[2020.03.20] SEPARATION FROM SIBLING IS THE WORST EXPERIENCE IN PHILIP KEUNG'S LIFE

courtesy of singtao.com

Philip Keung spends more time with his siblings to make up for the time they missed
courtesy of on.cc

Artist Philip Keung Ho Man with the film A WITNESS OUT OF THE BLUE (FAN JUI YIN CHEUNG) was nominated for this year's Hong Kong Film Award Best Supporting Actor. Looking back at his acting past, he once experienced "no job" poor to the point that his landlady locked him out of his home. Yet the most heartbreaking for him was when he was little and his mother was seriously ill, he and his siblings were to live separately under foster care with different welfare organizations.

Keung Ho Man in recent years played mostly heavy characters. In WITNESS he was no different, but he thanked director Fung Chih Chiang because he was his "lucky star". Each time he worked on his movies he would receive a Hong Kong Film Award nomination. He also often gave his advice, from which he benefit a lot.

With 34 years in the business, Hak Jai in 2018 with the film SHOCK WAVE (CHAK DAN JUEN GA) won the Hong Kong Film Award Best Supporting Actor. Before then his acting past was always turbulent, as he suffered a rather long "poor actor" period.

Looking back, he said that the worst was not when he had "no job" at ATV, locked out of his home because he could not pay his rent; instead it was when he was little, because his mother was seriously ill she could not care for her siblings and they had to be sent to foster care in different places. "When the family was shattered all over it was the toughest. At the time one went to a children's home, one to whatever home of happiness in Cheung Chau......I saw but I couldn't help them, the feeling was the worst. In particular for my youngest brother, he did not even get a real good look at Mommy before he was sent to the children's home." Later after they grew up and had families of their own, they valued their time together very much as they constantly held family gatherings in hopes of making up for lost time!

As for his Hong Kong Film Award competition against I'M LIVIN' IT (MAK LO YUN)'s Cheung Tat Ming and Alex Man Chi Leung among others, Hak Jai stated that he hoped "Big Brother" Man Ji would win. "He really is a great older brother. For awhile, he took me on a lot of my journey. During the days when I didn't have any job he recommended many producers to me and arranged for me to perform in Singapore. He even called producers in the middle of the night and recommended me to them."

Years ago when Hak Jai saw how quiet show business was, he tried his hand in private dining. Man Ji often gave him business, but one day he said something that woke him up. "One day he came into the kitchen and told me, there is no space for you here. You might as well come back!" At the time Hak Jai decided to work in show business again. Thus he has always been very grateful. Although in recent years they had less contact, he was very honored to be nominated with this "good older brother". As for other competitors, Hak Jai felt that Cheung Tat Ming and NEW KING OF COMEDY's Mainland artist Zhang Qi were elders. Thus he would only appreciate them and not be qualified to comment.