by Sherif Awad
-I was born in a typical Hong Kong family. My father who has retired already was a civil servant before. He worked for the Printing Department for more than 30 years. My mother worked for a Japanese company as a quality control officer for more than 20 years. My eldest sister was a nurse before marrying to her husband and my elder sister is a teacher. In their mind or somehow their value, I should find a typical, stable job and work for many years.
-My dream was studying in The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts which is a leading tertiary institution for the performing arts in Asia. I took the school admission form after graduation from secondary school. However, my parent did not allow me to study performing art. I was suggested to study a professional subject in university like my sisters.
-I then became a social worker after graduated from university. I never give up my artist dream. I have attended many drama courses and tried to involve in different drama shows or mini movies as an actress in Hong Kong by casting/audition. I have become a freelance actress since 2003.
-Drama performance has become my dream or my love in my whole life since I was 12. I started joining the drama society in school. My academic performance was not so good at that time and my self-esteem was very low. But I was shine on the stage. Teachers and schoolmates recognized my talent and remember me through the stage. I could also find myself on the stage.
-I am not only like being an actress, but also a script writer. Mr. Raymond Tao Kwok Wai, a famous Hong Kong contemporary dramatist, screenwriter and film director was my idol in childhood. I read all his scripts when I was in secondary school. His drama mainly delivered a key message which is about 天地有愛，人間有情 in Chinese. It means there is love in the world. The message impressed me to write my script when I grew up. Mr. Tao also delivered a message of “HOPE” in most of the ending of his drama. -Since I am not a graduate from performing art institute, I treasure every learning chance no matter joining any drama production or attending courses. To broaden my horizons and improving my writing skills, I studied master of cultural studies in 2011. I then started up my own theatre company called 1983 Studio after graduation. I gathered some 80 S’ and 90 S’ young artists and provide them a chance to perform on stage.
-I never take achieving stardom worldwide as a measurement of success. However, I hope my creative work and believes can be shared with more people all over the world. I believe that life constructs story, story affects life. Since I am a social worker at the same time, I have collected many stories from my clients. I want to share my stories, believes and my life to different people in everywhere.
-I don’t think my gender is a barrier for me in this industry. Even I want to share my point of view or angle as an independent woman in Hong Kong to my female audience. I hope that I can express my feelings, difficulties, the value of relationship, family, sex, friendship, career….for them. It would be great if my audience can have any resonance after watching my performance. Somehow, I am representing a kind of class in Hong Kong which is an educated, professional and independent middle class.
-Similar to other countries, Hong Kong is affected by COV 19 in this year. All the cinema and theatre closed and many projects were stopped currently. Apart from it, many artists are looking for the chances in Mainland China or Malaysia in theses few year as the market of Hong Kong is small. However, the culture of China and Hog Kong is really very different and there are so many restriction working in China which is affecting the creative work of us. There are still many Hong Kong artists want to stay in Hong Kong and produce more “local” film or theatre production representing Hong Kong cultural. Many new directors got gorgeous production in these few year such as “Ten Year” and “Still Human” both are very amazing movie from young generation director.
-I think I am quite lucky in this industry even I am only a freelancer. After many years freelance actress life, I started my own theatre company at 2014 and I got the chance working for Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), which is the sole public broadcaster in Hong Kong. A director of RTHK had read my theatre script and invited me to discuss his coming drama production in 2018. I became his script writer later on. Our production A Wall-less World VI: Children from Another Planet had got more than 2 million views on YouTube Channel. RTHK has also brought the production to television festival in New York.
-Watch my production on :
https://podcasts.rthk.hk/podcast/item.php?pid=1476&eid=124819&year=2018&list=1&lang=en-US
-For newcomers, I say: “Chance favors the prepared mind.”
We never know that when will we get the chance. If we really love what we are doing now, just keep on to do something. For me, I keep writing stories and drama scripts even though no one invite me to do so. I think the practice and preparation can make me become a better script writer. When there are some opportunities come, I can show them what I have done in my preparation time.
-I think I have a very special background since I am a social worker at the same time in my private life or I should say that it is my other profession. I collected many human stories from social work field every day and I can bring all the stories in my artist life. My drama touched many audience no matter in theatre or TV. I love keeping two identity at the same time.
-I prepare for taking another challenge at this moment. I want to perform some stand up show or solo drama and I will start up my YouTube channel soon. I want to do some comedy as there are so many things, sad things in the world during 2019 and 2020. I want to bring the happiness to my audience.
