Tony Leung’s Wife Saved Him from Triad Abduction
Even after 27 years of marriage, 56-year-old Tony Leung Ka Fai (梁家輝) and 50-year-old Kong Ka Nin (江嘉年) still intertwine their hands when they cross the street. On April 30, Tony’s family of four was seen shopping in the Eastern District of Taipei. The veteran Hong Kong actor and his wife walked hand-in-hand alongside their 21-year-old twin daughters, Nikkie and Chloe, as they shopped around for hats and glasses. To maintain privacy, many celebrity families would try not to be seen in public together, but Tony and his family did not seem to mind and carried on shopping like a regular family.
Often celebrity relationships do no stand the test of time, but Tony and Ka Nin broke all of those stereotypes, having stayed married and happy for 27 years. What is the secret to their long-lasting marriage?
Around thirty years ago, when Tony was still a rookie actor, he suffered a loss of jobs and had to rely on selling leather goods in the night market for a living. Ka Nin, then a radio producer, pitied his situation and cast him in a radio show. In 1987, with only $7,700 HKD left in his bank account, he used $3,000 HKD to buy a wedding ring and register his marriage with Ka Nin. The couple used the rest of the money for a quick dinner and a cheap hotel room for the night.
In 1993, when Tony was shooting a movie in Vietnam, triad members kidnapped Tony to the Philippines, where he was forced to film another movie for them. Ka Nin calmly negotiated with the triad leaders for Tony’s release, explaining that the movie Tony was working on was internationally recognized, which would benefit Tony’s global impact. Tony should be allowed to at least complete the movie before starting other projects. The triads were finally persuaded to release Tony, and when Tony saw his wife for the first time since his abduction at the airport, he immediately held onto her and cried.
In 2007, Tony purchased a large diamond ring for Ka Nin and promised her that they would hold a wedding every ten years.
Source: Sina.com
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
The wife is his lucky star.
Very touching story……wives like her are hard to come by these days cause most women only have dollar $ in their eyes.
The girls are pretty!
🙂
How sweet that he still appreciates n love her
How sweet that he still appreciates and loves her!
I never knew he was kidnapped!!
Triad activity in the media was rife in the early 90s even though that was when HK was in boom. As with Carina Lau, it seems incredulous that it happened but yet things like that did.
I hope the media is less affected by Triad influence these days.
On the other hand, the article made me well up a bit. What a touching marriage and family!
She’s one brave woman!
Ditto. She’s one brave woman …
Brave to
1) recognize the potential in Tony when no one else did
2) stick by Tony through his lowest moment
3) confront and negotiate with the triads
Props to her and Tony for recognizing, he is who he is because of her.
literally crying after reading this article!
What you give is what is what you get! These 2 know how to love and appreciate each other. Very inspirational!
She’s a keeper!
Is it normal for families to go shopping together like that in the East?
I never see that stuff in the West. Kids are too embarrassed to be seen with parents and would rather go shopping with friends.
Agree ……….. not as common in the West. It is very sweet though to the parents!
yeah, kids should do it more often. ur parent pays for everything :DD
Well of course they are going to shop with their parents! The twin with the jean shirt is wearing a balenciaga bag which retails at roughly 1600-2000 USD.
its very normal and its more like things that very sweet and happy for us in the east.
my parents are really glad if we go shopping with them, but of course we do go with friends too
its just cultural differences
Congrats to Tony Leung Ka Fai and his wife for your long lasting marriage!! His wife probably can be a good speaker because she was able to convince the kidnappers to release her husband. Tony and his wife have two beautiful twin daughters!!
According to the article, Kong Ka Nin was a radio producer in the past. I think it probably helped.
Woah! He got kidnapped!!!
Luckily he was not kidnapped for ransom.
Such a harrowing and scary incident!
A devoted husband and father while a top-notched actor. Pretty rare qualities who is not deathly afraid of the media but rather embraces it. More than I can say about other artists.
Yup, separating the men from the boys. Honest and hardworking men are becoming extinct.
Exactly when and why did dinosaurs become extinct? LOL!
So I assume he also acted in the triad’s project movie in the end?
ironically, years later he plays triad bosses in movies
I believe Andy Lau said triads pointed a gun to his head to make him film a movie. In the 1990s, the triad presence in the film industry was quite fearsome.
Andy Lau used to film A LOT of triad movies. My favorite ones from him were A True Mob Story and Century of the Dragon.
Their love stands the test of time
i thought that was his brother in the picture..
His daughters are pretty. Can join the e-circle if they want.
they resemble their mother in the old wedding picture.
I think they have the features of both parents. Initially, I thought they look more like Tony. Then, I look at the wife and also saw her features in their faces.
I wonder are they identical of fraternal twins. They look alike enough, but, somehow the one with long pants look have more resemblance to the mother in the wedding picture. The one with shorts look more like Tony.
Why did triads have so much power over the film industry in the 90’s? Can someone explain it? I don’t know anything about the history.
I looked this up a few years back as I was curious so I’ll share with you what I know 🙂
My understanding is that it started around the 80s when the HK film industry was starting to really boom. At its peak in the early 90s the box office was raking in over $1 billion USD so it was the perfect place for the triads to invest and then launder their money during this time period as even the cheapest thrills returned a profit.
The control gradually grew as police protection wasn’t present and if reason didn’t work then they resorted to violence. Andy Lau said his manager was held at gunpoint to force him to appear in films for three years, an actress was gang-raped and even Anita Mui was round slapped for refusing to sing.
These incidents gradually escalated and violence between gangs grew, it went from extortion to eventually murder. Actors and actresses banded together in a march to protest the violence but were specific that they were against the methods and were not particular about the triads as a whole.
Eventually change came as police protection and undercover operations began. The rise of VCR and bootlegging also meant falling revenue and as profit slimmed year after year the triads followed the money trail (to become bootleggers themselves of various products). Hollywood films were soon preferred as triads overproduced year after year (If you look at how many films were made back then you can see why). Successful ones that made it in the film industry after its decline didn’t need to resort to the violent methods anymore and transitioned to a more proper business style.
I asked my dad about this too and he told me an interesting story regarding Chow Yun Fat. A while after he shot to fame, Hollywood offered him a chance to act internationally and he let the triad “boss” know. He was allowed to pursue this avenue but wouldn’t be allowed to show his face in the industry for 10 years, he accepted and went overseas as a way to escape their influence and become even more prominent. Not sure if it’s true but there really is a nice little 10 year gap around 1995-2005 when I checked his filmography.
SD,
Thanks for sharing your insight on the Hong Kong film industry. A very interesting read, especially on Chow Yun Fat!
Thanks a lot for the info!
Behind every successful man, there is a woman….& that woman is Kong Ka Nin….hats off to this wonderful woman!
What a cool dad
I must say that his wife sounds very supportive, brave and courageous.
Only 1 word to describe both Tony Leungs – STEADY
I wonder if this is before or post the film ‘THE LOVER’ w/the underaged Jane March. Wait, was that a forced movie he made? haha LOL…
Windy,
“The Lover” is Tony Leung Ka Fai’s most critically acclaimed work. Many people still remember his performance in the movie, which put him on the map among international viewers.
The Lover WAS the international movie he was working on when he was kidnapped. However, the movie was not shot entirely in Vietnam, due to Vietnam govt concern on how the movie will portray the country negatively.
The ‘lovenest’ set in the movie was replicated and filmed outside Vietnam.
But it wasn’t the one he was kidnapped for right? Which movie was it?
Well, The Lover was filmed in 1991, so HK movies that were released circa 1991-1992 can be one of them. Because technically, they were filmed & released fast.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Leung_Ka-fai#Filmography
wow. criminals hunt for easy moneymaking opportunities like sharks smelling blood from a quarter mile away.
He is so lucky to have found such a great woman.
Amazing wife.