How Myolie Wu went from Hong Kong TV stardom to mainland China fame

This is the 64th instalment in a biweekly series profiling major Hong Kong pop culture figures of recent decades.\nThe language barrier has often been a hindrance for Hong Kong actors and actresses seeking to broaden their careers in mainland China. Myolie Wu Hang-yee, whose fluency spans Cantonese, Mandarin, English, Japanese and Taishanese, proved an exception.\nShe garnered praise in 2020 during the second season of the reality show Everybody Stand By for her seamless use of China’s Anhui dialect while re-enacting a scene from the 2014 film Dearest, ultimately winning the competition.\n“[Mastering] the dialect was the biggest challenge, [but] I forced myself to learn it. I also kept watching the original movie,” she told the Post in a 2020 interview.\n\nHer most successful year came in 2011 at Hong Kong broadcaster TVB after she starred in three dramas – The Rippling Blossom, Ghetto Justice and Curse of the Royal Harem – that ranked in TVB’s top five by viewership that year.\nAt the 2011 TVB Anniversary Awards, Wu made history by becoming the first TVB actress to win three major accolades – best actress for Curse of the Royal Harem, my favourite female character for Ghetto Justice, and an audience vote for most extraordinary elegant actress – in a single ceremony, which saw her crowned “Triple TV Queen”.\nIn 2012, Wu’s position in Hong Kong’s television elite was cemented when she was named one of TVB’s “Five Great Actresses”, alongside Tavia Yeung Sin-yiu, Kate Tsui Tsz-shan, Fala Chen and Linda Chung Ka-yan. For years, her presence on Hong Kong television was nearly ubiquitous.\nFor better or worse, her high-profile relationship with then-partner Bosco Wong Chung-chak kept her name in the headlines during the height of her career.\n\nThe pair met while filming the 2005 period comedy Wars of In-Laws, and they would act as an on-screen couple in three different dramas over their nearly eight-year relationship, experiencing the highs and lows of fame as one of Hong Kong entertainment’s “it” couples until their break-up in 2012.\nWu’s work ethic was built early. Born in 1979 in Hong Kong, she was eight when her parents separated. Thanks to sponsorship from her father’s job in the Hong Kong Police Force, she moved at age 12 to study at St Mary’s Rosary College, a boarding school in Belfast, Northern Ireland.\n“When I went out with friends and got hungry, I’d usually choose the cheapest food … in fact, I didn’t often eat out because I didn’t have extra money,” she said in a 2019 episode of the reality show After School, which saw her return to her alma mater alongside host Flora Chan Wai-shan.\n“I used to think that exams were tough with all the studying and homework, but I realised you’ll only understand what real pressure is once you start working.”\n\nIt was perhaps her time abroad that developed her humility and ambitions. “Many things are hard-won,” she said in the episode. “It makes you understand the importance of money and that you should earn it yourself.”\nWu understood from an early age that her father would retire once she reached university and that she would need to take responsibility for caring for the family. She knew she needed a steady job and began studying biochemistry at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.\nThat plan was suspended after competing in the Miss Hong Kong Pageant in 1999 during her first year of university at the age of 19. Wu was crowned second runner-up. The same year, she represented Hong Kong at the Miss International competition.\nShe withdrew from her studies and signed a full-time contract with TVB, going against her father’s initial wishes.\n\nThough it was a tough decision at the time, Wu had no regrets.\n“The ultimate aim of studying is to get better choices when finding a suitable job. I am very lucky that I found the job I love, having skipped [university when I was younger],” she said in the 2020 Post interview.\nWu’s first project came when she was cast to play a minor role in the period television drama Colourful Life (2001).\nThe turning point in her career would be in 2002, when she starred in Golden Faith as an intellectually disabled woman, earning the respect of viewers and securing the TVB Anniversary Award for most improved female artiste.\nDuring her emotional acceptance speech, she said she “learned a lot” and wished to “receive many different types of roles in the future”.\n\nHer first leading role came on the small screen in 2003 with the acclaimed Survivor’s Law, where she played a passionate and righteous lawyer, further showcasing her acting range.\nThe same year, she also starred in the now-iconic TVB drama Triumph in the Skies alongside veteran actors Francis Ng Chun-yu and Flora Chan.\nThroughout her time with TVB, Wu’s reception was divided. While supporters appreciated the accessible girl-next-door image she projected thanks to her wholesome looks, her detractors mocked her performance style as exaggerated and formulaic.\nEven so, Wu’s career continued to reach new heights; in 2005 alone, TVB aired five drama series in which she played the lead. From 2005 to 2009, Wu was consistently selected as one of the broadcaster’s top 10 television artists at the annual TVB Awards.\n\nCapitalising on her popularity, Wu ventured into music, having a background in the area from studying opera in Ireland. She sang theme songs for a 2004 radio drama and the 2007 series War and Destiny, and later signed with record label Neway Star, releasing two EPs, Evolve (2008) and Loveholic (2009). However, compared with her acting projects, her music career was rather short-lived.\nIn 2015, she chose not to renew her TVB contract and instead expanded into mainland Chinese show business.\nShe had begun sowing these seeds in 2009, when she was a guest star in the Chinese period drama Beauty’s Rival in Palace. In 2012, she was the only TVB actress to be listed on the Forbes China Celebrity List.\nShe was named the best actress in a Chinese television series at the 12th Chinese American Film Festival for her part in My Stepfather is a Hero (2016). Her other notable shows since include the 2017 hit drama Nothing Gold Can Stay and the 2022 medical drama Beloved Life.\n\nToday, the 46-year-old actress works primarily in mainland China while raising her three sons with her husband, businessman Philip Lee Shing-tak, in Hong Kong.\nAs Wu juggles the worlds of show business and motherhood, her most recent works include the workplace drama A Better Life and period drama The Last Cook, both released in 2025.\n“I’m no longer offered lead roles now, and it is a little upsetting,” she admitted in 2021 on the show On Her Way Home. “But I don’t feel that I must play the leading lady any more, as I’ve already played many boring lead roles in the past. I’d rather take on an interesting role – even if it’s a second or third female lead.”\nBy prioritising interesting work over status, the former TVB actress has shown resilience and adaptability that have allowed her decades-long career to endure.\n