Season Ma Si-san
I am not really sure why I have included Season
Ma in this index. She was in only a few films during the 1980s and most
of those were very small parts, but I like her name and very much enjoyed
her performance in The First Time is the Last Time in 1989. In this film
she gives a powerful portrayal as a young woman sent to jail who undergoes
a toughening up experience while there. A few other films in her small
filmography are Boat People (1982), The Last Affair (1983), Owl vs. Bumbo
(1984), Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars (tour guide), Silent Love (1986)
and The Lunatics in 1986.
Sek Kin/Shih Kien
Born in 1913
His face is one of the best known throughout
the kung fu world for his portrayal as the evil villain, Han, in Bruce
Lee’s Enter the Dragon in 1973 at the age of 60. In a sense though this
film was a mere speck in his very lengthy career. Before acting, he was
a make-up man and then his first film appearance was in 1940, Bloody Flowers
of the Sea. His last film was Hong Kong Adam’s Family and it was released
in 1994. In that fifty-four year span of a career, Shek was to appear in
literally hundreds of films.
Many of these films particularly in the 50s and
60s were martial arts films – but he is most famous for being the nemesis
in a large number of the Wong Fei Hung films that starred Kwan Tak Hing.
He was in nearly 35 of this series – and often played a different villain
in each one. At the same time he was also making appearances in the Fong
Sai Yuk film series (called Fang Shiyu at that time) and was in a number
of these. In the Fong Sai Yuk films he almost always played a villain as
well – the White Brow Monk – but later played another character as well
– the mentor of Fong Sai Yuk. Sek Kin says this about himself “I’m the
very picture of a villain, but sometimes I play the good guy who becomes
involved in a fight due to a misunderstanding. When I wear a beard I’m
usually the bad guy – all my characters are defeated in the end”.
If this wasn’t enough, he somehow found time to
appear in loads of other similar films – a few that are considered Cantonese
classics are Story of the Sword and Sabre as the psychotic (1963), Burning
of the Shaolin Temple, South Dragon, North Phoenix (first film choreographed
by the team of Lau Kar Leung and Tong Kai), Muskateer from Luoyang, The
Golden Swallow, Twin Swords and The One-Armed Magic Nun. He was an accomplished
martial artist in real life and mastered the Mantis Fist, Eagle Claw, Northern
Shaolin, Laohan School, the Chaoyan School and Baoding boxing. Both he
and Kwan Tak Hing choreographed their own fight scenes.
He started doing TV in 1967 with an appearance
in the series Below the Lion Rock. By the time he was in Enter the Dragon
(in which he was dubbed by Keye Luke), he was making many fewer films than
before – but continued making films in small supporting roles. You can
catch him in The Private Eyes (1976), The Young Master (1980), Hong Kong
1941, Lady in Black (Brigitte Lin’s father), A Better Tomorrow III (Tony
Leung Ka-fai’s father), Millionaires Express (the father of the little
boy who fights little Wong Fei Hung!) and The Widow Warriors (the patriarch).
And in Aces Go Places 4, he and Kwan Tak Hing mix it up one last time as
rival ice hockey coaches. Finally, Shek did a guest starring cameo in Once
Upon a Time In China as a venerable old master who appears to give a few
words of wisdom but then runs with his tail between his legs when the going
gets tough.
(Thanks to Yves Gendron for much information)
Sek Sau/Shek Sau
Born: 11/21/ ---- in Hong Kong
Sek Sau was one of those 1970’s and 80’s heartthrobs. Born in Hong
Kong sometime in the late 1940’s/ early 1950’s. He started acting at the
age of nine. Sek Sau worked for TVB making drama series during the 70’s
and 80’s. He has an unusual flexibility to play modern & ancient characters,
comedies, and drama with equal ability.
After finishing a motion picture in 1984, Sau opened a restaurant in
Taiwan. In 1990, Sau dropped out of the entertainment circle and moved
to Canada with his family where he opened another successful business.
He came back into acting during 1997, under contract to ATV where
he hosted the 1998 World Cup Special and acted in Flaming Brothers along
with another two dramas. In 1999 he participated in an US motion picture
with William Dafoe and John Cho called “Pavilion Of Women”. During 2000,
he starred in a TVB drama “ On The Track Or Off” and it was his first appearance
on TVB in over a decade. In 2001 he starred in his second series “Legal
Entanglement”, and he also hosts TVB’s I-Files with Jacqueline Law.
In addition to acting on television, he also performs in plays. Furthermore,
he’s also a saxophonist. He used to sing too, but that was over 20 years
ago, two of his songs are: Rainbow-man which he sang with Cheung Ling Ling,
and D-Force, a theme song for a 70’s Japanese cop show.
Sau, now in his early 50’s, still looks fit, with his attractive
good looks and not looking like he’s even aged in a decade, it’s impossible
to tell his actual age.
A few of his movies/series are: Stranger From Canton (1973), Memory
Of Hometown (1976), The Couples (1979), The Family (1980), Come Rain Come
Shine (1981), Young Heroes (1981), Love With Many Phases (1982), The Semi-Gods
and Demi-Devils (1982), The SIB Files (1986), The Formidable Lady From
Shaolin (1987), Flame Of Fury (1988), Battle Of The Heart (1989), Flaming
Brothers (1999), On The Track Or Off(2000), Legal Entanglement(2001), Golden
Faith(2002) and Wah Tam Cheung(2002).
(Thanks to MC Truong for the write-up)
Seung Yee
Seung was the stern mother in Burning Ambition.
She has been a very active TVB & ATV actor. Before joining the TV stations,
she was one of the most popular stars working in the local Cantonese radio
broadcasting stations in the 1960s, especially in broadcasting the serial
stories. She was also in Happy Go Lucky.
(Info from Sebastian Tse)
Shannon Lee
Certainly one of the more interesting appearances
in a Hong Kong film recently was that of Shannon Lee. She is of course
the daughter of Bruce Lee and the sister of Brandon Lee. People may have
initially thought her getting a role in the Hong Kong film, Enter the Eagles,
was more a publicity stunt than anything, but she is terrific in the film
and shows some of the best action moves from a female in a Hong Kong film
for a few years.
Born in Santa Monica, California, she only has
very vague memories of being on the set of her father’s films when she
was just a small child. Later she worked with her brother on the set of
Rapid Fire and had a small cameo role in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story as
a singer at a party.
It had not really been her intention while growing
up to become an actor – she majored in music at Tulane University and is
a classically trained singer but slowly worked her way into acting. Her
first role of substance was in an American low budget film – Cage 2: the
Arena of Death. Later in another low budget film, High Voltage, she had
her first action scenes in a film. She has been training in martial arts
since she was 11 or 12 years old and this clearly shows in Enter the Eagles.
In this film she gets to have a few fights – the best being against the
legendary Benny Urquidez. So far that is the only Hong Kong film she has
made.
She appeared with Sammo Hung in an episode
of Martial Law and she was in an American film called Epoch that was released
in 2000.
Sharon Kwok Sau-wan
Recently I have come across this very appealing
and outgoing actress in a few of her films. She has a certain sexually
comical insouciance about her that is enjoyable to watch. Her film career
only seems to have lasted a few years from the late 1980s to the early
1990s and most of these efforts were in low budget action/comedy films.
Some of these films were Ghost Busting, Outlaw
Brothers (Max Mok’s girlfriend), Perfect Girls (one of the introductions),
Hidden Desire (played the friend of Veronica Yip), Dead Target (one of
her best roles in a fun romp of a film), Red Fists (Yu Rong Guang’s cop
partner) and Fun and Fury (an amusing role as the seductress of Frankie
Chan). Even though I don’t believe she had any action training, in a number
of these films she certainly gets caught up in it and looks to be a good
sport.
She was married to Chin Sui Ho for a few years,
but they are now divorced.
Sharon Yeung Pan Pan
Born on 01/04/58
Sharon was easily one of the more talented
female kung fu and then later “Girls with Guns” action stars, but she never
approached the popularity of a number of the other women in these same
genres. Watching her though is a complete pleasure as she combined grace,
power and astonishing flexibility to create some memorable scenes. At one
time she was even called “Lady Jackie Chan” due to her skills. Her characters
tended to be very straightforward and at times even somewhat masculine
and perhaps this was part of the reason that she never has had the fans
of a Moon Lee or an Angela Mao.
After begging her mother to attend, Sharon began
training at the Fan Fok Fa opera school at the age of 4 in Hong Kong. This
was the same school that Lam Ching Ying, John Lone, Meng Hoi and a number
of other HK actors went to. After leaving the school, she began appearing
in some kung fu films. Of course by the late 70s when Yeung Pan Pan began
her career, the traditional kung fu film was drawing near an end – but
she still managed to show up in a few solid films – Kung Fu Master Named
Drunk Cat, Story of the Drunken Master, Two Wondrous Tigers and Return
of the Deadly Blade.
To some degree Sharon made the transition to the
girls with guns films – but appeared in only a handful of them – Princess
Madam, Angel Enforcers, Angel Terminators, Way of the Lady Boxers and Deadly
Target (aka Fatal Target). These were fairly low budget action films but
Sharon showed some amazing moves and Princess Madam and Angel Terminators
are definite recommendations. The segment on this actress -- which includes
an interesting interview with a lively and vivacious her -- in Top Fighter
2: Deadly China Dolls is also worth checking out.
To the best of my knowledge she has appeared in
no films since 1996 (though she produced a recent film in 2000 – An Eye
for an Eye), and spent some time doing some kind of entertainment industry
work in Taiwan, but she seems to have latterly returned to Hong Kong, appears
on Television – and in fact she has done some action choreography in that
medium – and she still appears in an annual telethon that is quite famous
for the acrobatic stunts that she performs.
Shawn Yu(e) Man Lok
2002 HK entertainment industry newcomer who’s
already made quite an impact, being touted -- among other things -- as
the next Goldenboy plus Nicholas Tse’s “successor” after recording just
one Cantopop single. Thus far, this singer-actor has already had
the lead role in Just One Look (as Fan), and has also appeared in New Option
(as Shawn), the blockbuster Infernal Affairs (as the younger incarnation
of Tony Leung Chiu Wai’s character) and Diva Ah Hey! (where he did well
with his supporting role as the socially awkward Wing). Earlier,
he won fame in Taiwan for appearing in a teenage idol TV drama (Tomorrow)
and in Hong Kong on RTHK's YOUTH Y2K.
(Written up by YTSL)
Sheila Chan Suk-lan
This former Miss Hong Kong had a nice string
of films from the late 1980s to the mid 90s until her retirement. Most
of these films are of a comical nature – and she often plays a bit of a
cute wide-eyed ditz in them. At one time she was involved with Alex Fong
and when that relationship soured she attempted suicide. She is now a well-known
DJ on a commercial radio station.
Some of her films are Outlaw Brothers (the sister),
Mortuary Blues (Sandra Ng's friend), Bullet for Hire (Jacky Cheung's girlfriend),
Ghost for Sale (one of the ghost busters), Inspector Wears Skirts IV, Madame
City Hunter (Anthony Wong’s assistant), Whatever You Want, He and She and
Because of Lies. In 2000, she appeared in her first film, True Love, in
some five years.
(info provided by Crayon)
Sherming Yiu Lok-yi
With eyes that seem to take up more of her
face than the oceans do the earth, this petite but curvaceous actress has
become a favorite for directors to use in horror films over the past couple
of years. Fortunately, the last few years have been very good for horror
actresses in Hong Kong as this genre has spawned hundreds of low budget
ghost and gore flicks.
I must admit that watching this innocent wide-eyed
actress screaming in terror or seeing her detached head sitting on a chair
talking is certainly a pleasure. Some of these horror films are Bodyguard
for the Dead (1999), Lamb in Despair, Fourteen Days Before Suicide, Last
Ghost Standing (which she also produced), Raped by an Angel 4, Untold Story
III, The Mirror and Troublesome Night 9 (2001).
Though much of her work thus far falls into the
scream queen genre, she has shown other talents in a few non-horror films
– Operation Billionaire and High K (in which she plays Ti Lung’s daughter).
Shing Fui On/Big Sillyhead
Born 02/01/55 in Hong Kong
Once you happen upon Shing Fui On in one of
his many roles, the chances are you will not likely forget him. On his
large body rests an oversized squarish shaped head that could be used to
frighten children to bed at night. If Hong Kong ever did their version
of Frankenstein, Shing would not even really need any make-up.
His most famous role is of course that of Johnny
Weng in The Killer. Playing a double-crossing triad leader, he injects
his role with loads of visceral nastiness. Before his acting career got
started, he actually worked as part of a film crew before someone noticed
his uniquely villainous looks and asked him if he wanted to get in front
of the camera. His debut was in the film All the Wrong Spies in 1983. He
agreed to this and from the mid-80s until the present, he has been one
of Hong Kong’s busiest supporting actors. In over fifteen years he has
appeared in some 150 films – and though his malicious bad guy roles usually
come to mind – he has taken on a surprising diversity of characters.
Other than The Killer, some of his other bad
guy roles were in: A Better Tomorrow II, Tiger on the Beat, Legend
of the Dragon, Innocent Interloper and a slew of triad related films.
I really enjoy seeing him in films that go against
expectations – in which he is far from the bad guy – and in a few of these
he has clearly shown some true acting talent. Of course my all-time favorite
Shing Fui On performance is the 1991 The Blue Jean Monster in which he
plays a kind hearted cop who is dead – but he doesn’t quite know it for
a while – but then ferociously holds on till his wife Pauline Wong delivers
their baby. Or catch him in comedic The Greatest Lover as one of Chow Yun
Fat’s Mainland friends or as the sorcerer in Ghostly Vixen who wants to
trap the evil demon in the form of Amy Yip. In another Amy Yip film he
plays her shy suitor in Easy Money and does the same in a Veronica Yip
film, Bogus Cops.
No matter what the role, initially glimpsing Shing
in either a cameo or a full role usually brings a grin to my face – and
if among company there will always be a yell from someone – “Silly Big
Head” as if kids spotting the ice cream truck.
Cissi writes this in:
It's not surprising that he is often cast as
a triad member; he was rumoured to be in a triad and was often seen taking
protection money, and despite repeated denials the rumour still persists.
The rumour damaged his chances at establishing a timber store as most customers
refused to buy from him because they were scared of him.
Shirley Yu
This information was taken verbatim from an
article in SCMP written by Sherry Lee
Twenty-six years ago, Yu was the soft-porn queen of local film studio
Shaw Brothers, the object of lust for thousands of male cinemagoers. Every
day reporters hounded her and newspaper advertisements featured her in
provocative poses. When Yu was 21 she had more than a million dollars
in the bank, lived in a luxury flat in Prince Edward Road, wore designer
clothes and drove a Mercedes-Benz. Those were the 70s, the heyday
of soft porn and she was in high demand. "I was very popular at the
time; I was even hotter than Lin Ching-hsia (Brigitte Lin)," she says.
As a child she lived in poverty in a Yuen Long village and Yu remembers
being scolded often. "I hate my mother," she said in a 1976 interview.
"Maybe she was obsessed by her bad marriage and neglected to give us her
mother's love. Maybe I suffered from being the middle child.".
Instead of applying herself to studies at Yuen Long's Wai Kwan Primary
School, she daydreamed of being a movie star. To be in films was her only
ambition. "I thought stars were rich and owned a lot," she says.
At 15, she ran away from home but soon returned and got a job as a waitress.
At 19, she entered the Miss Hong Kong 1974 pageant, which at the time was
organised by the Miss Pearl of the Orient Company. To enhance her chances,
she had plastic surgery on her eyes and cheeks to make her "even more beautiful".
She duly won the crown and was an impressive sight: the press credited
her with the vital statistics of 35-24-36.
Being Miss Hong Kong helped her catch the eye of influential film
directors, such as Ng See-yuen, a director for independent film companies,
who cast her as the wife of a crooked policeman in one of his films about
corruption. Later, a Japanese doctor boyfriend introduced her to another
film director, which led to her first soft-porn movie, the risque Chun
Man Dan Mai or Adventure In Denmark. More films followed but stardom eluded
her. Then a friend who worked as a film extra told her that Shaw Brothers,
the powerful film studio led by Sir Run Run Shaw, was looking for actresses.
On the set, Yu approached Li Hanxiang, a well known director, and secured
herself a screen test.
She says she didn't know she was supposed to be nude until she was told
to strip for the cameras. "I could only wear a cloth tape to cover my private
parts. I hesitated, then I thought: 'Why not? My body is my best asset,
I should use it'," she recalls. Apprehensive when shooting started, she
only relaxed when Li shouted: "Just treat it as a game...relax, play."
The film played to packed cinemas. "People clapped when I came on," she
says. Li described her as "the most important discovery of 1976" and she
signed a three-year contract with Shaw Brothers, then the biggest Chinese
film producer.
Within a year, she said she made more than 20 films, including Feng
Hua Xue Yue or Moods Of Love, Nian Hua Re Cao or Crazy Sex and Ying Zhao
Ming Che or Call Girls. She earned $3,000 a month and up to $10,000 more
in expenses for each film. Soon she was receiving large cash gifts from
men. Some, she says, just gave her money while they chased her. "Some
gave me cheques of $100,000 without even getting to hold my hand.". Yu
was usually cast as a mistress in films and soon life began to imitate
art and she became involved with married men. One of her films that can
still be easily seen today is as Lina in Chinatown Kid and some of her
other Shaw films will be getting released soon.
Yu's fame lasted only two years. She blames her descent on a car accident
- she crashed her Mercedes driving at 130km/h and injured her skull,
neck and spine. She had to recuperate at home for a year. "People forgot
about me. I was down and depressed.". She later took up singing and
performed in the United States, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.
But the touring ground to a halt in the early 90s when audiences demanded
fresher faces.
In 1995, 20 years past her prime, she appeared in Si Ji
Sha Ren Kuang or Passion Unbounded directed by John Hau Wing-choi, starring
sexy Carrie Ng Ka-lai. It failed to revive Yu's career. She couldn't
call on her friend, old admirer and director Li: he died in Beijing in
1996. In 1999, she sold two flats to raise $4 million to invest in a thriller,
Xie Xing Friday or Bloody Friday. The movie was about a serial killer who
murdered call-girls every Friday night, but it flopped. Desperate to recover
her losses, she invested her remaining money in the stock market and lost
nearly everything.
Shum Wai
I would guess that in a filmography that totals
around fifty films, Shum Wai probably plays a villain in all but a few
of them. He does not have a particularly memorable face one way or the
other, but he created a nice niche for himself as the oily, sleazy untrustworthy
type. He was not an action villain – but usually the boss who left the
violence to his henchmen.
Beginning in the early 80s with The Long Arm of
the Law, in which he plays a double-crossing informer, he began a trend
of almost always getting his just reward by the end of the film. I wonder
how many films he survived in? Not many I would bet. You just want him
dead.
Some of his other films – The Ghost Snatchers
(the fellow possessed by the evil Japanese ghost soldier), A Hearty Response
(in which he does terrible things to Joey Wong), The Innocent Interloper
(the head bad guy), Her Vengeance (a rapist) and Police Story III: Supercop
(the drug dealer whose head gets bashed with a durian by Kenneth Tsang).
He was also a bad guy in a number of the “Girls with Guns” films – The
Dragon Fighter, Angel Mission, Queens High, The Stone Age Warrior, Kickboxers
Tears, Angel Terminators and Secret Police.
