Strong Enough- Raymond Lam Some time not long ago, about 4-5 years ago, the audiences' comments were : Ron Ng is handsome and cool, Bosco is great at communication, and Raymond Lam, just a plain rich guy! In this world, everyone hates the rich, luckily time can change everything, especially the points of view of a person. In the recent two years, Ron Ng had a lot of troubles because of Ella Koon, Charmaine Sheh, "my favorite", borrowing money from Louis Koo, etc; he needed to leave to upgrade himself, eliminating a competitor. Bosco Wong's "But Lau Ming" (the hero in "Wars of In Laws") was wrecked becasue of Myolie Wu, his ex having plastic surgery, Fala Chan, etc. In this generation, only Raymond Lam was strong enough to stay. He entered the industry in 1998; because of his fluent Mandarin, his first job was a host at TVB8. He was a soldier, jail guard, his basic skills were just as strong as other actors/actresses at his time. "On the first day I entered TVB, I wanted to start from the bottom and work my way up, hoping that I won't be famous too fast. I want to be praised by others, and less of bad comments." Raymond Lam spoke his thought out politely. After all, in the house where he grew up in, a sense of pride is not allowed. Even if he drove Benz to training class, it can only be said as family pressure. Being quiet is actually a good thing, not saying that there wouldn't be troubles. Lately, there has been rumors with a night club dancer, and the only words that can describe this situation is "People are afraid of being famous, pigs are afraid of being fat!" Besides, Raymond Lam is a Golden Pig. Shy-Hard To Date A Girl Ever since the magazine that reported a night club dancer claiming herself as Raymond's girlfriend at the end of April, I had already prepared to be rejected by him for this interview, but he was kind to accept this interview. I tested him by asking him, "You are not mad at 'Oriental Sunday'?" "Mad, very mad, but I won't respond much. Since she's just talking about random things herself, I can't do anything about it. This girl, I did see her before, but when your co-worker described her to me, I couldn't remember. After the news was out, I realized it was actually her, which shows how well I don't know her. She's my friend's friend, and just saw her at a bar once! Everytime we have new series, there would be these kind of news, but if this is part of the promotion, I don't need it, thank you!" "A lot of seniors reminded me before, that we have to be careful of choosing friends in Mainland, because there's a lot of people who wants to use you to become famous. But I was not careful enough, so it's part of my responsibility also, I just have to be more aware next time! I don't have a lot of courage, so I will never do such thing, do you guys think I'm stupid? I said that I haven't date for seven years, you guys should see how scared I am! Whenver I see rumors with another person in the industry, whether if it's true or not, I worry about it, and it affects my career. To tell you the truth, besides my family, career is my number 1." Girls Received The Wrong Message After having these news, Raymond who's worried mentioned that he will not go to places with his friends' female friends anymore. "You should remember that I don't really talk a few years before, some friends says I'm rude, but I say no. I just don't want to talk, and sit by myself only. I only would drink and talk with my friends, and those that I don't know, I would only wave a "hi". My friends always told me not to be so cool, so about two years ago, I started to change. Because it's a disadvantage to be quiet and don't know how to social with others, so I try to talk with my friends' friend and communicate more, take more actions. As a result, the feedbacks that I received are quite different from the ones before." "There was this girl, who I just sang a few songs with and chat with, told my friend that I was going after her the next day. There were other people who I never talked to spreaded around their friends saying 'I hung out with Raymond Lam for a lot of times, we know each other well!' Can't believe it! Then others would say that 'You are just too nice to others.' When I'm quiet they would say I'm rude, if I talk for a bit, they would turn into rumors, then what should I do?" Grew Up In A Prejudice World I once thought that it was because he trade phone numbers with girls, wouldn't those girls think, "You are a star, and if you give me your number, that means you like me!" Raymond for a second and replied, "Maybe, if we can communicate, then trading numbers is not a big number. There were friends who told me to be careful and I am aware, but if we focus on the conversations, you wouldn't be cautious The worst thing is, I don't know how to reject others. IF you ask me if I'm afraid that they will show the SMS messages to the media? I would say I never thought of that, and never came across such thing. If it's my friend's friend, then my friend has responsibility too. Besides, I said messages to everybody whenever there's holidays. I never sent that message 'Rest earlier' like that girl (night club dancer) siad I did." Raymond gives me a feeling of self-controlled, and strict feeling, and kind of overboard. Take a look at his rumors with his assistant, she was fired afterwards. Then his rumors with Sharon Chan, he tried to avoid singing karaoke together. With a wealthy background like his --father is a rich businessman with the name of 'Xiamen Li Ka Sing' , also the eldest son--, he can be like Edison Chan and just be a player. "Because I'm the oldest brother, and the eldest son and grandson, all my cousins, siblings, nieces and nephews in the family look up to me, so since I was small, my family sent me lots of positive messages. I was not allowed to talk too much because they were afraid that the more I say the more mistakes I make. That's why compared with people my age, I'm more of the quiet, thinking kind. My dad always say, 'You are not mature enough!' and required me to be more polite and generous. But how can a guy that's just in his twenties be mature? "When I used to have dinner with my family, it would always be quiet dinners, because we were not allowed to talk, our chopsticks can't cross over others, and can't make sounds when we were scooping rice into our mouths. These trainings made me quite self-controlled. Even though my family background is not bad, but I never was showing off. My dad always said that a person who's staying up high must be modest, because when you are up high, it's the easiest to be hurt by others. If you give others the chance to hurt you, then you will be in trouble. When I first entered the industry, I purposely didn't mention my background, but everybody looked at me differently, and saw me as a rich guy that doesn't work seriously, how can I ever be showy? In the recent 2-3 years, I felt accepted, but I still need to give them time to get used to my acting." Learned To Do Business In dramas, the rich sons are not willing to take over their fathers' jobs, wanting to create their own path, and that's a what Raymond Lam has. As the oldest son, he has his responsibilities and pressure. He explained that if people agreed with his acting or when he gets the "Best Actor Award", he will return to help his father. "I know that in the end I would have to help my dad, and there's pressure, because my dad's too smart, and I don't know anything at all besides acting. I asked myself lately whether if I paid attention to the current events of the world? One time when I met with my kindergarden, elementary classmates, I thought they were all so smart, because the things they knew I didn't. Some worked in banks, some buy stocks, and we are the ones who film day and night on screen to earn money; maybe this job is equalized to others' 2-3 days of work. I started to want to take some business management courses. The only thing I learned in this industry that can be used in business is probably my social skills! Maybe I should try looking for some smart people to help me in the future." Even though he sounds like a boss, but Raymodn quickly realized he showed his "rich" side and mentioned that he was poor. "When I was young, I didn't have a lot of allowance. In middle school, they gave me $1000, but I exchanged them for all $10 dollar bills and kept them in my drawer. When I used them all, they would give me more. However, everyday, I would only take 2 to 3 bills ($20-$30), and it can be used for months. So, I'm not full of money like you guys think I am and don't mislead the readers. People would think that for some functions I would go for free, which won't happen, because I want money. I want to buy a house, although I live in a big house right now, it's not under my name. I'm grown up now, I want more jobs, and more money!" Do you think it can convince others? I don't really think so! Epilogue Back to the drama "Heart Of Greed", although they say Raymond's only a guest star, but he appears for 30 episodes. He laughs, "At first I didn't want to get this job, because I wanted a break, but it felt bad if I rejected him, since I did before, so I promised to be a guest star. I told you I don't know how to reject others!" He portrays a lawyer that cheats on his girlfriend, Linda Chung, with YoYo Mung. "Yoyo and I thought we were too good in this, and felt like we were a disgusting pair. However, we would often say, 'It's ok, when the audience sees, they will be into it!' We have to talk ourselves into the drama. When I didn't know the ending, I wanted my character to die, or it would be so unfair. Luckily he did, I was so happy!" Not used to portraying a bad character, afraid of being hated, and in reality, he's the same. Facing his competitors, he uses a self-protecting attitude, for example: His best friend Ron Ng doesn't know English,borrows money and dates a lot of girls. "Don't even know if it's true or not, he's a big kid. We always play video games at each others' houses. We don't drink!" Moses is too old. "He's humorous, and a gentleman too." Kevin Cheng, Virginia Lok's favorite. "I'm good friends with Ka Wing (Kevin), we would eat together." In this industry, if you are rich, maybe people will hate you, but if you know how to talk, then people might not.
