Anita Yuen Wing Yee (born 4 September 1971) is a
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
film and
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
actress.
Pageant career
At the age of 18, Yuen entered the
Miss Hong Kong
The Miss Hong Kong Pageant (), or Miss HK () for short, is an annual beauty pageant organised by local Hong Kong television station, TVB. The pageant was established in 1946, and acquired by TVB in 1973.
The current Miss Hong Kong is Denice La ...
1990 pageant. She was a heavy favorite to win the crown from the semifinal to final. During the semifinals on August 5, 1990, she won the Miss Photogenic award. She had a semifinal score of 485, placing 3rd overall. The finals were held on August 21, 1990. She eventually beat out another big favorite, Helen Yung who was 1st runner up and the winner of 2 other awards. Yuen later represented Hong Kong at the
Miss Chinese International
Miss Chinese International Pageant (, formerly 國際華裔小姐競選), or MCI () for short, is an annual international beauty pageant, organized and broadcast by TVB, a network television station in Hong Kong. It was established in 1988 and t ...
1991 pageant, held on February 2, 1991. She took 1st runner up for Hong Kong. She also competed at the
Miss Universe 1991
Miss Universe 1991, the 40th anniversary of the Miss Universe pageant, was held on May 17, 1991 at the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Lupita Jones of Mexico crowned by Mona Grudt of Norway. Seventy ...
pageant in
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...
. She failed to make the top 10 and was placed 60th.
Film career
Yuen is best known for her role as the female lead in
Derek Yee
Derek Yee Tung-sing () is a film producer, director and a former Shaw Brothers actor from Hong Kong.
Early life
Yee was born Yee Tung-sing in Hong Kong on 28 December 1957, the son of Yee Kwong (爾光), a film producer from Tientsin (Tianjin), ...
's 1993 tear-jerker ''
C'est la vie, mon chéri
''C'est la vie, mon chéri'' () is a 1993 Hong Kong romance film directed by Derek Yee and starring Lau Ching-wan, Anita Yuen and Carina Lau. It won six awards, including Best Film, during the 13th Hong Kong Film Awards.
Title
The movie is so ...
'' (1993). She is also well-remembered in her cross-gender comic role opposite
Leslie Cheung
Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing (12 September 1956 – 1 April 2003) was a Hong Kong singer and actor. Throughout a 26-year career from 1977 until his death, Cheung released over 40 music albums and acted in 56 films. He was one of the most prominent ...
in ''
He's a Woman, She's a Man
''He's a Woman, She's a Man'' (金枝玉葉) is a 1994 Hong Kong romantic comedy film co-written and directed by Peter Chan and starring Leslie Cheung, Anita Yuen, Carina Lau, Eric Tsang and Jordan Chan. Its many awards garnered include Best ...
'' (1994). The two roles won for her the Hong Kong Academy Best Actress awards. She also gave a powerful performance in, for instance, ''
The Chinese Feast
''The Chinese Feast'' ( Chinese: 金玉滿堂) is a 1995 Hong Kong film co-written, produced and directed by Tsui Hark, and starring Leslie Cheung, Anita Yuen, Kenny Bee, and Law Kar-ying.
Synopsis
Kit was a master chef who once raked in many ac ...
'', co-starring together with
Leslie Cheung
Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing (12 September 1956 – 1 April 2003) was a Hong Kong singer and actor. Throughout a 26-year career from 1977 until his death, Cheung released over 40 music albums and acted in 56 films. He was one of the most prominent ...
. Apart from her role in a great many films, she has also acted in a number of Mainland-Taiwan television serials, such as
Hua Mu Lan, opposite
Vincent Zhao
Vincent Zhao Wenzhuo (born 10 April 1972), sometimes credited as Vincent Chiu or Chiu Man-cheuk, is a Chinese actor and martial artist. Zhao is best known for playing the Chinese folk hero Wong Fei-hung in the '' Once Upon a Time in China'' film ...
.
Personal life
Her husband is Hong Kong actor and singer
Julian Cheung
Julian Cheung Chi-lam (born 27 August 1971), better known by his stage name Chilam, is a Hong Kong singer and actor. Cheung is popularly known for his role as Guo Jing in the 1994 TV series adaptation of the ''Wuxia'' novel, '' The Legend o ...
. In May 2006, Yuen announced that she was 3 months pregnant with their first child. Their son, Morton Cheung, was born on November 12, 2006. On June 23, 2007, Yuen was a guest on
TVB
Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) is a television broadcasting company based in Hong Kong SAR. The Company operates five free-to-air terrestrial television channels in Hong Kong, with TVB Jade as its main Cantonese language service, and ...
's ''
Be My Guest'' with host
Stephen Chan revealing that she and Julian were secretly married in Shibuya City,
Japan, back in 2001. Anita had finally revealed in early 2021 that after she gave birth to Morton, she and her husband Julian attempted to have a second child first through natural conception with desire for their son Morton to have a little brother or sister, however this attempt failed as Anita's natural increasing age played a large role in this barrier. Anita and Julian then agreed to try
In vitro fertilisation
In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation where an egg is combined with sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating an individual's ovulatory process, removing an ovum or ova (egg or eggs) ...
using
sperm extracted from Julian's
collected preserved semen
Semen, also known as seminal fluid, is an organic bodily fluid created to contain spermatozoa. It is secreted by the gonads (sexual glands) and other sexual organs of male or hermaphroditic animals and can fertilize the female ovum. Sem ...
to impregnate Anita, but after multiple procedural attempts, the attempted
pregnancy
Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring develops (gestation, gestates) inside a woman, woman's uterus (womb). A multiple birth, multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins.
Pregnancy usually occur ...
was unsuccessful and they eventually gave up on the attempt.
Filmography
Film
Television drama
Anita Yuen at chinesemov.com
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Awards and nominations
References
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External links
Official Sina Blog of Anita Yuen
Anita Yuen
on Sina Weibo
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Anita Yuen Wing Yee
at the Hong Kong Cinemagic
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yuen, Anita
1971 births
20th-century Hong Kong actresses
21st-century Hong Kong actresses
Hong Kong film actresses
Hong Kong television actresses
Living people
Miss Hong Kong winners
Miss Universe 1991 contestants
Australian people of Chinese descent
Australian people of Hong Kong descent