if Matthew quits because there are plenty in the circle who are popular and known but can’t act if their life depended on it. But they are famous,popular and raking in the bucks…
I blv you’ve said that the acting is subjective, so being a full-time actor, he has a lot of ppl who think he can act to write a name in stardom. It doesn’t matter if there are many ppl think he can’t act but at the same time, many other ppl think he can act. Sad that in Matthew’s case, the amount of ppl think he can act is minimal.
Yes, acting is subjective but yea, the majority still has to like your acting. However, staying in the circle is based on timing, luck and other factors too. Therefore, lets see if Matthew has that or not??
Probably he is doubting himself. He is giving Sergeant as a gate to challenge himself.
But you asked “Who said that you had to act well to get known or famous?” then I answered you that an artist needs more ppl accept his/her acting than ppl who think s/he can’t act to be famous as an actor. In Matthew’s case, he can’t shine up to now because the amount of ppl think he can act is still minimal. That’s why he is trying to open a new path for himself if Sergeant isn’t successful.