ARTICLE TRANSLATED BY ANIME MASTER 179002.
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Anime: Translated from a magazine article months ago :) Sharing with all Esther fans!
TVB’s Forever Best Actress – ☆ Esther Kwan Wing Ho ☆
Esther’s first job was an office clerk. A friend invited her to film a series of videos, so she can make some money and experience something new at the same time. Esther had her doubts; she grew up in a very restricted family. Esther never thought she would be a star. She finally agreed upon discovering that the videos were to be released overseas only, Hong Kong viewers would never get a chance to see them. Her first role was to act as a pregnant woman who wanted to seek vengeance. The plot was lame; filming took place in a dirty, rusty old factory building. It’s hard to imagine what Esther was like back then, but that was in fact her first role. She once wanted to give up and leave the entertainment business, but in end she took the chance and signed her first contract. Even though the quality of the video was poor, Esther still cannot wait to watch her own performance after the post-production. The first step of becoming a successful actress started from way back then.
Her friend later joined aTV and continued to offer Esther different opportunities. Esther started to film short mini series for aTV; she thought nobody would notice her out of the large cast and crew. She never expected the feedback to be that great; everybody praised her for her performance. aTV decided to sign a long contract with her, but she refused. She always treated acting as her part-time job; she never thought this would be she lifetime career. It was the same friend who persuaded her, her friend said, “What is so memorable about your past? You have nothing to lose. Being an actress is not to act for other people, but it’s to give yourself a chance.” Months later, Esther officially signed with aTV.
When Esther first joined aTV, she was the most ordinary girl you could find, she only wanted to act, that’s why she signed with aTV. She remained very ordinary for a while; she did not care about her outer appearance. She only wanted to act. Because of her outer appearance, the press has continuously called her the “out-dated” one. When filming “The Burning Rain”, the series that caused great disturbance to TVB, her outfit were always the worst of the entire cast. She purposely made herself extremely untidy so she would play a more realistic vagrant, nobody recognized her when she was filming on the bus because of that. In contrast, everyone avoided her. This is dedication that most “so called” actress lack. Esther did not know any shortcuts to fame, she only focuses on her acting and hope to win the audience’s applause with her own effort. She eventually became aTV’s top actress. People started to notice this ordinary girl, Esther filmed one series after another. In 1992, Esther’s contract with aTV ended, she realized that there were alternate paths. She chose to enter the movie industry. She signed with a movie company and decided to find new opportunities.
Only after signing her new company did she realize most of the scripts offered to her were pornographic based. Hong Kong porn films were very popular during those years. Many of the newcomers wanted to be famous and chose to accept the film. Unlike those people, our traditional Esther cannot accept such matter.
Esther was once rebellious, during her secondary school year she once skipped class to go shopping with friends. However, that very same night, she confessed to her father, knowing she was wrong. Esther is also very selective when it comes to scripts. She chose her films carefully. For a long period, she just sat at home doing nothing. Another problem arose not long after, her company was in crisis and was forced to close. That was one of the low points in her life. When she was most depressed, TVB noticed Esther and signed her to be a part of the big family. Her most glamorous years were about to come.
Entering TVB was probably Esther’s best decision. To this day, nobody ever found out how TVB was able to have such precise insight. She gained her “fame” at aTV, but that “fame” was nothing compared to the attention she received during her time at TVB. Her outer appearance gave people the “tragic" feeling, everyone thought she was most suitable for filming melancholic series. TVB went against all logic and decided to cast Esther in “Mutual Affection”, a light comedy. Esther brought the character to life and gained rapid popularity. Undoubtedly, Esther was a natural when it comes to comedy. This was not the first time Esther tried a comedy, during her aTV years, she filmed “Love Is Like Oxygen”, a rather light comedy, but aTV was not able to unleash Esther’s true hidden potential. TVB brought the “real” Esther to life. Year 1997’s “Lady Flower Fist” was indeed the series that caused Esther’s career to skyrocket. All because of these series, Esther got voted as “Most Popular Actress” in almost every single newspaper, television station award presentations. Esther became the ultimate television queen of Hong Kong. She was crown the title “female housewife killer”. Usually “housewives” only favor particular male actors, but Esther was the exception. “Housewives” fell in love with this serious, yet extremely “cute” woman. Every one of her series was a success. The name Kwan Wing Ho had created a special effect, whenever her name appears in any series, that series is a definite must watch. Her collaborations with “Armed Reaction” co-star and fellow “housewife killer” Bobby AuYeung Chun-Wah sent her career to the top of the peak. The sensitive and crazy Ngor from Armed Reaction was voted as the only female character in the “Top 10 Most Wanted Lover” contest. The sequel, “Armed Reaction II”, earned itself the number two spot in TVB’s highest rated series in these past eleven years. Jessica Hsuan Suen once made such a comment during an interview, “It takes a century for one Esther Kwan to be created.” What Jessica means is that even though there are many actress in the business, there are few that matches up to Esther’s charisma. TVB made the best of her. There is no one that matches her charm ever since Esther left TVB.
Whenever the name Esther Kwan is mentioned, another name appears alongside it: Nick Cheung Ka-Fai. Nick Cheung, Esther’s boyfriend of ten years, now husband and father of her their dear daughter Brittany. The two met at the most “unique” time, she was aTV’s rising star while Nick was aTV’s unnoticeable supporting star. Esther was quite the rumor queen; Felix Wong Yat-Wah and Carlo Chin Ka-Lok were two of her rumored boyfriends. One time when Nick fell off a horse and injured himself during filming, Esther rushed to see him. Nick then became her only “rumored” boyfriend ever since. Even though both were aTV’s artist, the two did not get much chance to work with each other. Their real collaboration had only been in “Hong Kong Criminal Archives: Eight Drug Dealers” and “Spirit of the Dragon”. Year 1993, the cast and crew of “Spirit” flew over to Canada for some filming. It was then when Nick discovered the true and cute side of Esther. Upon returning to Hong Kong, he started to pursue her.
Esther is a stubborn head, she once said, “I’m very unpretentious and simple, if I start dating, I would want to marry that person.” When Esther accepted Nick, she knew this would be a lifetime matter. Arguments are unavoidable between couples. After the two had a major quarrel in 1996, Nick suddenly disappeared. In turned out Nick’s uncle had some business in South Africa and required his assistance. Nick used this good opportunity to relax and clear his mind. He left for eight months; he completely separated from Esther during that time. He just left Esther without any notice. After eight months, the two met each other at the hospital. Nick’s sister was diagnosed with cancer, Esther knew Nick was away and so she offered help to his sister and visited her whenever time permitted. There was no explanation, no apologies, the two naturally got back together. Nick is actually a very caring man, even though the two had disagreements during the filming of “The Legendary Four Aces”, upon returning home, Nick would still cook for Esther. When Esther’s friends come for a visit, Nick would always be the chauffeur, so that Esther can have more time to chat with her friends. The two finally got married in 2003 at Sydney. Not long after, Esther revealed that she was pregnant. At the age of forty-one, and when Nick is suffering from Mediterranean Anaemia, the two still relentlessly gave birth to daughter Brittany. Esther is someone who will not stop until everything is perfect, her goal is to have two to four children. That is her definition of a complete family.
Click for original Chinese article
TRANSLATED BY ANIME MASTER 179002 @ ESTHER KWAN'S REALM.
ARTICLE IS NOT TO BE REPOSTED ELSEWHERE.
Posted on 03/18/08
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