Josie Ho in "The Drummer." Photo: Courtesy of Kenbiroli Films
By Alexandra A. Seno
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
HONG KONG: 'Hello! This is Rich & Famous!" chimes the telephone receptionist to Josie Ho Chiu-yee's manager. Ho is indeed one of the most recognized faces in Chinese entertainment, and her father, Stanley Ho Hung-sung, built a multibillion-dollar fortune operating casinos in Macao. Rich & Famous seems the perfect name for a company handling the 33-year-old actress, even if it was already one of Hong Kong's top talent agencies even before it signed her on.
In the very commercial and conformist Hong Kong entertainment industry, Ho's career stands out. Not only is she still working when many actresses her age have retired to become full-time wives or girlfriends, Ho is genuinely a bright star in Asia's burgeoning independent cinema scene. If plans go ahead for her to begin producing movies next year, she could also be a star maker.
But first, later this month, audiences at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival will get the chance to see Ho showcase her dramatic talent in "The Drummer," in which she plays the go-it-alone daughter to Tony Leung Ka-fai's mobster-dad, and the caring sister to a lost soul portrayed by Jaycee Chan. The film, directed by Kenneth Bi, is the first Hong Kong production to compete at Sundance.
Ho keeps a packed calendar. Aside from gearing up for her Sundance debut, she has been in negotiations to star in a small film by an American director.
"I'm just a working girl," she said, wearing a bib of diamonds in a floral design around her neck. The bling was on loan for a modeling job with a jewelry convention, a paid gig assigned by her managers. Before going backstage to talk, she spent the morning at the trade show opening the ceremonies, then posing for photos with guests Doing corporate work is part of the celebrity game in Hong Kong; a way to keep up visibility.
Her latest Mandarin-language rock-pop CD is due out in a few months. She is also in the restaurant business and co-owns a marketing company looking into bringing projects to Macao, where her family opened an MGM Grand last month.
Her entertainment career, however, is a priority, and she's constantly looking for good parts in films. "It has to be challenging," she said. "I like tough, modern, independent women. Psychological roles attract me. I like going on an emotional ride." In the industry, Ho has a reputation for frankness and for standing up for herself.
Since starting out in the early 1990s, she has appeared in more than 30 films. In Chinese cinema, she has been a frequent nominee for her acting for years. She was a finalist for a Golden Bauhinia best actress prize from the Hong Kong Film Critics Association in 2005 for the lesbian drama "Butterfly," and the year before that she was proclaimed best supporting actress at the Hong Kong Film Awards for the comedy "Naked Ambition." She has a 2002 Golden Bauhinia supporting actress trophy for the AIDS-themed "Forever and Ever."
Being taken seriously as a female film talent in Hong Kong has never been easy, and Ho reckons it is only getting more difficult.
"All these big, billion-Hong Kong-dollar movies funded by China need to cast big names like Chow Yun-fat, Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Andy Lau Tak-wah so they can make back investment," she said. "But because of the China quota system, a third of the stars need to be from China, so it usually goes to a mainland actress. All us Hong Kong girls are left out."
Having a penchant for offbeat roles, like Ho does, has made it even more challenging. Not that the self-described "tough chick" lets difficulty stop her often. Her passion for performing started at home, where it all nearly ended. "At family gatherings, I would be pushed to the center to sing and I loved it," she said. But when she wanted to join the entertainment industry, initially as a singer, her father balked.
The intervention of her formidable older sister, Pansy Ho Chiu-king, who is also their father's business heir-apparent, made him change his mind, if a bit reluctantly. "Pansy was the only one in the family who didn't think I was crazy," said the actress. "She knows that if I don't do this, I would not fit in anywhere else. It is my way to express myself."
She describes the Hos as a "close family," the kind that has dinner together every Sunday. (She has been married to the musician and filmmaker Conroy Chan Chi-chung for four years.) Though her father is now more accepting of her career, he doesn't get involved and doesn't bankroll her movies.
"He knows about my achievements but he doesn't have the time to go to my concerts and watch my films," she said. Forbes Magazine estimated the family to be worth $7 billion. In addition to gaming, they hold interests throughout Asia in companies involved in transportation, real estate, finance and hotels. Stanley Ho runs the only casino in Pyongyang, North Korea.
"Josie is very smart," said the Hong Kong director Nicholas Chin. He cast her as the lead in "Tai Tai," a 14-minute drama chosen by the 2002 Cannes Film Festival to compete in the short film category. She takes pride in getting recognition away from home. "Outside, people don't care who I am. In Hong Kong, everyone knows about my family," she said.
To prepare for the role, Chin gave her a list of movies to watch, and she did her homework. When asked, Ho easily rattles off the directors she admires most: Noah Baumbach, Paul Thomas Anderson and Julian Schnabel, and can discuss many of their works at length.
In "Tai Tai," she portrayed a fictional privileged Hong Kong lady who lunches. "She knows about the lifestyle, obviously, but she had distance because she has chosen a different way," he said. "She brought in the claustrophobia of the life, the hidden stuff."
The director added: "Josie is willing to do things differently. The craft is very important to her. She is not doing this to be famous, she isn't doing it for the money."
International Herald Tribune Copyright © 2008 The International Herald Tribune | www.iht.com
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