Cecilia Cheung Pak-chi (in Chinese 張栢芝, born 24 May 1980) is a Hong Kong actress and

cantopop Cantopop (a contraction of "Cantonese pop music") or HK-pop (short for "Hong Kong pop music") is a genre of pop music written in standard Chinese and sung in Cantonese. Cantopop is also used to refer to the cultural context of its production ...

singer. Cheung is considered a " Sing girl"—an actress who first received media attention through starring alongside Stephen Chow, and later went on to her own successful career.

Biography

Cheung was born in

Man Wah Sun Chuen Man Wah Sun Chuen () is a private housing estate at the junction of Jordan Road and Ferry Street, in Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon, Hong Kong, near the former Jordan Road Ferry Pier (now MTR Austin station). Formerly the site of the warehouse of Yaum ...

Jordan, Hong Kong Jordan () is an area in Hong Kong, located on Kowloon Peninsula. It is named after a road of the same name in the district. The area is bordered by King's Park to the east, Tsim Sha Tsui to the south, Ferry Point to the west, and Yau Ma Tei ...

to Davies Shally, who is of half Chinese and half British descent, and Cheung Yan-yung. Her parents divorced when she was nine years old. She was sent to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

to live with her aunt at the age of fourteen and then attended

Camberwell Girls Grammar School , motto_translation = Usefulness in Service , established = , type = Independent, single sex, early learning, primary and secondary, Christian day school , denomination = Anglican , slogan = Create Your Tomorrow , principal ...

. She has an elder half-sister, two younger brothers, and a younger half-brother from her father's side.

Career

Her career began in 1998, when she was cast in a television commercial advertising lemon tea. She caught the attention of Stephen Chow after shooting the ad. Later, Cheung made her film debut as a young nightclub hostess in Stephen Chow's '' King of Comedy'' (1999). ''King of Comedy'' became the highest grossing local film of the year, and shot Cheung to fame in Hong Kong. She then starred in ''

Fly Me to Polaris ''Fly Me to Polaris'' is a 1999 Hong Kong romantic fantasy film directed by Jingle Ma and starring Richie Jen and Cecilia Cheung. Plot The plots focuses on the character Onion (Jen) who became blind and mute during his childhood. Onion works at ...

'' (1999), which earned her the award for Best Newcomer at the

Hong Kong Film Awards The Hong Kong Film Awards (HKFA; ), founded in 1982, is an annual film awards ceremony in Hong Kong. The ceremonies are typically in April. The awards recognise achievement in various aspects of filmmaking, such as directing, screenwriting, ...

. Cheung also sung the theme song for ''Fly Me to Polaris'', which gained attention among the masses for her singing ability. In the same year, Cheung launched her singing career with her first

Cantopop Cantopop (a contraction of "Cantonese pop music") or HK-pop (short for "Hong Kong pop music") is a genre of pop music written in standard Chinese and sung in Cantonese. Cantopop is also used to refer to the cultural context of its production ...

album ''Any Weather'' (1999). Cheung made inroads into the Korean market with '' Failan'' (2001) co-starring Choi Min-shik. The film earned her a nomination at the

Grand Bell Awards The Grand Bell Awards (), also known as the Daejong Film Awards, is an awards ceremony presented annually by The Motion Pictures Association of Korea for excellence in film in South Korea. The Grand Bell Awards retains prestige as the oldest co ...

for Best Actress. She then starred in the Chinese comedy film ''

The Lion Roars ''The Lion Roars'' is a 2002 Hong Kong comedy film produced and directed by Joe Ma. The film starred Louis Koo and Cecilia Cheung Plot During the Soong Dynasty, a beautiful woman named Moth Liu is searching for a husband, but is unable to fin ...

'' (2002). Cheung impressed the audiences with her portrayal of the independent and spunky heroine, and won the Most Popular Actress award at the

Chinese Film Media Awards Chinese Film Media Awards (华语电影传媒大奖) are presented by '' Southern Metropolis Daily'' annually to honor excellence in Chinese-language cinema. Though based in mainland China, the awards are open to Chinese-language films from Hong Kon ...

. Cheung reunited with Derek Yee in the crime thriller ''

One Nite in Mongkok ''One Nite in Mongkok'' () is a 2004 Hong Kong crime thriller film written and directed by Derek Yee and starring Daniel Wu, Cecilia Cheung and Alex Fong. The film is a sequel to the Yee produced 2000 film, '' Double Tap'', with Fong reprising ...

'' (2004) where she played a prostitute who cross paths with an assassin (played by

Daniel Wu Daniel Ng Neh-Tsu (, born September 30, 1974) is an American actor, director and producer based in Hong Kong. He is known as a "flexible and distinctive" leading actor in the Chinese language film industry. Since his film debut in 1998, he has ...

). She was nominated for the Best Actress award at the

for the third time. Cheung was cast in her first television project, where she played the legendary singer

Zhou Xuan Zhou Xuan (; born Su Pu (); August 1, 1920 – September 22, 1957), also romanized as Chow Hsuan, was an iconic Chinese singer and film actress. By the 1940s, she had become one of China's Seven Great Singing Stars. She was the best known o ...

in ''The Wandering Songstress'' (2008). She was reportedly paid 200,000 yuan per episode to film the drama. Cheung's next few films failed to achieve commercial success and were critically panned. Cheung has earned 70 million HKD in 2014, ranking number nine in the top ten list of Hong Kong's highest (entertainment) celebrity incomes in 2014. In early 2021, Cheung joined the second season of Chinese reality series ''

Sisters Who Make Waves ''Sisters Who Make Waves'' () is a 2020 Chinese reality television show that was broadcast on Mango TV from 12 June to 4 September 2020. It features 30 female celebrities over 30 years old who must compete to debut in a seven-member girl group. ...

'', a singing and dancing competition among 30 women with established entertainment careers.

Personal life

Cheung married fellow Hong Kong entertainer Nicholas Tse in a secret wedding ceremony in the Philippines in September 2006. She gave birth to their first son in August 2007 and their second son in May 2010. On 23 August 2011, the couple made a public announcement of an agreement to a divorce. They agreed to hold joint custody of their two sons. Cheung announced in a Weibo post from her studio that she had given birth to a third son on 18 November 2018, but the father of her son remains unknown. In March 2020, Cheung voiced her support for

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

cotton after several international companies announced that they will no longer purchase cotton from the region due to concerns over Uyghur human rights. In June 2021, Cheung revealed on the Chinese variety show ''Life Is Beautiful 2'' to fellow actress and friend

Sheren Tang Sheren Tang Shui-man (born 2 March 1966) is a Hong Kong actress. She is best known for her roles in the mega-hit Hong Kong TVB drama series '' War and Beauty'', as well as '' La Femme Desperado'', '' The Family Link'', '' Rosy Business'' and '' ...

that if she were to enter a new relationship, she would not make it public. On the same show, Cheung revealed she had moved to Shanghai for several months and plans to reside in the city long term due to more work opportunities and to send her children to better schools.

Incidents

1999 Triad threat incident

In 1999, her triad member father, known as ''Bearded Bravery'' or ''Bearded Yung'', got into a misunderstanding with a rival gang. As a result, Cheung received

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...

and

death threats A death threat is a threat, often made anonymously, by one person or a group of people to kill another person or group of people. These threats are often designed to intimidate victims in order to manipulate their behaviour, in which case a deat ...

against her, when she was still relatively new in the

film industry The film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e., film production companies, film studios, cinematography, animation, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, post ...

2008 Edison Chen Photo scandal

In January and February 2008, many explicit photos were found online involving Cheung and

Edison Chen Edison Chen Koon-hei (, born Chen Hing-wah on 7 October 1980) is a Canadian-born Hong Kong actor, singer, rapper, fashion designer and entrepreneur. Chen is the co-founder of CLOT, a Hong Kong-based streetwear and fashion label. Debuting in 19 ...

. The scandal also involved Gillian Chung and

Bobo Chan Bobo Chan Man-Woon is a former Hong Kong singer and model. She was also an actress in several film and TV-series. Life and career Bobo's first film role was in 1999's '' Tempting Heart''. In 2001, she debut her first CD, titled ''Shine''. Between ...

Filmography

Discography

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cheung, Cecilia Living people 1980 births 20th-century Hong Kong actresses 21st-century Hong Kong actresses 21st-century Hong Kong women singers Cantopop singer-songwriters Hong Kong Christians Hong Kong film actresses Hong Kong television actresses Hong Kong people of Chinese descent Hong Kong people of British descent Hong Kong emigrants to Australia Hong Kong idols