Betty Lai Siu-man (born 23 June 1953), also known by her stage name Ban Ban and previously as Bun Bun, is a retired Hong Kong actress and singer.
Background
Lai was born in
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 Delt ...
in 23 June 1953. she is of
Meixian and
Guangdong
Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
ancestry. Her elder sister is
Sylvia Lai Sui-pun.
In 1966, Lai, her elder sister, and the other four male singers formed a musical band named ''BumbleBee'' to promote their traffic and road safety song in Hong Kong.
In 1967, She took the stage name previously as Bun Bun (), but soon changed to Ban Ban (), while her sister took the stage name of Sum Sum ().
In 1972, Ban Ban and Sum Sum formed a musical duo called Sum Sum Ban Ban (), and both hosted in the variety show ''
Enjoy Yourself Tonight'' () in 1973. In 1979, they released their first studio album ''Star, Moon, Sun'' ().
In 1983, Ban Ban gained her first acting role in the
TVB wuxia
( ), which literally means "martial heroes", is a genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists in ancient China. Although is traditionally a form of historical fiction, its popularity has caused it to be adapted f ...
drama ''
The Legend of the Condor Heroes'', gaining her some fame to receive future acting and hosting roles. She and Sum Sum left TVB to join
ATV
ATV may refer to:
Broadcasting
* Amateur television
*Analog television
Television stations and companies
* Ràdio i Televisió d'Andorra
* ATV (Armenia)
* ATV (Aruba), NBC affiliate
* ATV (Australian TV station), Melbourne
* ATV (Austria)
* AT ...
to further pursuit their acting and singing careers.
In 1985, she was invited by
CCTV
Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...
to host its
New Year's Gala.
Ban Ban was married to actor
Austin Wai in 1996, and they have a son, Wai Kin-ho ().
She starred her last role in ''Forever Love Song'' () before leaving the entertainment industry in 2000. Lai and Wai divorced in the following year and her son left with her. She allowed her son to be filial to his father.
In October 2012, Lai was notified of her ex-husband Wai's death; she signed in grief and said life is unpredictable.
She later starred in her minor role as Madam Shen () in the 2015 Chinese television drama ''Fu Rong Jin'' ().
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ban, Ban
1953 births
Living people
Hong Kong people of Hakka descent
People from Meixian District
Hong Kong film actresses
Hong Kong television actresses
20th-century Hong Kong actresses
20th-century Hong Kong women singers
Cantopop singers
Hong Kong Mandopop singers