Sisley Choi Feels Lucky About Her Life Experiences
Once criticized for her acting and attracting negative gossip, Sisley Choi (蔡思貝) remained focused on her work and eventually won over viewers for her breakthrough performance in Legal Mavericks <踩過界>. Reflecting on the past seven years since joining the industry, Sisley said the difficulties caused her a lot of unhappiness but they also shaped her into a better actress.
Joining Miss Hong Kong 2013 during her summer vacation break, Sisley had little life experience and expectations. Once carefree and spontaneous, she would not hesitate to backpack through Europe spontaneously. “I was inexperienced when I first entered the field–I was like a village girl who suddenly had a chance to enter the sparkling world of the entertainment industry,” said Sisley when describing her first impressions of becoming an actress. It was only when she became an actress, did she know that this was her true calling.
However, her dating rumors often overshadowed her hard work. Nicknamed as a “flirting machine” by the press, Sisley was linked with many male co-stars. “It was ridiculous and when I saw these headlines–I wanted to drown myself. To be honest, it is partially my fault. I warm up to people quickly and get along very well with my guy friends. I didn’t know the rules or etiquette back then, so it probably caused a lot of unnecessary miscommunication. Over the past few years, I’ve matured and know how to play by the rules in the entertainment industry. I hope everyone will cut me some slack in the future and use other words to describe me,” the 29-year-old actress said.
Growth Through Experience
The past seven years were filled with extreme emotional turbulence, and Sisley was even diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Accompanying Sisley during the tough times was her family. Citing her family as her biggest support, Sisley’s mother would quietly offer her support by bringing food and taking care of miscellaneous tasks around the house. Her father would offer his shoulder for Sisley to cry and lean on whenever she needed it.
Her mental health and personal growth required Sisley to find a greater balance, and she began finding joy in hard work with each learning opportunity. Sisley disclosed, “Sometimes I feel like if I wasn’t faced with all these challenges and obstacles, I may not have been able to perform and successfully portray my characters’ emotions. I’m starting to think that I’m actually quite lucky to have so many experiences that I can draw on when acting.”
Winning the Most Popular Female Character award for her performance in 2017’s Legal Mavericks was a turning point in her career. Grateful that her career has picked up, Sisley understands that an artiste must undergo rigorous training and be able to draw from different life experiences to be capable of getting into character.
Friendship with Hubert Wu
Surrounding herself with loving friends has also helped Sisley get through her darkest times. Since last year, Sisley’s friendship with singer Hubert Wu (胡鴻鈞) was speculated to be much more than they admitted. Although the two have been photographed numerous times giving each other rides to work, Sisley said they are good friends who would text each other, offering words of encouragement and sharing tips on how to interpret music lyrics. Praising Hubert for possessing a very kind and humorous personality, Sisley said she is uncertain what the future holds but is grateful for his companionship and support.
Source: Ming Pao Weekly
This article is written by Su for JayneStars.com.
So cute:)
Since the beginning, I have not been a fan of Sisley. But I must admit out of all the new artists that I could not stand initially, she has shown the most improvement. Not only is she bearable, I actually like her acting. I just finished Legal Mavericks 2 yesterday and thought she did a really great job. I think she mentioned a really good point about how her emotional turbulence and distress allowed her to gain more life experience and thus helped with her acting. It’s good she recognizes that as a positive outcome. She is still quite young and have a lot more of life to experience, so hopefully she continues to grow. I feel like a lot of actors who put too much time into working and acting rather than having a personal life, fail to grow as an actor onscreen because they lack real life experiences to draw upon. It’s a good thing Sisley is able to do that with what experiences she has had in life so far.
@gnomageddon
I’m the same, haven’t been a fan of hers, but she had good improvement in LM1 and The Defected, LM2 she did very well , particularly the scenes when she was a lawyer in the last 4 episodes,
For BA. I think it’s a 3 horse race between
Priscilla for Life after Death, Sisley for LM2 and Mandy Wong for LW3,
I still think that Priscilla should get it though.. as her role was really challenging,
@mulder99 oh are they the hot favorites for BA? If so, I think it’ll go to Mandy. Of the 3, I actually think Sisley’s acting is the best. I am a HUGE fan of Priscilla for her travel shows and I think she has a great genuine personality but I can’t stand her acting. I watched her entire series in Life After Death and while there was improvement, she is still far away from BA material. I hated the way she pushed down her voice to talk. It was so unnatural. Some people just don’t have talent and you can’t force it. Funny thing is both her and Tony Hung do great as travel hosts but both can’t act for the life of them. It would be such a joke if she won and definitely not the encouragement she needs or deserves at the moment. I think Wong Cho Lam captured the essence of Priscilla’s acting in LW3 very well in this clip: https://youtu.be/QRNys0mV_1c . It’s hilarious but she totally acts like that lol albeit she was better in the LAD series. Then Mandy has always been a bore to me. Her acting is always the same. Not bad but not good. Kind of like Nancy Wu. Similar seriousness but lacking versatility when portaying different characters. Her worst performance was that one where she had split personalities. It was such amateur acting, I cringed so hard. So of the 3, I think Sisley has the most natural talent and potential. But Mandy will probably get it as she seems the most “ready” and solidified to play first lead in all her series. Priscilla’s just starting to improve even though it’s not her first leading role, it would be hard to imagine her winning. I actually think her best performance was in that one series with Bosco and Edwin where she plays the older sister of Billy Luk Wing. There was a scene towards the end where she had an evil confrontation with Bosco. Gave me the chills. I think she did really great there. Did Sisley get nominated for BA for LM2? Funny thing is she always seemed like 2nd lead in that series for me until it became all about her the last few episodes so winning BA as second lead seems farfetched to me so I don’t think she’ll win. But then again, Natalie Tong won when she was second fiddle to Jessica Hsuan in that one series so who knows… Sisley doesn’t seem to me like she has secured first lead in her series though so it would be hardpressed to imagine her ready for a BA award even though I think she deserves it the most of the 3. My fav is still Ali though. She is of another calibre when it comes to acting compared to these 3.
@gnomageddon TVB will give it to Mandy this time round. Does not matter that she’s just not a good actress. She has zero rumours, she is obedient and all, just the kind TVB needs (she’s prob female version of Kenneth)
Sisley has definitely improved but I am still no fan
I think I’m ok to Pris cos I like Edwin
Love your last sentence! Ali is just a natural and one that TVB has not had for years!
@conan2209
I’m also a very big fan of Ali too, she has been treated very badly by TVB…
By rights Ali should win for Cash in Death by Zero, but TVB not going to give it to her as she already won it and also don’t want to upset the CCP…
I know people find her annoying but you have to admit she has improved greatly. I’ve always liked her and I’m happy she’s improving and getting more opportunities. Not BA material yet but she’s on her way. Even though I found her character annoying in LM2, I think she did a great job.
Sisley has improved and I liked her in LW3 and so far in LM2. Different characters, different ranges. She seems serious about acting and has the best potential of the current actresses.
I think she was more successful than Mandy in LW3, but her character was definitely supporting. She had nice chemistry with Raymond, which could have an interesting progression if the storyline allowed. Alas, we are waiting for Charmaine’s return.