The first time I saw Charmaine Sheh was in 2002 during the 12th annual Next Magazine Awards. It was the first time I participated in the awards and the first time she was nominated. From that moment on, I would see her at least once each year.After several years without seeing each other, it’s no surprise if you don’t know me. However, Charmaine is different – after seeing her at the awards show for 9 years straight, the feeling is like eating moon cakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival or receiving red envelopes during Lunar New Year – a very familiar and natural feeling. I have a lot of confidence that Charmaine would know that I work at Next Magazine, so wouldn’t need to go through the awkwardness of introducing myself. What would be embarrassing is if it’s been 6 years or 6 months since I last saw a person and all of a sudden get to see them again, but not knowing whether they remember me or not – having to figure that out is difficult.
Well, not more difficult than collaborating with Dayo Wong in "You’re Hired". As one of the forerunners in stand-up comedy, it is difficult for a ‘normal’ person to partner up with him to make people laugh without being overshadowed. Or perhaps bearing the series "Beyond the Realm of Conscience" on her shoulders is more difficult? With all the female characters in the series – each one unique and challenging to portray – Charmaine’s character Lau Sam Ho is the most simple, naïve, and honest…how did she make her character stand out? “It’s hard to be a good person. The character is so ‘good’ that it’s a little beyond belief and can be easily ‘rejected’ by audiences because they are not able to relate. I agree that the character Lau Sam Ho doesn’t really ‘stand out’ – the emotional transformation she goes through internally is not very apparent; compared with the other characters whose ‘changes’ are more emphasized, it is difficult for her to leave a lasting impression on the audience.”
Even more difficult is that some audiences feel the series is ‘too similar’ to Korean series "Jewel in the Palace", which makes overcoming all the comparisons to Korean actress Lee Young-Ae even harder. In fact, avoiding accusations of ‘copying’ the actress is already very lucky. “The only thing I can do is to try hard to portray the character with as much detail as possible. As a person, one’s attitude toward different people around them will undoubtedly be different for each. No matter how ‘good’ Lau Sam Ho is, there are different levels of ‘goodness’ – looking at the character from different angles will make her more three-dimensional.”
Looking through old magazines, it is noted that Charmaine’s facial features and physical attributes have not changed much over the years. What has changed – her status. Nine years ago, she was like a witless young girl – today, the experience she has garnered over the years is more than enough for her to take on the responsibility of ‘leading the new generation’ to success. “ I wouldn’t really say that I’m ‘leading the newcomers’…it’s just that there have been more opportunities to collaborate with newcomers. Actually, this has been the feeling the past few years already.” It’s obvious that a TV station is not an office – in a normal office environment, if you were promoted to a position ‘overseeing’ staff, it would be a cause for celebration; here [in the TV station environment], the ‘pressure’ is greater than the ‘joy’ of being promoted.
Many fa-dans have chosen to get married and have children as they’ve felt the time is right; Charmaine herself probably hopes for a different type of life as well, however she has decided to wait at least another year. So in other words, there will be a year’s worth of ‘rumors’ still to come. Taking on the challenge of being ‘in the running’ for the Next Magazine Awards 10 years straight, she will have to rely on the 2 heavily anticipated series "Can’t Buy Me Love" and "Heaven and Earth". “For me, 10 years will be very meaningful and will be a goal that I really want to achieve. However, I’m not too concerned with ratings – rather, I feel that being able to satisfy the inner spirit from the process of making these series is more important. I am especially looking forward to the series "Heaven and Earth" because the storyline will be very different – it will talk about how my husband in the series dies in the mountains and his corpse is ‘shared’ by his friends in order to survive. The theme of ‘cannabalism’ is different yet at the same time has a more ‘mature’ feel. This type of ‘new’ experience [in acting] is what I’m really pursuing at this point in my career.”
Every person, as a year passes, also ‘ages’ by a year – eliminating others and being eliminated is inevitable. It’s not necessarily a bad thing…like dead water that gets stuck and goes nowhere – that’s the worse. Who I am referring to is not Charmaine Sheh, who is constantly seeking to improve herself and has set very clear goals for herself; rather, I am referring to myself – someone who just lives day by day, letting whatever happens, happen.
Credits: llwy12 @ AsianFanatics
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