Felix Wong

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Felix Wong
Chinese name 黃日華 (Traditional)
Chinese name 黄日华 (Simplified)
Born September 4, 1961 (1961-09-04) (age 46)
Hong Kong

Felix Wong Yat-Wah (Simplified Chinese: 黄日华, Traditional Chinese: 黃日華, Jyutping: Wong4 Yat9 Wa4, Pinyin: Huang2 Ri4 Hua2) (born September 4, 1961 in Hong Kong) is a popular TVB actor in Hong Kong from the eighties (also known as TVB's golden decade. He is one of the most famous series actors and one of the most favoritable. His specialty are roles in tragic and sad series.

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[edit] Career and fame

Felix Wong graduated from TVB Artist Training Class, and proceeded to act for TVB, where he made his name known. Although he has appeared in over a dozen movies, he is mostly known for his work in various television series. During the 1980s, Felix Wong, along with Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Andy Lau, Miu Kiu Wai and Kent Tong, made up the "Five Tiger Generals of TVB", who were the most popular male actors of TVB at the time. According to most polls, he was probably the most favorable tiger. He is best known for his role as the foolish, yet brave Guo Jing (Cantonese:Gwok Jing) in the 1983 television adaptation of Jin Yong's The Legend of the Condor Heroes (射鵰英雄傳).

In the series, his character was foolish, dumb, clumsy, but had an excellent level of stubbornness and bravery. Felix mastered to portray every character trait as good as the story itself. This role was no doubt, his most famous role ever. The story was itself was also one of the most famous sword play stories ever written.

During the eighties Felix was one of the few actors who filmed series continuously. Though achieving great fame, due to his series, he was never really happy with his heavy project loads. He was a very obedient actor and directors liked to work with him. Because of this personality, he became a slave to TVB. It was rare that Felix would go home and see his wife, which made her and his daughter unhappy. This fact had also caused some family issues as well. Felix was filming so many series in one year(up to six), he recalled he had to sleep in the bathroom. He had said that those who are lucky would be able to get the chairs to sleep in the studio. Those who are unfortunate sleeps on the floor or the locker room. Because of his overload work hours; in 1985, he collapsed in the studio and was immediately transferred to the hospital. The doctor had said he was overworking himself and he also had a bad lung due to smoking. He recalled being very happy, during his eighteen days rest at the hospital.

This hard worker was also known for his flexible acting ranging from the innocent Gwok Jing to the clever, sly, and greedy, Lee Mun in The Grand Canal. His role as Lee Mun was considered the most favorable evil role Felix had played. The Lee Mun in the story was handsome, powerful and would be dressed in a white outfit. At first, he tried to "camouflage" his evilness and befriended the main character, Tony Leung. Many audiences have denied they have fell for his "camouflage". At the end, he splits up general Tony's warriors and took part of the warriors for himself. He then ended up killing the warriors when he was betrayed. His personality was one that "swayed with the wind." Whenever one country lost, he would go fight for the winning country. When that country had lost, he would go fight for the winning country convincing them with his sly grouping of words. He was so greedy, he killed his own sister for Tony's warriors to stop attacking him.

This favorable actor is also best friends with the famous canto-pop singer Andy Lau. Felix was also the person who handed Lau the application form to become an actor [1]. Lau had laughed and said that he couldn't have imagined that the person handing him the application form was so handsome.

When Felix graduated from college his family would often scold him to become an actor due to his good looks. During many days of scolding him, his sister got him an application form. Through many times of begging, he accepted to take the form. Going to TVB Training School was like going to regular school for him. The instructors saw him as a good student. His class also included Miu Kiu Wai. His first role ever was as a gangster in The Bund, a notable series starring the legendary Chow Yun Fatt. Though Felix did not even get five minutes of on-screen time, his roles gradually became bigger.

His next series, The Misadventure of Zoo had actually got him as one of the characters the story focused on. This was a series with Adam Cheng while Felix plays Adam Cheng's sworn brother. His first major role was with Carol Cheng in Gor Hawk. The series was a major success and quickly shot him to great fame. This was also Michael Miu's first big role. In the series, Felix shot his friend, only to lose his girlfriend, Carol Cheng. After the series was aired, his fan letters exceeded hot favorites such as Liza Wang, Angie Chiu, and Carol Cheng[2]. The series that had shot him into more fame was The Legend of the Condor Heroes a famous classical with Barbara Yung. After the series, his name quickly became a legendary household name. This was no doubt one of the most famous TV series in Hong Kong.

[edit] Notable productions

During his golden days, him and his series were a hot favorite with many fans. After just one year in the entertainment industry, he became a popular favorite among audiences. What many seem to find special about him is how he portrays a cute, honest, and sweet person so well. Though there were many generations of artists portraying Guo Jing he was considered the most classic and popular version. No one could replace his foolishness, braveness and clumsiness as the swordsman. Some of his acting skills were learned from veteran actors, Bill Chan and Kwan Hoi San whom also co-starred in some productions including The Legend of the Condor Heroes.

This version talks about a brave couple (Guo Jing and Huang Rong) that would raid the martial arts world. Barbara Yung plays the witty, smart, mischievous, Huang Rong. Michael Miu plays the main antagonist, Yang Kang. Conflicts after conflicts would occur for the couple to solve. One of their main goals is to try to get Michael to kill the emperor, the man responsible for the death of Kang's parents. The newer productions are good also, but critics has claimed that only Felix possesses most of the swordman's traits.

He is also famous for another series with Carina Lau, Looking Back in Anger. The song and series was considered a huge success. Being able to achieve enormous ratings, this series was an irreplaceable classic and considered the most rented series in Hong Kong history. It was especially famous for it's mysterious and tragic ending. This series along with his tragic acting had made many people cry. The love triangle between Felix, Carina Lau, and Kathy Chow was one of the most memorable ones from TVB.

Some other famous productions are Racing Peak, Secret of the Heart, Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, Justice Pao, The Young Flying Fox, Heaven's Retribution, and Treasure Raiders.

In Racing Peak, he was paired up with Amy Chan. The plot focuses on a horse racing company. Felix plays a slacker and a gambler that risks at any costs. In The Young Flying Fox, he plays the main character's father, but unfortunately ended up dead. In Justice Pao, he plays Pao's loyal bodyguard, Jin Chiu. He would always be put in great danger, in order to kill Pao, the crooks would have to kill Pao's bodyguard first. In Treasure Raiders, Felix plays a powerful swordsman who is hated by many people. This was the sequel to Gu Long's famous novel, Chor Lau Heung.

[edit] Family

Felix's love life involves two people: Mimi Kung and Leung Kit Wah. His first girlfriend was Leung. Leung and Felix dated in 1982, during their days in the training school. After a while, they broke up and Felix dated Mimi Kung. They dated for an amount of time and broke up which resulted in Felix and Leung getting back together. There was also a rumor that Kung turned Felix's proposal down.

In December 1988, He married his wife, Leung Kit Wah. During the same year, his megahit hit series, Looking Back in Anger was filmed. Two years later, their daughter Wong Chi Ching was born. Felix would usually go to Japan with his daughter because of her interest in the Japanese culture. Since his hours are always rush hours, he is very happy when he gets a chance to talk to his daughter. He does not worry much about his daughter because she is the top five in her class. Though he is an actor himself, he convinces his daughter to not join the filming industry because it is very complicated.

Due to some negative rumors, Felix and his wife's relationship has had some ups and downs. The rumor that his wife had an underground relationship with one of her business friends caused serious damage. There was a huge misunderstanding and the worse was how papparazzi made up their own version of the story.

Some actresses that Felix have had negative rumors with are Ada Choi, Kenix Kwok, and Sheren Tang. On the positive side, his relationship with his wife increased due to these misunderstandings. Felix had accepted himself as a non romantic man. On the other hand, his wife is a very romantic woman. When going to China to film, he would usually send small gifts to his wife such as flowers or cards. Before, Felix does not have much time with his wife, since he was so busy. Nowadays, if you were to stop by the Wong's house most of the time him and his wife would be holding hands. During many interviews, he had said he cherished his wife because he had almost lost her before.

One production Felix worked with his wife was in Twilights of a Nation. Felix does not only suffer from problems with his wife, but his family as well. His mom would scold at him everyday for filming too many ancient series. This had made Felix lose much of his self-esteem.

[edit] Leaving TVB

On January 11, 2002, Felix Wong left TVB to film mainland serials because he was unhappy about how TVB was being run. He disliked the way how the company was making many gibberish series. He also hated the way how series nowadays are just about revenge. In the same year, he even protested against TVB saying they should make better series. It didn't matter much, because his contract has expired. He even said in an interview, that TVB were slave drivers. Before, he was "frozen", due to the fact that he at first declined his role as the monk in Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils. Because he was "frozen", he did not get to film his upcoming movie. The role was later given to Andy Lau. The talented actor had declared in an interview that he will not return to TVB until there's no more competition left. This has left many other studios chances to have him film for them (Felix works for at least four studios) unfortunately, he rejected them all. His last major role for TVB was in Treasure Raiders.

In 2005, Felix got a role in Andy Lau's new movie, Wait 'Til You're Older. When Andy asked Felix to play get a role in movie, Felix just replied yes to his friend. Felix, who was clueless about his role did not even read the script yet. When it was time for the script, he was shocked to find out he played Andy's father, when they're both the same age. Even though, Felix just smiled and accepted the role. Andy had said that he found Felix suitable for the role, because he saw how happy and comfortable Felix's daughter was when she was walking with him.

Felix's life does not only revolve around acting, it revolves around soccer as well. Being known as a soccer maniac he plays for the Hong Kong celebrity soccer team. This soccer is made up of the best Hong Kong celebrity soccer players. His celebrity soccer team is also famed for another tiger, Michael Miu. Though they did not see each other for a long amount of time, Michael and Felix has remained best friends for over twenty years. Due to heavy loads of filming projects he recalled not playing soccer and visiting his friends for three years. Felix and Eddie Cheung should be hosting the Hong Kong World Cup, an event that Felix is very eager to attend.

[edit] Current life

Felix is now semi-retired and enjoying his life full of leisure and simple activities. He has rejected many series and will only film movies right now. This had made him and his family happier. Since his mother's death in 2000, he had told himself to cut down work because of the fear he would be the next one dead. This has caused him great depression. Though he does not make much profit from it, he would be seen in many charity concerts. The main reasons that makes him happy about these are that it allows him to be a singer and hear the roars of his fans. He denied he will not be a full time singer because he does not like his voice and doesn't want to embarrass himself. The only goal in his life is to be a good and successful man. This means having a good family, good health, and being able to support the family. He has quit taking alcohol and is trying to quit smoking as well. He would lower his smoking limits per day. Before, he would smoke a package per day.

During his free time, he would neither bowl or play soccer. Chatting with Andy Lau would also be another choice. His bowling skills was learned from Lau. This down to earth man possesses an unambitious attitude with a low profile. Unlike many other scandal actors, Felix does not try to end up on the news or go to promotional events unless it's urgent. He was also one of the few actors who has a small amount of negative rumors. During many interviews, he denied he was tired from those hard filming days in the past. Even on his birthday, his only wish is to enjoy more out of life. Many reporters have felt that his personality does not suit the entertainment industry. His down to earth and peaceful personality are two traits that most fans respect him for. Though he doesn't appear on the television screen as much as before there are still many die hard fans of him around.

[edit] Personal Info

  • Favorite Food: sandwich
  • Hobbies: soccer, origami
  • Favorite Color: white, blue, yellow
  • Blood Type: B
  • Favorite Singers: Jacky Cheung
  • Favorite Band: ABBA
  • Household: father, mother, 2 elder sisters, 1 younger brother, wife, daughter
  • Favorite Subject: Zoology
  • Zodiac: Virgo
  • Goal in Life: Be a successful man in both career and family
  • Most Successful Role: Guo Jing
  • Serie with most effort put in: Racing Peak

[edit] Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
2007 Brothers Ghostie / Gui
2005 Wait 'Til You're Older Chan Man
The Dragon Heroes
2004 Another Sky
Mystic Detective Files
In Laws Out Laws Guest
2003 Golden Chicken 2 Richard
City of SARS
Asian Heroes Dr.Gan Jin Yao ATV
2002 Innocently Guilty
Golden Chicken Richard
2001 To Be No. 1 - Shepherd
Treasure Riders Siu Sap Yat Long TVB
2000 Point of No Return (aka No Choice) China
1999 Legend of Master Soh Soh Chan China
Incurable Traits Cao Cao TVB
Flying Fox of the Snowy Mountain Wu Yat Do TVB
Time off Chow Ka Chuen TVB
Kung Fu Master From Guangdong Wong Kei Ying TVB & China
Tre Eyes China
1998 Secret of the Heart Michael / Xu Sheng TVB
1997 Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils Qiao Feng TVB
1996 Unsual Revenge TVB
The Criminal Investigator 2 Wong Chi Chung TVB
1995 She Was Married to the Mob Detective Shun TV Movie
The Criminal Investigator 1 Wong Chi Chung TVB
Man on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown TV Movie
Justice Pao 2 Jin Chiu TVB
1994 Justice Pao 1 Jin Chiu TVB
Drunken Master 2 Chan
Love Cycle TVB
Burden of Proof TV Movie
1993 Imperial Wanderer Taiwan
Racing Peak Li Ta You TVB
1992 Twilight of the Forbidden City
Silver Tycoon Duen Siu Cheung ATV
1991 All out of Love Kong Wai Lam ATV
The Good, the Ghost, and the Cop ATV
The Tigers Bong
1990 Heaven's Retribution ATV
Angel Mission
Kim Mo Duk Ku Kau Pai Lam Hong TVB
1989 Looking Back in Anger Ding Yau Kin TVB
Fury of a Tiger
1988 Battle of the Hearts TVB
Greed TVB
Kay Moon Gwai Guk TVB
Twilight of a Nation TVB
1987 Genghis Khan Ja Mok Hup TVB
The Grand Canal Lee Mun TVB
The Upstart and the Self-Made Man TVB
1986 Ordeal before the Revolution TVB
General Father General Son Sit Ding San TVB
Brothers under the Skin Chan Gwong Ling TVB
The Innocent Interloper
Who's the Crook
1985 The Yang's Saga Yang Yin Tak TVB
A Tough Fight TVB
Sword Stained with Royal Blood Yuan Cheng Zhi TVB
1984 The Young Wanderer Yik Sui Hon TVB
It Takes All Kinds TVB
Young Detective TVB
Pao Ching Tin Law Enforcer Jin Chiu TVB
The Foundation Kong Fung TVB
Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils Hui Juk Movie
New Tales of the Flying Fox Wu Fei Shaw Brothers
1983 Mad, mad 83
The Legend of The Condor Heroes Kwok Jing TVB
In the Same Boat
1982 Soldier of Fortune Wai Lok TVB
The Rollercoaster TVB
The Wild Bunch Lee Chuen Hao TVB
Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils Hui Juk TVB
1981 Kung Fu Master from Fat San Lee Mun Mo TVB
Young Heroes from Shaolin Emperor Qianlong TVB
Summer of 1981 TVB
Come Rain Come Shine TVB
The Lonely Hunter Lee Tong TVB
Misadventure of Zoo TVB
1980 The Bund Extra TVB

[edit] Reference

  1. ^ Felix Wong & Andy Lau: Their Friendship Over the Last 20 Years
  2. ^ Felix Wong's Former Idol Days

[edit] External links

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