Raymond Lam’s Real Reason for Leaving TVB
Leaving TVB in 2014, Raymond Lam (林峯) finally reveals the true reason behind his departure in a recent interview. Having worked with TVB since 1998 after graduating from the station’s acting class, Raymond explained that he left after losing passion due to repetition in his roles.
“To be honest, I’ve thought about this for two to three years before making my final decision. After working for so many years, a lot of the material was becoming repetitive and I’ve already played all the different types of characters there are. I slowly lost my inner fire. I left in hopes that I could get a breakthrough in my career, and gain more experience outside of television dramas that would help me with filming later on,” said the 40-year-old actor.
Born in a wealthy family, Raymond was frequently faced with gossip that attributes his success to his background. Winning the Asia Pacific Most Popular Male Singer title in the 2009 Jade Solid Gold Awards, Raymond secretly hoped that he wouldn’t win since people would say the award was rigged in his favor.
After leaving TVB, Raymond signed with Emperor Entertainment Group (EEG) and focused his career on the Mainland Chinese market. This year, Raymond signed with Louis Koo’s (古天樂) company since he trusts his long-time friend to know what he wants. Raymond is thrilled to be taking on new opportunities since, and was excited about his antagonistic role in the movie P Storm <P 風暴>.
Raymond expressed, “Everyone who truly knows me understand that I don’t want to play the same type of roles over and over again. Even if I’m playing a protagonist, I always try my best to ensure my character is different each time. I really want to thank Louis for letting me play the villain for once. I’ve had endless thoughts on playing the bad guy in my head and how I would do so if I had a chance.”
Joins Voice Entertainment
Leaving TVB on good terms in 2014, Raymond was welcomed back to the station when he agreed to film Line Walker 3 <使徒行者 3>. The biggest influence was actually TVB executive Felix To (杜之克), and Raymond expressed his excitement on seeing his old colleagues again.
Also signing with Voice Entertainment this year, Raymond’s songs will likely be featured in TVB dramas. Fans recall some of Raymond’s most successful TVB songs, “Love Finds You in Memories” <愛在記憶中> “Love is Not Enough” <愛不疚>, as well as the themes for Eternal Happiness <再生緣>, Remember to Forget <記得忘記>, Drive of Life <歲月風雲> and Moonlight Resonance <溏心風暴之家好月圓>. As 2020 marks the 20th year since his debut, Raymond will doing a special concert tour.
Raymond’s Interview
Source: Yahoo HK
This article is written by Su for JayneStars.com.
Raymond Lam: “Louis Koo Knows What I’m Looking for in My Career”
Raymond is on a per-series contract with TVB, correct? I can’t imagine him signing on to a slave management contract lasting years.
Nonetheless, this will be one of the few bright spots TVB has remaining.
@anon Yes, Raymond is now managed by Louis Koo’s company. I’m sure we’ll see him in more of Louis’ movies, but Raymond can also film with TVB or Shaw Brothers. It’s based on per-series contract.
Although many TVB artistes may not renew their contracts, they are still active in Hong Kong and sooner and later may end up working with the station again on a per series contract.
Its true he didnt really have any complex roles in his time at TVB. The only villain role was in Step in the Past I think.
@megamiaow He also played a villain in Men with No Shadows, the drama where he used an apple to hypnotize people.
@kokomo haha I remember that drama it reminded me of Death Note him being Light.
@kokomo He wasnt really that evil was he? The script was quite bad so I don’t really remember it.
@megamiaow TBH, I don’t quite remember too much of that drama because I agree with you, the drama was not that good. I just remember he was the main villain. If I remember correctly, he wanted to get revenge on Bobby Au-Yeung’s character for his parents’ death. But he was super kind and caring towards his sister (played by Mandy Wong) who was in a coma. That’s pretty much all I remember.
I can’t believe Raymond Lam is 40 now!! Time flies, I’ve always thought he was younger. Back in the days when he was in Heart Of Greed and acting with Linda Chung etc. Good days. I’ll always remember that song 放手 song.
@oligodendrocytes I like him in Heart of Greed too.
yup i could tell he lost his passion a while ago before he left tvb. it was very noticeable. even now he seems to be going through the motions. but i hope that louis instilled some new vigor and energy into his acting and he won’t rely on passive acting mode like he did before.
@coralie True but even after he started to venture in Chinese TV productions after leaving TVB, he did not seem to inject the enthusiasm he had when he first started out.
@bearbear Agreed. I actually really enjoyed him in A Step Into the Past & Eternal Happiness. I know people disagree with me and think he couldn’t act back then, but he had a lot of potential. His lack of excitement over his projects now shows, but I can’t blame him. His roles aren’t exactly exciting, like he mentioned in here. Always the good guy, no change from his usual characters, he only needs to display the bare minimum to pass the grade. So why put in more effort?
@coralie Agree! Thought his acting was quite good as a rookie in his earlier drama, including A Taste of Love.
He was considered as top TVB actor with huge fans.
But I felt his acting skills deteriorate when he started singing & named “chok” king.
Wonder why he left EEG.
Hope to see better acting & role in his new drama, Line walker 3
@bennyjr Yes, I’m looking forward to Line Walker 3 as well. Hope it’s as good as the 1st one he was in.
@bennyjr by the time chok phase came around, he was already losing interest in acting. the chok phase only exacerbated his acting skills, because in order to maintain a ‘chok’ persona, he had to forgo ugly expressions, which in turn, limited his range.
i feel the same about charmaine. they recycle the same expressions over and over. passive acting at its best. after all, if it worked for them before, no point in changing things.
Not only charmaine but the whole 2000 fadan (myolie, tavia, kate). They all seemed to have lost passion and it shows so much in their later works. I used to like them when they started. Linda also lost passion but I dont consider her a fadan because she cant act.