Priscilla Wong “Frozen” by TVB; Grace Chan and Sisley Choi Become New Favorites
With its top stars heading towards the more lucrative Mainland market, TVB has been lacking artistes to lead its television dramas. TV Queen, Myolie Wu (胡杏兒), is speculated to leave the station once her contract expires next year. Priscilla Wong (黃翠如) was promoted as an upcoming fadan, until she became a victim of internal politics, causing TVB to shift its resources behind Miss Hong Kong 2013 winners, Grace Chan (陳凱琳) and Sisley Choi (蔡思貝).
Priscilla Wong Left in “Freezer”
Priscilla previously received an endless offer of jobs since she was heavily favored by TVB Director of Production, Sandy Yu (余詠珊). A former i-cable anchor, Priscilla joined TVB in 2012 and was immediately given lead roles in Reality Check <心路GPS> and Karma Rider <師父·明白了>.
Unfortunately for Priscilla, Sandy has always been at odds with TVB Director of Drama Production, Catherine Tsang (曾勵珍). Because of rivalry between the two executives, Priscilla was ultimately cast aside and suffered from a loss of jobs.
Grace Chan and Sisley Choi Dominate As Newcomers
After last year’s Miss Hong Kong pageant, Grace Chan and Sisley Choi were quickly promoted from hosting variety shows to acting in dramas. Despite their limited experience in the entertainment industry, both were highly praised by colleagues as being quick learners.
Singled out due to her beauty and elegance, Grace was cast in Overachievers <商戰> and Quid Pro Quo <四個女仔三個Bar>. She is given the chance to shine as female lead in period drama Pirate Cheung <張保仔> opposite Ruco Chan (陳展鵬).
First runner-up, Sisley has also been heavily promoted by TVB. After Overachievers, and Officer Geomancer <八卦神探>, Sisley is the female lead in youth drama Cross the Finish Line <衝線>.
Missing in Action
With Grace and Sisley designated as the hot new faces at TVB, many are wondering what happened to the station’s former favorites. Aside from Eliza Sam (岑麗香), who won Most Improved Actress at the 2013 TVB Anniversary Awards and has ventured into filming movies, there are not many actresses left to promote.
Goddess Christine Kuo (苟芸慧) ultimately lost her status to Eliza after gaining significant weight this year. Although Christine has recovered from hypothyroidism and is under a weight management regime, her weight continues to fluctuate. Christine has been noticeably absent at recent promotional events and has not been cast in any prominent roles.
Aimee Chan (陳茵媺) extended her maternity leave after becoming pregnant with her second baby. Due to her devotion to her family, it is unclear when Aimee will be able to resume acting again.
This article is written by Su for JayneStars.com.
Oh yea!
Love all these palace intrigues.
noooooo i love Priscilla Wong! 🙁 how come my favorites always get dismissed!!! yeah not surprised, Grace is a shoe shiner. she’ll raise with no doubt.
The Board should just sack catherine Tsang.
She think she is Dowager ?
Or she is the Real Owner of TVB
Is there a difference between Director of Production and Director of Drama Production? Who’s more senior? Might as well sack Sandy too.
sack the whole lot & sell licence to CityTV
No can do. Who knows who she is related to in that inner circle. 😀 🙁 LOL!
I actually find priscilla pretty, good picture of her above.
She has the aura of an early charmaine….I see potential in her out of the batch as well as eliza.
I think sisley is overrated…dont find her attractive what so ever. Grace is decent and i will wait to see her performances to judge her.
No need to wait for Grace’s performance. She can’t be good, she’s horrible.
“Singled out due to her beauty and elegance, Grace was cast in Overachievers and Quid Pro Quo”
I wanna puke on this sentence !!!!!
well, at least Grace’s face is still the same as she was young, not like Annie Liu (劉心悠). She totally got made over with other’s face, and I cant understand why she is called Goddess if it’s a fake beauty.
really not like the old days, where all the true beauty is shown, only difference is make up.
Annie Liu still look the same as she was in Ah Sou. I don’t think she did anything extreme to her face.
OMG. Finally someone who feels the same way as me. Grace is beautiful (and the prettiest of the 3 in the photo) but I have this feeling that she is quite fake deep down inside. Anyone watch that over the top ‘performance’ she had on the eating show?
BUT I still think it is better to let Grace and Sisley take lead for once… even though I think they are climbing too fast. Priscilla isn’t even fadan material and I’m sure a lot of people were like, WTF? when she was cast as lead in her first role. Totally got in through connections. Yuck.
Oh yeah, what about Gloria Tang, Tracy Chu, Jacqueline Wong, Carat Cheung (not a fan), Grace Wong??
Guys, whatever happened to Rebecca Zhu? LOL. She really seemed to have disappeared off the face of the Earth.
Oh yeah, a few more months until Veronica Shiu gets promoted like hot cakes. LOL
They all slept with the directors.
lol
Grace is pretty but reeks of “beauty pageant”.
Sisley is seriously so average even for the general community!!! even with makeup she’s still so average!
Sisely is less than average
I prefer Sisley over grace. To be honest, I find Grace rather fake when it comes to interviews, over the top as someone mentioned above. Although grace seems pretty well spoken and intelligent in her own ways and I do agree, I like sisley’s direct and outgoing personality. Personality over looks wins my vote.
sisley looks like a man. holy low standards for a miss hk runnerup
Before they became TVB fadans, Myolie, Linda, Tavia, Charmaine all look and were average. If someone as constipated as Myolie, as pretentious as Linda, as nose-jobbed Tavia, and as overrated as Charmaine can become fadans, Sisley can too. At the very least she’s athletic and doesn’t only rely on her looks, like Grace, to succeed.
I prefer Priscilla’s “girl-next-door” look.
Hear, hear. I totally agree. Priscilla is much better than those two. If this is true, shame on them to freeze her. She will be forced to go mainland. What a waste
Suddenly tracy Chu is ‘gone’ and not mentioned.
And how can first timers like those 2 newcomers be cast as female leads??? TVB is just too much, its management does not deserve respect. The circus is getting out of hand.
Yeah, I wonder why she has disappeared too. Was she another frozen case?
Tvb is running out of leading females and males but in this case they need to quickly boast new female fadans. But honestly I prefer Grace over Priscilla Wong. Priscilla Wong is overrated and was leading as first lead when she first came out and she wasn’t even that good at acting or pretty. And she never casted as a extra or supporting cast first before starting 1st leading role.
without 國際親善小姐, miss Hk is doing not much so they have no choice to host or filming serie…
What does the award have to do with MSHKs having nothing to do? Can you elaborate a little?
The winner this award represent for social activity to the word… I did not remember since when they did giving this award… I think since they giving a tourism ambassador award.
Back in the time, most of miss hk win this award to…
Probably, they stop this award because not miss hk winner did not win this award…
English title
Miss international goodwill
Hate politics at work! When one is at odds with the higher level doesn’t matter he/she performs or not, the future is doomed. It’s time to move on, Priscilla.
Good no more Priscilla!
I was thinking the same thing high five girl.
Well, Priscilla climbed up through connections, so it’s what brought her down.
This is what happened when TVB couldn’t keep this artists. The fadans are leaving one by one, so we’re stuck with the MHKs.
U do realize that most fadans r miss HKs and miss internationals, rite?
Yeeah most of them are except michelle yim, and esther kwan and a couple of others i cant think of.
@Hannah Thats right you cant just used the connection ladder and last forever unless your dad the boss. But you gotta have some true talent and fans first.
At first I really disliked Priscilla- she got into the industry VIA connections. However, I actually like her now. Her performances give a vey genuine and real feel. I feel like in this world, who doesn’t use connections? If you were offered a female lead, would you take it?
I agree, I didn’t quite like the idea of Priscilla leading at first due to all the negative news, but if we think about it again, who hasn’t used connections to get something. In reality there will be times where we have gotten an opportunity through a connections intentional or unintentional. And when we do have an opportunity in front of us, will we really say “no” when have bills to pay? I just feel like it’s sometimes easy to make judgement, but we never really know unless we are faced with the same situation. However, that being said, I am not saying that the unfair process should be accepted. I still think it is unfair that something needs to be changed, but I feel like we should also recognized that it is also the internal politics that is to be blamed as well. I don’t think we should just blame everything on Priscilla and see her through tainted lenses.
Giving priscilla these roles was a mistake from the beginning. She cant act and she aint even that pretty. I actually dont mind the fact that TVB is giving the newcomers a try. Sick and tired of watching the same pplz that cant act anyways.
So true agree with you with everything
Out of those 3 pictures, I find Priscilla looks the most natural. Grace’s cheeks look odd in that pic. Maybe it’s the angle, the make-up but she looks way skinny on the face.
Yes, Priscilla did become lead way too fast, but her acting isn’t that bad. Her roles had been lighthearted and very girl-next-door. I feel she pulled them off well. But now aren’t Grace and Sisley being promoted the same way? They’re leading dramas already right? So for those who dislike Priscilla because of her connection, the other two MHKs are doing the same thing.
In the end, everyone needs connections…
That’s because Priscilla Wong has alot of make up on and her photo is Photoshopped in some of the areas like the skin so she seems more white.
I don’t know why so many people dislike Priscilla. I personally find her really down to earth and natural when she’s acting…her first few dramas were alil awk though but she’s gotten way better. Tbh I don’t know why people are always praising Grace. Yes she’s pretty but I never found her “goddess” like though. Gotta see her acting to judge her. And Sisley…she’s….eh
agree with you…i am not fans of any or them…but i rather Priscilla Wong than those two!
Me three! Rather Pris than these 2 “beauties”.
My relative keeps saying that her chin looks as sharp as an ax. They keep implying that it can’t be real. LOL
but just look at her profile. It is so damn pointy.
I agree I Locke her acting better than eliza too fake and obvious plastic surgery
Priscilla is what i would call plain. Grace is what i would call exotic. Sisley is what i would call youthful.
Right now Grace & Sisley are highly promoted, but it’s not like Priscilla wont get her chance.
Priscilla Wong already got her chance and she didn’t succeeded in it.
I get that TVB wants to heavily promote Grace and Sisley, but I don’t think that TVB should throw them into the deep end so soon when their experience is so little/next to none. Even if they are fast learners, if they don’t deliver in their leading roles, it’ll only reflect badly on TVB and drag the drama down.
There are so many artist at TVB that have been there for years and they are lucky to even be casted in a drama, let alone have leading roles, yet it practically gets handed to Grace and Sisley on a plate.
Not only the experience,but it’s hard for audiences to accept newcomers so fast as lead actors In series, along side those who do have the experience, skills and familiarity that audiences already have with those actors…I get that tvb wants to promote newcomers, but what the heck ,they’re being thrown into the deep end so soon. Tvb has many actors that they constantly use as supporting roles who can act as leads over these newcomers. Why why why…
Exactly! Also, as more newcomers arrive into TVB the ‘old’ ones are being pushed further and further back from chances/opportunities they’ve probably worked years to try and achieve
I feel like part of the article is a little exaggerated. Agreed that if Myolie leaves TVB for mainland, they will have lost an artist, but at the same time, she has been with the station since 1999, which is 15 years already. It’s time for her to expand out further for more opportunities and let newcomers have a chance.
That said, TVB is very contradicting in itself. Priscilla is a fairly good actress and for someone with little acting experience, she did well in her first lead role and improved gradually in the later two. They are invested in her and if they drop her now, it’s not quite smart. It’s funny how when Sire’s scandal leaked, TVB sought to protect her even though she only had supporting actress status. Sire is Virginia’s favorite so it’s different management executives fighting, I get it.
I’m not against TVB promoting Grace or Sisley or anyone really because I feel like they have been pretty slow at promoting new artists except for Eliza who has been taking co-female leads perhaps. Myolie, Tavia, and Kate are in their mid-thirties already so it’s time to have a new generation of stars.
And Aimee who is on maternity leave, she wouldn’t be back until she’s 35 maybe and her prime years of acting may have been over. Given she’s not that great of an actress and still has an accent after all these years, she’ll probably just be back to film for fun. Can’t really take her acting career seriously.
I don’t know why they can’t promote Grace, Sisley, and Priscilla at the same time because they don’t have enough capable people anyway. It’s just silly that TVB rather depend on Aimee coming back than to promote more, new capable artists. Priscilla seems to be more well-liked by the audience anyway.
well said. I guess whoever own TVB should redundant those two executives, they clearly play politics as priority, not putting company’s interest first to generate income. how stupid
Agree. The victims are TVB artistes.
i dont understand why the big boss of tvb let all this happen? if managers are at odds with each other, they can cause much damage for the company in many levels,even leading the company to collapse.
The big boss died I think his sons are the big boss now and no one can make a decision so they just let mangers and productions and other people make the decisions.
It’s not very fair how all of them got to be promoted to lead actresses already…
That’s how the entertainment business works…
well! is actually not that very fair for the wonderful good actress such as Myolie wu,Priscilla Wong they are quite good actors and not bad at all!!!! i think is too early that Grace and Sisley is promoting the lead too early!!!!! 🙂
What about the previous Miss HK winners?
There are many MHKs and acting class graduates they can groom. Why focus only of Sisley and Grace?
As per TVB records, if you don’t get promoted within 2 years after crowning, you will be dead forever. Tracy Yip, Kayi Cheung, Skye Chan, Toby Chan, Rebecca Zhu, Carat Cheung, and many others.
Dude. I forgot about Tracy Ip. I really liked her.
Her and Grace Wong. Girl tries so hard but it really seems like TVB hates her. LOL poor girl
Yeah. Grace Wong and Tracy Ip have improved a lot in their acting skills. Grace speaks even decent Cantonese now. Tracy Ip was the winner the year after Kate Tsui. Kate Tsui was highly promoted by TVB, but not Tracy Ip. I did not find Kate that pretty when she won Miss Hong Kong vs. Tracy.
Actually Kate has her frozened time after crowning MHK, especially the period when she won the newbie movie award. She was badmouthed by some other actresses to the executives. She later learned how to live in peace with other actresses and slowly, she was promoted again.
I think Kate is well deserved her Miss status. She has performed well that time despite that she wasnt deadly beautiful.
Alluka:
You think so. I tend to disagree with you this time. Kate Tsui performed better when she was acting tomboy roles, but now she worries too much about her pretty image. I don’t see much acting these days. All I see in her is her extra long fake eye-lashes. She always blinked her eyes slowly in every scene, and I got tired of them. She could be very versatile in her roles, but I don’t see it now.
The above comments are of no offense to your post. They are just my personal opinions about Kate’s acting.
I thought you were referring to her performance in MHK competition, no? She danced and answered the question well. Her MHK status doesnt have any relationship with her acting :).
For her acting, I actually dont agree that she cares for her image too much. The makeup, well, in my opinion, is unsuitable for most of TVB current fadans. Kate isnt the only case. For example, I really dont understand why the cakey makeup is a must for every single TVB actress when she acts in an ancient series. Even the maid roles have too much makeup. Or the cop roles, I feel uneasy to see those girls with makeup and high heels when chasing the gangsters. Since it is a trend in TVB, I dont agree that Kate should be the only blamed person.
I can see why Tracy Ip isn’t promoted. She can’t act with that plastic frozen face of hers, that’s why. Look at her in SIAC, stiff as a pole.
Alluka:
Sorry I read your post too quickly and misunderstood your points regarding Kate Tsui winning Miss Hong Kong. I did not watch her Miss HongKong Pageant Show, so I cannot comment.
I was talking about Kate Tsui’s acting in recent drama series.
I like Skye Chan (Ada in ‘Line Walker’). I don’t know whether she has gone under the knife or just better make-up technique. She has become more beautiful compared to her pageant days.
I like her after she acted as the intelligent empress in ‘Relic of An Emissary’.
I hope TVB give her more opportunities.
At sandcherry – I totally agree with what you said about Kate. I thought I was the only one who thought she did a lot better when she played a tomboy than she does now when most of her roles are similar image..to me she does care more about maintaining her ‘sexy’ image than creating an image for her characters.
Sisley and Grace seems to have created a lot of noise and is liked by the general audience. Other year’s were more controversial. Rebecca Zhu and Tracy Chu got their chance but didn’t receive a lot of positive reception. I haven’t seen Tracy yet so it’s hard to say, but she has a personable demeanor, almost like Linda Chung.
I really like Grace Wong and she had good reception in Awfully Lawfully if I remember correctly, but TVB didn’t seem to care.
Sisley and Grace seems to have created a lot of noise and is liked by the general audience.
————————————————————–
Probably that is the reason why TVB wants to promote them ……….. well accepted by Hong Kong audience.
i don’t mind Priscilla acting. Feel bad for her that she is now frozen.
TVB is going DOWN with more these pretty face actresses with no experience in acting leadind drama.
so true! agree!
That’s how TVB always had operated? Did you think that Maggie Cheung Man Yuk was anything more than a flower vase when she first started her ‘acting’ career at TVB? Ha. Ha.
And for that matter, the ‘pretty ones’ who were given a chance but can’t act will be dropped soon enough.
TVB kind of sucks at a lot of things but I do believe in their eye for talent. People always like to complain about the lack of talent in tvb these days but honestly, I do not find 80s or 90s tvb series generally better in terms of acting (most of them are better story/script/production wise of course). If anything a lot of 80s ‘acting methods’ seem beyond cheesy to me.
I wish they would promote experienced actresses like Natalie Tong, Nancy Wu, Mandy Wong, Elaine Yiu, etc. who can actually act.
Grace is pretty but too green and lack experience to play the lead. Sisley is just plain and blah. Priscilla speaks funny, reminds me of how Michelle Ye speaks.
i only want natalie tong to become lead,the others you mentioned are not really leading material in my eyes altough they can act.grace is green but i think its a right choice because she can attract a lot of viewers due to her fresh and pretty face. sisley seems plain but i have some feeling that she is a very talented one.
Mandy, Nancy and Elaine are running in the path of Mary Hon in the past. TVB never invest them enough and later, they will act mother roles for TVB.
I also wish that TVB would promote more experienced actresses as mentioned in Jane’s comment. These actresses have improved over the years and I think all of them could be the lead. I think it’s difficult to say whether someone is ‘leading actor/actress material’ because I think you can only really tell when you see them in a series acting as the lead. I remember an actress once said in an interview before that a director told them that they would never be cast as a lead because they don’t have the looks, but yet they were cast as a lead further down the track in their career.
I think Nancy deserves leading actress roles!
Man, just as Priscilla starts to win the audience’s favour, she gets kicked. I really hope this isn’t true because I really like her now. At first she was kind of meh but her in series like Karma Rider and her latest drama, she was great.
Priscilla Wong’s acting is not too bad, but her voice is rather annoying.
I kinda doubt that Priscilla will be frozen long. She is still under the favourism of Sandy Yu.
I actually like Priscilla. She comes across more real than the rest.
Agree! She does seem like a very genuine person. I find it very comfortable watching her onscreen. Of course her acting has room for improvement, but I don’t find her acting bad at all. She can act imo.
These executives and their politics is the death of TVB
Longing for new female faces for its production… good news! Sick of seeing Tavia, Myolie, Kate and now big face Tin! They should follow Charmaine’s footsteps, leave TVB and come back once or twice a year to favour TVB.
haha big face Tin!
I personally prefer Priscilla to do hosting job instead of acting job.
Can someone tell me which one is Priscilla, Grace and Sisley in the top picture?
The far left one is Priscilla Wong, middle one is Grace Chan and far right is Sisley Choi.
Thank u!
Never liked Priscilla much. waiting to see grace and sisley act
Another one that is heavily promoted by Tsang this year is Samantha Ko. Personally I don’t like her that much.
Candy Chang has been frozen too and Tracy Chu is now relegated to small supporting roles.
As I said, if an actress doesn’t get promoted by TVB or not accepted by Hongkong audience during the first two years, she will be neglected for good.
Joyce Tang once said in an interview that TVB will promote and then frozen an artist sometimes during her/his contract. The reason for the frozen policy is that TVB wants the artists to know that TVB can give them fame then can take it away. Artists, after being frozen, mostly choose to sign long contract with TVB to have some promotions again. TVB then will give them some chances to see if they can use those chances to shine or not. If s/he can pass that frozened period and get praises from audience, s/he will be promoted again. If s/he fades away, TVB will downgrade them.
That is very sad for any artistes. Therefore, it is entirely up to TVB to do whatever they wish.
May I know where you watched or read that interview from? Cos that’s seriously the first I’ve heard , and very sad if it’s true
And if it is true , how come I don’t see tvb freezing Eliza Sam…she’s getting roles after roles after roles. Hard to believe tvb will freeze her any time soon.
I read it at least 5-6 years ago, therefore it is imposible to send you a link. The frozen period can happen 5-6 years since their debut or immediately, up to TVB’s sole decision
I actually thought that Candy was pretty good in On Call 36
I think Priscilla along with Linda are the friendliest and modest actresses in TVB (judging the interviews and shows I have seen of them). Priscilla’s acting is quite natural as a newcomer and I think she has a special charm to her. So I hope this report isn’t true.
I actually prefer priscilla wong over eliza sam and will have to judge the two miss hk after their drama come out. Also, if you look closer, priscilla doesn’t look average. She has the tv face whereas grace and sisley look so average. Alot of girls nowadays have minor plastic surgeries and I think alot of girls look like graceand sisley
I think Priscilla and Eliza are cute. Eliza especially is very attractive with her nice body, sweet smile and cute face. Priscilla has an average body but her face is cute.
Priscilla looks and acting it could relates to the audiences…not just some pretty face and try acting cute..
I don’t mind TVB pushing out these fresh and younger actresses to the limelight. To be honest it can be tiring to keep watching the same faces ( Tavia, Myolie, Kate, Linda) all over again.
Grace is too thin, no boobs, but her face and smile is 8 or 9. Sisley is a bit too thin too and not that pretty, but she’s kinda cute.
who else think this sisley girl is ugly other than me?
This pic makes Sisley look like a heong hai mui (canto for fresh off the boat). No star appeal whatsoever.
+1
+2, toby lookalike
Grace is pretty. Sisley and Priscilla.. not pretty at all.
grace wong? who? I thought is grace chan
Am glad TVB is promoting grace…never seen her act or anything on live tv but based on looks alone TVB made the right call. Can’t stand entertainment industry in the last 25 years moving away from natural and stunning beauties (both men and women) and going with non-traditional looks and girl/boy next doors. How Myolie or charmaine can make it as stars is beyond comprehension. Charmaine in particular is simply put ugly to a very high degree. Ever seen Korean dramas and Western soap operas? All beautiful people…only beautiful people deserve to be stars…laws of nature don’t hate me for being the messenger.
“All beautiful people…only beautiful people deserve to be stars…laws of nature don’t hate me for being the messenger.” Lol, so acting skills don’t matter at all? There is no such thing as someone deserving or not to be a star. It is about acting skills as well as how much hard work one puts in. No one is ugly, it is all in the eye of the beholder. Some people do not think that Grace is all that pretty, but some people think she is beautiful. I like western series because they focus one the actor/actress’s acting, not just looks. It isn’t fair that they promote Grace and Sisley when people like Selena, Natalie, Elaine, and Nancy have been waiting all these years just to hav e a chance at lead.
Agreed @Angel
does it matter who u promote? or even if u have big actors like louis koo or nick cheung or even chow yun fat back…with ur uncreative stories, same old lame and boring dialogue, no style to ur shows, and low and cheap production, with the same style of sets
nobody will watch your shows regardless of who acts in them
Does tvb realized that they rating is gone down…
I love back on the time actor, actress
Like Felix, tony, Michael, Andy etc
Kitty, Maggie, Sheren, dodo etc
Yuck Sisley Choi has the facial features of a witch. Poor Priscilla.
Don’t really like all three of them. Why can’t TVB promote Nancy, Selena or Natalie instead?
I like Nancy, Selena, and Natalie. It’s too bad that TVB doesn’t seem to pay attention to them (which I find a bit rude). They’re great actress.
This is good news! Don’t really need to know the reason and don’t really know the other two actresses.
Tvb is so unfair. At least Priscilla has Been in this industry for quite a while. It’s fair that She’s given the lead role. Unlike the other two who just got in last year through mhk. They are in tvb for about a year and they got leading roles already. Even Jacqueline carat,and Tracy are not even given lead roles yet. Lastly, the internal disagreement between the two directors of Tvb should not even drag any artists down. This Just my opinion. No hates or what. Just my point of view
I have nothing against promoting new artises however, you cannot promote someone to be a lead when he or she doesn’t have the potential in acting. You need to wake up tvb. You are losing the audience. I stopped watching tvb series for 2 years now but I do still browse here and there to read news about artises coz I like them. I heard line Walker is really good series however I do not have any intention to give it a try unless it still highly praise after the series ended, coz most of the time, the start of the series seems to be so good but after a few episodes its lost the plot and it becomes boring and draggy and lost its meaning. This is how tvb series have been lately.