While one can claim that Lawrence Ng’s (吳啟華) portrayal of a kindhearted and earnest doctor in TVB’s Healing Hearts <妙手仁心> is one of the defining moments in his acting career, Lawrence went through a rough period to gain his clean and healthy image back after starring in a slew of soft porn, or Category III films, in the 1990s. In 1991, Lawrence was the male lead in Category III movie, Sex and Zen <玉蒲團之偷情寶鑑> with Amy Yip (葉子楣). The film’s box office surpassed expectations and raked in close to $200 million HKD, making it one of the highest grossing Category III films at that time. However, Lawrence claimed he was manipulated into making the film which unfortunately labeled him as an adult-film actor. Lawrence explained how he came to star in Sex and Zen, “I worked with Amy previously in a triad film. In the film, I portrayed a horny boy who tried to seduce Amy. There was a scene where I had to run naked too, but of course that was done by a body double because I draw the line when it comes to nudity onscreen!” “I received some rave reviews for my performance in the film and I felt confident about my acting as well. Because of this, my relationship with the producer Johnny Mac (麥當雄) was pretty good. He expressed interest to cast me as the male lead for a period-film. At the same time I also accepted a role in The Actress <阮玲玉>, so with two films under my belt, I felt really lucky. “When I started reading the script for Sex and Zen, I realized my character was completely not what I had imagined. Unfortunately, the director said that if I did not continue filming Sex and Zen, I’ll have to pay $200 million HKD for backing out of the contract. It was such a big deal that even the director of The Actress got involved, and he told me to just film Sex and Zen. “I was really unhappy after the shooting wrapped up. Shortly after, I got married in Thailand and was ready to start a small business and retire from acting. You can call it hiding because I had starred in Category III films, which made me feel as if I was making a porn film. During filming, I remember the director shouted, ‘Hey Lawrence! Grab Amy’s breast and squeeze it tight!’ As an actor, being forced [into such situations] was not enjoyable at all. enjoy acting in that type of environment, but at the time, my career was not really going anywhere and in order to make a living, I did not have a choice!”
