The grand occasion as created by the overwhelming media, gives one the impression, that Christmas always bring joy and happiness to town, no one should be left unhappy. We almost forgotten, that to some people, this kind of occasion, not only there is no reason to celebrate, it actually brought back memories that are best left forgotten. “Ah Yue” Tavia Yeung actually went through a sad Christmas Day, while her experience may not be comparable to (Whatever is that drama title) the protagonist who went through a rough moment, it was still a pain deep in her heart for eternity – her father passed away two years ago on the 25th of December. Since entering the industry 10 years ago, she spent almost every year celebrating Christmas at the filming site. Never once she grumbled, only when dad died, remembering it after 2 years, her eyes redden and her tears fell. “Before becoming an artiste, I celebrated with classmates and friends; we went to ‘Lan Gui fang’ where lots of Caucasians gathered. Parents were strict with discipline, only when it came to such occasion, I have the chance to stay out late, went shopping and chit-chatting with good friends, we drink and eat a lot till the wee hours of the morning before going home.” She was only a student then, not having the ability to earn money yet, didn’t have much money in possession, and would converse with friends beforehand that she would only buy gift that worth HK$100 for the gift exchange at the celebrating party. Till this year, to self-reward, she changed a new car recently, (I think it is a convertible) “I used my hard-earned money to buy it, very satisfying. This is the most memorable gift I have had for Christmas by far!” She doesn’t deny that having to spend Christmas while working is quite a happy issue still, since the production crew would spend time goofing around, called for take-away to celebrate at the filming site. The Christmas Eve of 2006, Tavia was filming “Land of Wealth” in China, the entire group of artistes agreed to exchange gifts. She set her heart on pulling a trick on one of the actors, but couldn’t think of a special gift to buy, she saw transparent sexy underwear at one of the street stalls, it has the design of a spider web, and she bought it without hesitation. “We pulled a prank on the actor who selected the gift, wanting him to wear it on the spot, he refused. I was worried that whoever that received it might be angry, it didn’t happen and everyone had a great time.” At the same time 2 years back on Christmas Eve, Tavia wished the production crew season greetings, the next day, she received a call from home informing her that dad was critically ill, she went home hurriedly in the middle of the night. Dad saw Tavia one last time before passing away peacefully. She was rushing to filmed “Land of Wealth” then, she asked the production side for 2 days leave to return to Hong Kong so that she could see dad one last time and not having to regret then. “Christmas is supposed to be warm and full of laughter, the meaning is not the same anymore… dad on Christmas Day… passed away at night… overwhelming emotions… in pain and not happiness.” Just a few sentences, due to emotional sobbing and choking, she took some moment to finish saying it. After wiping away the tears and calming down, she continued, “It was only later I thought, dad had already left us, the Christmas season should not be unhappy. He chose to leave that day, maybe hoping that my family will remember him forever! I feel sad thinking about him occasionally, though I don’t feel that painful anymore.” Probably she doesn’t want to come into contact with the unhappy past, Tavia chose to temporary losing that part of the memory; she has memorable Christmas Day, but she intentionally left it blank. Never inquired what her relationship was like with her father, from the tearing scene of reminiscing earlier, it was pretty much understood. Having to film a new drama, she has to spend this year’s Christmas working again, but she believed that the cast from the drama will take the opportunity to have fun together. The year 2008 is Tavia’s advancement in her acting career. From the start till the end, she viewed 2009 as the start of another career peak. Will “Best Actress” be her next goal to achieve? She answered straightforwardly, “Yes.” “As an artiste, believe there are, who view winning the award as a goal. It is a sign of encouragement be it whatever award, that is a kind of motivation to do better in the future. How long do I give myself before topping the Best Actress seat? I won’t give myself a time frame.” She doesn’t deny, the earlier to get the award the better, but at the moment she was only hoping that her acting capability has a chance of breakthrough. “Deliberately set in a year or two, that’s too rush. I am the kind that does things slower, need ample time to prepare to get the desire result. So long can win the award, be it 10 years down the road, it’ll be the same joyful.” Any feeling of sweetness after bitterness? (Something like every cloud has a silver lining) “Not entirely, more like finally standing out. Actually my moments of hardship isn’t long, 10 years in the entertainment industry isn’t long, some even toil for 10 years before getting a start. Nothing strange.” To Tavia, the past 10 years has been a training period, “It has been monotonous, (she meant as in her career). I have had chances but I missed them, can only blame myself for not putting enough effort to perform.” “Could have made it to 100 marks initially, I have only committed in giving 70, 80 marks. Haven’t been deeply involved in playing out the roles.” Due to such loss, she will be more aware of making good use of the opportunity and varied her role path, allowing herself to grow strongly. Thinking back the last 10 years, Tavia has had both fame and money now, whatever pleasure derived from materiality has been achieved; including fulfilling the dream of providing her family a good accommodating environment. Any loss in life? Her first answer, the time spent with her family, “Job requires me to start out early and return late at night, to have a meal together with family has become an extravagant entertainment of sort. Even if there is ample time, I would prefer to have more rest and maintain the wellness in me.” Nevertheless, privacy and freedom is her another loss. Worried that people may point at her each time when she goes out, she rather stay at home then. “There is hardship in everything before fruition, mine is proportional. I might have started slowly and my results seemed to harvest slowly, but to compare with those who gave a lot and yet unable to have a taste of success, I’m considered lucky.” Regardless of modern or period drama, 10 years in the industry, Tavia has always been in neighbourhood girls roles, even if it didn’t etch a good impression, at least it wasn’t the baddie kind. Next year with the filming of “Palace Scheme”, she has the first time in her career to portray the role of a baddie. With a step into the eleventh year in the entertainment circle, I want a new beginning, I will wish to be a downright baddie in the future. The role of baddie ‘Yao Jinling’ in “PS” was the result of her special request to the producer of her wish to change her style of acting. She said that whether it is the big or small screen, it does map the lives of reality and life has been colourful. The fun thing about being an artiste, is having the opportunities to experience what normal people would never usually went through and to gain satisfaction from it. “I look forward to expand my acting horizon, searching for different ways of portrayal and roles. Everyone has a bad side deep down inside, angel and devil co-exist, I’m not sure the how far is the tolerance rate of my own demon, so I hope to use drama to awaken the demon gene in me. It should be very fun!” Many producers have been reminding Tavia: to play a baddie role isn’t easy, spoiling of image. Nonetheless, she prefer to pick on the difficult part to digest, and has been waiting for long to challenge baddie roles, only that chances were not given. “I enjoy the feeling of letting the audience debate, regardless of good or bad role will still get the audience’s attention, that is a form of recognition for artistes.” And the last part, apparently the interviewer hasn’t the slightest idea how popular Tavia was, only when she appeared for the promotion event of whatever she was endorsing, she was surrounding by packs of fans screaming for her name, only then did the interviewer realized the degree of her fame. Source: http://www.kwongwah.com.my/supplement/2008/12/19/8.html Translated by: Jas73 @ http://asianfanatics.net Credit: mv_288 @ http://asianfanatics.net/forum
