Gigi Lai (born 1 October 1971) is a Hong Kong actress and singer. Entering the entertainment industry in 1985, Lai was under a contract with the television station

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 ...

from 1991 until she retired in 2008. Nicknamed by the Hong Kong media as the "Goddess of Beauty" (愛美神), she is best known for her roles in ''

The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber ''The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber'' (), also translated as ''The Sword and the Knife'', is a wuxia novel by Jin Yong (Louis Cha). It is the third and final installment in the ''Condor Trilogy'', preceded by ''The Legend of the Condor Heroes ...

'' (2000), ''

War and Beauty ''War and Beauty'' () is a Hong Kong television period drama serial that originally aired on TVB Jade from 23 August to 2 October 2004, consisting of 30 episodes. It stars TVB Best Actress winners Sheren Tang (2009/2010), Maggie Cheung (2003), ...

'' (2004), for which she won the

TVB Anniversary Award for Best Actress The TVB Anniversary Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role is one of the TVB Anniversary Awards presented annually by Television Broadcasts Limited Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) is a television broadcasting company based in Hong Ko ...

, ''

The Charm Beneath ''The Charm Beneath'' (Traditional Chinese: 胭脂水粉) is a TVB period drama series broadcast in October 2005. The series was shown to celebrate TVB's 38th Anniversary. Sheren Tang and Bobby Au-Yeung were originally cast in this series inst ...

'' (2005), ''

The Dance of Passion ''The Dance of Passion'' (Traditional Chinese: 火舞黃沙) is a TVB period drama series broadcast in May 2006. The series was filmed in Yinchuan, ( Ningxia in Mainland China) and Hong Kong. Synopsis The entire series revolves around the live ...

'' (2006), and ''

The Gem of Life ''The Gem of Life'' (Traditional Chinese: 珠光寶氣) is a TVB grand production drama, that broadcast between October 2008 and February 2009. The series was specifically filmed to celebrate TVB's 41st Anniversary. Filming took place in many ...

'' (2009).

Early life

On 1 October 1971 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 ...

. Lai's grandfather

Lai Man-Wai Lai Man-wai (; September 25, 1893 – October 26, 1953), also romanised as Lay Min-wei or M.W. Ray, considered the "Father of Hong Kong Cinema", was the director of the first Hong Kong film ''Zhuangzi Tests His Wife'' in 1913. In the film, Lai ...

was a key figure of the first generation of Hong Kong filmmakers, and her grandmother

Lim Cho Cho Florence Lim (21 January 1905 – 16 February 1979), better known as Lim Cho-cho, was a Chinese Canadian actress in the cinema of the Republic of China and British Hong Kong from 1925 to 1954. She was the second wife of filmmaker Lai Man-Wai a ...

was a

silent era A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, wh ...

star. Lai's father was deaf.

Career

When Lai's family went bankrupt, she entered the entertainment industry at the age of 14 to earn money to support her family and her younger brother's education in England. Lai began her career as a singer, releasing several albums in the 1990s in both Cantonese and Mandarin. In her early acting career, Lai turned down roles that she felt compromised her public persona. However, she overcame her "superficial and childish image" later and began to embrace many critically acclaimed roles. She won the

for her role in ''

''. Lai also performed in several box office hits, including the ''

Young and Dangerous ''Young and Dangerous'' () is a 1996 Hong Kong crime film about a group of triad members, detailing their adventures and dangers in a Hong Kong Triad society. Directed by the film's cinematographer Andrew Lau, the film features a large ensemb ...

'' film series. At the premiere of ''

'', Lai announced that she would be retiring from the industry to concentrate on looking after her brother's business after he was seriously injured in a car accident in 2007.

Personal life and marriage

In 2008, Lai married businessman Patrick Ma Ting-kung to rumours that they were expecting their first child, however Lai later dismissed the rumours of her pregnancy. In March 2010, Lai confirmed that she was pregnant with twins, and on July 25, 2010, she gave birth to two girls, Pricia and Gianna. On October 8, 2012, she gave birth to her third daughter, Pegella.

Filmography

Films

Television

Awards

*1993 Best Selling Single *1994 Top 10 Chinese Songs (Silver Medal) *1994 JSG Best New Talent Singer *2004 TVB 37th Anniversary – Best Actress Award, as Yuk Ying in War and Beauty *2004 TVB 37th Anniversary – Best Character Award, as Yuk Ying in War and Beauty *2004 Black and White Television Characters Awards, Favourite Actress Award *2004 Metro's Best Duet Collaboration Award for the Song “Poison” with Bowie Lam *2004 Metroshowbiz TV awards – Top 10 TV Actors and Actresses *2004 Watson's Annual Health & Beauty Awards – Artiste with Perfect Skin *2005 TVB Weekly Popularity Awards – Most Popular Magazine Cover Artiste *2005 TVB Weekly Popularity Awards – Most Popular Female Artiste *2005 TVB Weekly Popularity Awards – Most Popular Female in Ancient Drama *2005 TVB Weekly Popularity Awards – Most Popular of them all *2005 Next Magazine TV Awards Top 10 TV Artists *2005 Next Magazine Sponsorship Award - Best Style Actress *2005 Top Ten Best Dressed Personalities Awards *2005 Watson's Annual Health & Beauty Awards – Artiste with Perfect Skin *2005 Astro TV Drama Award – Favourite Female Character Award for War and Beauty *2005 Astro TV Drama Award – Favourite Lethal Beauty Award for War and Beauty *2005 Metroshowbiz TV awards – Top 10 TV Actors and Actresses *2006 TVB Weekly Popularity Awards – Top 10 TV Artists *2006 Watson's Annual Health & Beauty Awards – Artiste with Perfect Skin *2006 China Entertainment Awards – Most Popular Non-Mainland Actress *2007 Astro TV Drama Award – Favorite Moment Award for Frances in Healing Hands 3 *2007 Health Choice Award *2007 China/HK 10th Entertainment Awards - Most Popular Actress Award *2007 China/HK 10th Entertainment Awards - Best Couple Award with Bowie Lam *2007 Watson's HWB Awards - Top Diamond Award *2007 Singapore I-weekly Magazine - Top 10 Most Loved Hong Kong Actresses *2007 TVB 40th Anniversary - Mainland Audience's Fave TVB Actress Award *2008 Astro TV Drama Award – Favourite Actress Award for Dance of Passion *2008 Astro TV Drama Award – Favourite Character Award for Dance of Passion *2008 Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum - Top Six Most Popular Hong Kong TV Female Artistes *2008 HKFDA 20th Annual Best Dressed Personalities Awards *2009 New York Festivals Television and Film Award - Hong Kong, TVB: Best Performance for The Ultimate Crime Fighter

References

External links

*
Gigi Lai
at the

Hong Kong Movie DataBase The Hong Kong Movie Database (HKMDB) is a bilingual (English and Chinese) website started in 1995 by Hong Kong resident Ryan Law to provide a repository for information about movies originating from Hong Kong and the people who created them. Th ...

spcnet.tv entry
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TVB Anniversary Awards The TVB Anniversary Awards (), officially known as the TVB Awards Presentation, is an annual awards ceremony honoring TVB's programming achievements in Hong Kong television; despite claims that it is the region's equivalent to the American E ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lai, Gigi 1971 births Living people Alumni of The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts Hong Kong film actresses Hong Kong television actresses People from Zhaoqing TVB veteran actors Hong Kong child actresses 20th-century Hong Kong actresses 21st-century Hong Kong actresses 21st-century Hong Kong women singers Hong Kong idols