Entering her sixth year in the industry, Mandy Wong’s (黃智雯) road to stardom was not particularly difficult. Blessed with a supportive family and a great group of friends and mentors, Mandy considers herself as a fortunate star. “There are those people who would be willing to do anything to get to the top, but fortunately, I have not encountered these people yet. Maybe someone did try to pull me down before, but I just wasn’t aware of it.” The 30-year-old knew she was meant to be a performer at a young age. Before graduating high school, she has already decided that she would attend the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. Though she spent two years at the college studying for modern dance, she decided to switch her major into acting when she was recommended by a professor. Mandy joined the industry through the Miss Hong Kong Pageant in 2007. A hot favorite to win, Mandy managed to become a top five finalist, but failed to win the crown. As Mandy’s sole purpose of competing in the pageant was to ease her way into TVB’s acting class, Mandy was not at all disappointed in her loss. In fact, she preferred it. Mandy immediately enrolled herself in TVB’s acting class after the pageant was over, later graduating in 2008. Mandy’s first role after graduating acting class was “Donna Chan” from 2008’s Moonlight Resonance <溏心風暴之家好月圓>. Not only was it Mandy’s debut role, it was also Mandy’s first speaking role – a character with a name, and a script. As many TVB acting graduates tend to spend a few years portraying green leaf roles, Mandy was very fortunate. “I have been fortunate for my whole life,” said Mandy. “I never really had to struggle. Even when my parents divorced, our relationship never changed. I live with my mother, but I am still in contact with my father. My family wasn’t very well-off when I was younger, but it wasn’t to the point where we were living by the paycheck. However, since I was really young, I worked as a tutor to earn my own pocket money. Maybe that’s why my mother is very confident in me. When I told her I wanted to be a performer, she was very supportive. She knows I can take care of myself.” But could being so fortunate actually benefit her acting prowess? Mandy never faced major obstacles in her life, never experienced life-changing events, and never went through periods of unemployment in her acting career. “I know my emotional acting need some work. If I was given a tragic character to portray, I would not do the role justice, because I wouldn’t know how to do it. I haven’t been through any tragedy in my life. But in the last two years, I have grown, I have seen more, and I have experience more. That does benefit my performances.” Last year, Mandy snagged the Most Improved Actress award after awing the audience with her critically acclaimed performance as the snarky Kwan Yi So in L’Escargot <缺宅男女>. That same role also made her a runner-up for the Best Supporting Actress award. Does Mandy have any expectations at the 2013 TVB Anniversary Awards? She admitted, “Actually, I do have expectations to win the Best Supporting Actress award this year. We should always look to the future, to the next step in life. However, I will not give myself too much pressure.” Creds: 3 Weekly
Compared to other artists she definitely had an easy road. She needs to portray less bitchy roles. All her roles have been annoying and unlikable.
She's just a mediocre actress who can only play one role and that's being a tomboy like in Tiger cubs or Diva's in distress. She's so terrible when doing something else like playing evil/bitchy roles like in a Change of heart or Always and ever.
not like she has much choice. do you really think people get lots of opportunities at TVB? if that was the case, we wouldn't see "big names" playing in shitty roles in shitty shows. nope, they take whatever role they can get for the money and give a shit about script/roles.
Of course people have a choice. It's not like no one knows who Mandy is. It's not like she's living by paycheck. Why does she need to accept poor roles/scripts after all these years? There are artists out there who have a choice, and more often than not these are the so-called "big names" you're talking about. They're the ones who say their decision upon accepting a job depends on "the script and the role". If they choose to take whatever role they get, they should accept the consequences. I'm not saying Mandy is a bad actress; on the contrary, the reason I don't like her is probably because her bitchy roles are convincing. I'm just saying she needs to diversify.
i didn't say she had no choice at all, i said they're not plentiful for her to be picky. i don't think mandy is a big name at all, she's just getting a bit more known to the audience, she can't be picky or she won't have enough opportunity to appear on tv so people actually get to know her more. even then, tvb is very competitive, just look at that recent quality of the shows and tell me how many of them were actually good and how many roles were considered good. barely any of them were. yet "big names" are playing those roles in very poor quality shows. explain to me why a "big name" would star in a crappy show other than for the money and the publicity.
I think people already know her enough especially after her role in L'escargot, but I agree that there aren't many choices for her--not just because she isn't famous enough, but because TVB's quality has been plummeting. People have different values. I'm sure there are artists out there who would downgrade themselves to poor roles for reasons other than money and fame. There are people out there who are pursuing an acting career because they truly have passion for what they do.
