This very attractive actress has been in some solid if far from great films – Love and Sex of Eastern Hollywood (the cheating wife), The Golden Girls (one of Anita Yuen and Ada Choi’s actress colleagues), Love and Sex Among the Ruins (the woman who wants to seduce Dayo Wong), Mr. Mumble, Island of Greed, Troublesome Night 4 and Last Ghost Standing (the cop planning -- and thus secretly dressed accordingly -- to attend a rave after work!). One of her most interestingly kinky roles is as the S&M victim in the Japanese film Ichi the Killer.
Caroline Chai has been kind enough to send in some more information on Paulyn:
- Singaporean, Miss Singapore-Universe 1994
- she's been linked to Stephen Chow, tycoon Liu Luan Xiong (who is said to have dated Rosamund Kwan, Michelle Reis and Ada Choi)
- she's also been linked to property tycoon Lo Zhao Hui (who was also linked to Carina Lau, Anita Yuen and Maggie Q) and said to have been one of the reason's for his divorce. She was also rumoured to have been pregnant with his child at one point. When he commited suicide on his yacht last here, her tear faced picture headlined many gossip magazines.
Pretty boys like this with their quivering bottom lips and the toughness of cotton candy could put an end to the macho male line in Hong Kong film. The English-, Mandarin- and Cantonese-speaking Peter was born in Los Angeles and brought up in both Taiwan and Toronto. He was spotted by a record producer in a karaoke lounge and invited to make an album.
Peter is one of the better cinematographers in HK – Once Upon a Time in Triad Society, Walk In, Full Contact, Sex and Zen, Millionaires Express, Armour of God, On the Run, Dragon from Russia and C’est La Vie Mon Cherie – but occasionally he pops up in films in small roles.
Fung Bo Bo has had one of the legendary HK acting careers. Her father was a director and the famed twisted mouth character-actor Fung Fung and her godmother was the famous actress Linda Dai – so not surprisingly Fung Bo Bo began acting at the early age of six. She became a huge child star – called the Shirley Temple of Hong Kong – and when she grew into her teens she was anointed as one of the Seven Cantonese Princesses (along with Josephine Siao, Connie Chan and Nancy Sit).
Some of these roles were Call Girl 88 (the wife who has to turn to prostitution), Eighth Happiness (the girlfriend to Raymond Wong), 92 Legendary La Rose Noire (one of the two eccentric women who think they are disciples of the crime-fighting Black Rose), Girls Without Tomorrow (the tough mother of Vivian Chow), C’est La Vie Mon Cherie (Anita Yuen’s mother) and Mother of a Different Kind. In 1993 and 1994, she won the HKFA Best Supporting Actress awards (for her roles in 92 Legendary La Rose Noire and C’est la Vie Mon Cheri respectively). It is also worth pointing out that it is in reference to -- and a tribute to her -- that more than one child character in a UFO film (e.g., He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Father) has been named Bo Bo.
Petrina has since retired once more, moved to Malaysia and just recently remarried. There are rumors every once in a while that she is going to make a comeback -- if not to the Hong Kong movie industry, then at least to acting by way of turning up in a film made in nearby Singapore.
One of her sisters as well as one of her brothers (Fung Hark-Onn) also had substantial careers in the film business. Toad face Ark-Onn was a noteworthy nasty villain in many of the kung-fu/action movies of Jackie, Sammo, Lau Kar Leung and Yuen Woo Ping from the mid seventies to mid eighties. He was also an action choreographer of note - in particular for early John Woo films and was Jackie Chan’s chief action choreographer collaborator up to the early eighties.
(Some information provided from Yves Gendron)
Born in 1945
As with Danny Lee, Phillip Chan’s very name is synonymous with "cop" in the Hong Kong movie world. Not only because his roles are often that of a law enforcement officer but also because he used to be one himself in the real world. For the past quarter of a century, Chan has contributed in a wide range of production roles - actor, writer, director and special consultant - to a string of police/crime urban thrillers many of which are now considered classics of the genre.
Although Chan’s first screen appearance goes
back to Michael Hui’s comedy classic The Private Eyes (1976), he did not
get to do serious work in front of the camera until the early eighties
(at least on the big screen - TV might be a different matter) and quickly
developed into a solid
character actor. Of course, he naturally portrayed a cop on occasion - in films like the classic Night Caller and his best-known role as Chow Yun Fat’s supervisor in Hard Boiled. In Night Caller – which he also directed - he is very effective as a tough and righteous policeman after a serial killer. Some of his other appearances were in Esprit D'Amour (head of the insurance company), Spy Games (the news station head), Widow Warriors (one of the family), The Magic Touch (in charge of the IRS department) and Police Story III.
(Write up provided by Yves Gendron)
Philip Ko has been making cheap low budget action films and acting as a heavy in films for years now.
He began acting during the kung fu days of the 70’s in films like Hot, Cool and the Vicious and 18 Jade Arhats – and then in the 1980s continued in other action films – The Club, The Loot, Dreadnaught, Seeding of a Ghost, Boxer’s Omen, 8 Diagram Pole Fighter. He worked with Sammo in some of his films – Heart of a Dragon, Dragons Forever, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Eastern Condors.
He was also either the producer or director for many of these low budget action films – Angel Mission, Cyprus Tigers, Killers Romance, Guns and Roses, Phantom War and the classic Fatal Termination and to some degree acquired a reputation as a low budget hack director.
Born 10/21/51 in Taiwan
I admitted up in the introductory section to this index that I am less than knowledgeable about HK films prior to 1980 – so I could never quite understand the adulation from many HK film fans for the fellow in Hard Boiled with the eye patch. The character of Mad Dog is a terrific one – clearly one of the bad guys, but still with an intrinsic sense of honor – and his duel with Tony Leung Chiu Wai is one of the classic scenes in all HK film. Still though, I didn’t get it.
An ethnic Taiwanese, Kuo Chui (as he was known back then) lost two fingers in an accident but still managed to study at a Peking Opera School. After finishing this he began his film career as a stuntman but was picked out by Lau Kar Leung to appear in Marco Polo in 1975. He followed this with roles in a couple of the Brave Archer series and in Chinatown Kid.
Despite his lack of handsome leading man looks, Kuo Chui’s skills and his undeniable Charles Bronson tough guy charisma had him regularly playing the lead "heroic" Venom. Besides being an actor he also served as action choreographer for many of the Venom films as well as other Shaw Brothers productions after the Venom gang disbanded in 1982.
Like so many kung fu actors his career slowed down considerably with the demise of that genre in the 1980s and for a while his career was pretty much restricted to TV as both actor and action choreographer.
If like me you have not watched this fellow in some of his kung fu films – I highly recommend that you do – I guarantee that you will simply be in awe.
(Partial information and write-up provided from Yves Gendron)
Phyllis is a Malaysian, but she came to Singapore when she was seven years old. Since then she has become a very popular artist in Singapore and was recently voted into the Top 10 Most Popular artists there. In 1995 she became a model and entered the prestigious Star Search awards and received 2nd runner up. She has starred opposite Simon Yam in a Tele-movie, 'Hope' and starred in a serial with Alex Man 'Brave New World'. Her first movie was 2000AD with Aaron Kwok and Daniel Wu. In 2001 she guest starred in the film Born Wild with Louis Koo and Daniel Wu and also starred in a Singaporean movie called The Tree.
She is staying busy be releasing her very first solo album, which will be hitting the market soon and is currently Singapore’s LUX girl.
(Written up by Prisc Lim)
5’6’’ – 34-23-34
Pretty in Pink. The Pinkster is always a welcome sight for me in any film and over the past couple of years I have developed a sneaky affection for her. This affection really has little to do with the fact that she was voted “Most Perfect Body” in the Miss Asia contest in 1996, but really has to do with her very appealing screen presence and the tough characters she has played.
Here is Pinky on love:
"I don't have any illusions about love and leave my love life up to destiny. However, I'm not really that desperate to marry. You can't hurry love. Right now, I'm focusing on my work. The thing I worry about most is not having any work". I don't think she need worry about that!
Born 10/10/49 in Taiwan
Polly was of course one of the top female kung fu stars of the 1960s and 1970s and though never quite becoming the legend that Angela Mao has, her off the wall cute personality, diminutive stature and terrific physical skills has certainly attracted a legion of fans. In some ways she is the yin to Angela Mao’s yang. While Angela burned on the screen with her serious intense no nonsense determination, Polly delighted with her impish good humor, sweet cockiness, toughness and her willingness to take on silly roles. This in no way though diminishes her extraordinary athletic ability – it just adds another dimension.
She now lives on the West Coast of the U.S. There is a delightful interview -- conducted in English -- with her as well as various clips from her movies in a section of the 1998 low budget (but still worth looking out for) documentary, Top Fighter 2: Deadly China Dolls.