Actresses in the hot zone

Actresses in the hot zone

The two leading actresses of Zone Pro Site: The Moveable Feast are hardly fresh faces, but they have never been as popular as they are now.

The massive box-office success of the film in Taiwan has made actress-host Kimi Hsia, 29, and veteran Lin Mei-hsiu, 46, hot property.

Hsia is now so busy with work - she has just signed on for lead roles in three new TV dramas - that she has even decided to postpone her wedding plans by "at least two years".

Lin, who plays Hsia's boisterous mother in the film, is in the spotlight for not just one, but two major projects.

While Zone is a smash hit, she has also been nominated for a Golden Horse Award this year for Best Supporting Actress for her role in tearjerker drama To My Dear Granny.

For Lin, who has been in the industry for over 25 years, this is arguably her biggest year yet. She tells Life!: "I'm really happy to have done two projects that were so different in the past year. In just 12 months, I have brought both laughter and tears to audiences."

Filming Zone made her "feel really happy again", she says. Shortly after she completed the shoot for To My Dear Granny, her pharmacist mother died, leaving her grief-stricken.

"I didn't want to do anything. I was just so very, very sad. But I had already signed on for Zone. The role was so jovial and the set was so fun that I found myself laughing again.

"To have such conflicting emotions on a personal level, but still manage to play a character that was well-received by audiences in the end, I feel extra happy," says Lin, who single.

Meanwhile, the demands of work and personal life also clashed for Hsia, who did not join her Zone cast to promote the film in Singapore.

Speaking to Life! over the telephone from Taipei, she says that she had planned to get married to her banker boyfriend within the next year.

Now, however, the timing is "just not right" as her career is on an upswing. "Sometimes, you plan these things, but something else pops up and you just have to adjust your plans, which is fine. Our relationship is very stable, so it is okay to push back the wedding a bit. He's a very busy man and I'm also so busy, so it's a mutual decision."

She adds that she is careful not to let work affect her personal life, no matter how swamped she gets with acting projects.

"I'm very strict about separating my personal life from my professional life. Work is work and personal affairs is another thing. I will always make time to see my boyfriend or my family and friends. I think that's important."

As her role in Zone is her first lead role, she admits that she was "very, very nervous" throughout filming.

"I really wanted to do well and I felt a lot of pressure. My heart was beating so fast every day. Everyone expected a lot from me, so I didn't want to disappoint them. Only when the movie finally opened in cinemas and good word-of-mouth started spreading, did I relax a little."

Previously, Hsia had taken on only supporting roles in TV dramas including Hi! Working Girl (2003), as well as a number of hosting gigs for cooking show Stylish Man - The Chef (2006 to present) and food travel show Delicious Food All Over (2007 to 2011).

She says: "I'm just so grateful for the opportunities I've been given so far. When the director and producer first cast me for this movie, I had to ask them, 'Are you sure you made the right decision?'

"They said that they thought my look and my persona from my hosting gigs really matched the nature of the character, and that they trusted me. I'm really grateful to them."

Like Hsia, Lin is grateful to director Chen, who also made the comedy Tropical Fish (1994) and romantic comedy Love Go Go (1997).

Her own working relationship with him goes back much further.

Ten years ago, Chen had cast her in a series of throat lozenge commercials which propelled her to fame at the time. In the humorous ads, she played the folklore character of Lady Meng Jiang, who, as legend has it, cried so hard that a part of the Great Wall Of China crumbled.

She says: "The great thing about the director is that he has a way with characterisa- tion.

"He always manages to develop some quality about his characters that will be remembered by audiences for a really long time."

If she wins in her category at this year's Golden Horse Awards, she will be adding the trophy to her cabinet already occupied by the two Golden Bell Awards she has won - Best Actress for TV miniseries Your Eyes, My Hands (2011) and Best Supporting Actress for hit TV drama In Time With You (2012).

But she is not resting on her laurels.

"If my career is like (building) Taipei 101, then I'm only on the 50th floor. There's still so much I want to do and so much more I can learn. I can only go up from here."

yipwy@sph.com.sg


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