Hong Huifang may be one of the most acclaimed local actresses today but did you know she was almost forced to give up acting when she was a newbie?
In a recent interview with Chinese media 8world, the 63-year-old Golden Horse Best Actress nominee revealed that she only joined showbiz because she had limited job options.
After graduating from the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation’s (SBC) 5th Artiste Training Class, she was given only bit roles, either playing dancers or escorts, in dramas before becoming a full-time artiste in 1984.
Huifang, however, not one of SBC’s favoured talents back then.
Even though she was only in her 20s at that time, she was told that she was only hired because the company needed someone to play the “mum” roles.
According to Huifang, she had a very matured look, so much so that fellow actor Hong Guorui once quipped that “everyone has aged, except Hong Huifang, because she has looked [this old] since she joined showbiz”.
Her first year as an actress didn’t go well. In fact, in 1985, she was told that she would be let go if she did not improve.
Lucky for her, that was when she snagged the role of Ah Xiu in the now iconic 1986 drama Samsui Women.
The opportunity was one that could make or break her career, and she worked hard in interpreting the role.
Ah Xiu was a tragic character and Huifang had such a hard time getting out of it, she suffered from depression after filming wrapped.
That said, acting in Samsui Women remains a core memory etched in Huifang’s heart forever.
She couldn’t help but reminisce about the good times she had on set with her co-stars, former actress Zeng Huifen and late Mediacorp actor Huang Wenyong.
According to Huifang, the cast would often take small naps on set. Once, she, Huifen and Wenyong even made a makeshift bed on top of mud by balancing a wooden plank on two bricks. The three stars then fell asleep on it “in a row”.
Huifang also once climbed onto a parked lorry to take a nap but she made sure to remind her colleagues to wake her up in case the lorry drove her away.
Now wouldn’t that have made a great story to tell too.