[2024.04.10] MICHELLE WAI IS EAGAR TO WIN AN AWARD, AFRAID TO BE FORGOTTEN

Michelle Wai has been in the business for 16 years without realizing it
courtesy of singtao.com

Every actress would always have a "Best Actress" dream, Michelle Wai Sze Nga was no exception. Since making her first movie this idea was already born. After 16 years of ups and downs, she could finally compete for the Best Actress at this year's Hong Kong Film Awards. She did not hide that she wanted to win the award; the reason was very simple: she was afraid of being forgotten.

From when she first got into the business and made her first film HAPPILY EVER AFTER (HUNG SEUNG WOR NEI JOI YUT HEI), Michelle has already dreamed of winning Best Actress. At the time she said to herself, "It would be good if I would!" She would even keep looking forward to this day, but unfortunately she found that she had little Best Actress Awards fate, especially the "Hong Kong Film Awards". She would watch the award ceremony every year, and has been very envious of every nominated actress as people would be able to see for their efforts. Michelle has also questioned when would people be able to see her contribution and whether her efforts were worth it? In the end, she still decided to work harder on her acting.

She was lucky when she first entered the industry; from the beginning she played the lead in HAPPILY EVER AFTER (HUNG SEUNG WOR NEI JOI YUT HEI) and EX (CHIN DOH). She had many opportunities at that time, but no one offered another movie role after that. She once felt lost and asked if she was not good enough. After a long time, she guest starred in a movie. She only appeared in the film for a short time, but after the movie was released people talked about the role. Even the elder Sean Lau Ching Wan said to her, "You really acted very well!" In addition, she could not think of any job she would like even more than movies, so she could only continue to work hard. What made her happiest was that people finally saw her existence in her own movie this year.

Michelle feels that her film journey has not been smooth sailing but a bumpy one. However she still felt lucky, even if she would do it all over again, she would still choose the rough road she has walked in the past. Although it is hard, it was satisfying; and she was able to have even richer memories. She was very happy that she caught the last train to make movies with film in time; now looking back, she realized that it was very difficult to keep continuity back then. After one shot they had to take a photo with an instant camera, so the production assistant was very important. The actors also had to remember a lot because any margin for error in the movie was impossible . Michelle said, "I really feel very lucky to have experienced the film era." She thanked herself for being so fond of movies, and even revealed that she had felt sad because of her family's worries. Because her sister and brother were married, had children and very stable lives, her father was very worried about her life; he didn't know if acting could last long. Michelle admitted, "Hearing Papa say that really made me feel frustrated!"

On the day the Hong Kong Film Awards Best Actress nominees were announced, Michelle admitted, "I really have this feeling of 'I did it!' For me it was already great, people have seen my contribution and I had a sense of existence. I don't want to be forgotten, and I'm very happy that this time the outside has seen my performance." The people she would like to thank the most were the directors she has worked with in previous films, and each directors have also helped her a lot; especially READY O/R KNOT's director Anselm Chan Mou Yin. She said, "Because he has given me a lot of opportunities and put a lot of effort into filming me; he is one of the benefactors in my life, and I am really grateful to him."

For this opportunity to win the Best actress, Michelle said that it was too hard for small romantic movies to win awards. She was already very happy just to be nominated. She said, "To be able to go to this Hong Kong Film Awards part, I can already say the rest doesn't matter; no matter who would win the award, I would feel very happy because the experience of the several nominated actors are the same; everyone has the same hardship, and I am very happy to have participated and have someone remembers me. Of course, I really want to win this award; the reason is that I don't want to be forgotten, I still want to make more good films."