Alice Chan (陳煒) immediately scored her first leading role in a drama after winning ATV’s Miss Asia pageant in 1996. Known as the “Sexiest Miss Asia,” Alice was much loved by television and film producers, and was one of the few ATV actresses to be able to gain popular recognition in Hong Kong. When she married Taiwanese businessman, James Yen (顏志行), in 2008, Alice took a hiatus from acting. Alice claimed that she ultimately caved in to her “strong acting feelings,” and returned to Hong Kong in 2012 to join the TVB family. She will make her small screen comeback in episode 17 of TVB’s Friendly Fire <法網狙擊>, coming January 2013. As earlier reported, Alice will be portraying a villainous seductress in Friendly Fire, seducing the characters portrayed by Derek Kok (郭政鴻) and Michael Tse (謝天華). As someone who made her debut television appearance wearing a bikini, little did Alice expect that she would have to wear a bikini for her television comeback as well. Patience Alice is the fourth ATV fadan to join TVB in the last five years. Former ATV actresses, Kristal Tin (田蕊妮) and Elena Kong (江美儀), are now competent players to compete for the TVB Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress awards, but as someone who joined the party late, Alice admits that she still has a long way to go before receiving award nominations. Asked if she was desperate to win an award, Alice calmly replied, “I am still waiting, waiting for a good script, waiting for a good production, so I will be able to be completely invested in my performance.” Starting Anew As an actress who once received top billing in ATV dramas, did Alice feel as if she was treated unfairly when she was only given second-tier roles in TVB dramas? Even Alice’s colleague, Joey Meng (萬綺雯), was cast in leading roles after joining TVB in 2012, the same year as Alice! “We can’t be compared,” said Alice with a faint smile. “Both of us have different qualifications. She has never stopped acting, while I am now starting anew. We also have different images. I should better myself first. I believe in fate. It is fate which had me meet the right person to marry at the time. As for awards, I never think that far. If I do well, the audience will eventually like me.” Supports CTI With its failing ratings, ATV has been faced with numerous financial setbacks in recent years. The oncoming advent of new free broadcasting station, CTI, has further pushed ATV deeper into a helpless abyss. Although groomed by ATV, Alice expressed that she sees no hope in her mother station to grow back into prominence again. “ATV has changed a lot in these past few years; a huge regime change. Not only have they stopped producing dramas, their logo changed as well. It is not the mother station I used to know. I agree with issuing new broadcast licenses. It allows for more expression and competition in the industry.” Creds: ihktv
