Anita Chui’s trajectory in life seemed to be set in stone from a very young age. That is, until a life-changing encounter, she tells Hill Choi Lee, with one of Hong Kong’s premier entertainment agencies propelled her into the limelight

Actress and singer Anita Chui has been a rising star in Hong Kong’s public eye for a solid decade, with her natural athleticism making her well suited to roles that require great physicality. Given the popularity she now enjoys, it’s hard to imagine that the 33-year-old once seemed destined for a career in business and accounting. 

Her father, who built his career in finance, strongly encouraged the young Chui to excel in mathematics. She started playing the piano at the age of three, earning her the eighth-grade qualification of the Royal College of Music by the age of 13. She also earned a bachelor’s in accounting and marketing, and started a master’s in business administration in the UK.

“I didn’t go to drama school because my dad – he worked in a bank – always wanted me to be in finance,” she says, despite professing to love the idea of acting as a child. “I think education is very important. But I realised that no matter what I studied, it doesn’t mean that I have to stick with it as a career.” 

In fact, when she was 23 and in the second year of her master’s degree, Chui met renowned entertainment manager Huang Baigao of Sun Entertainment. Their fateful meeting resulted in Chui abandoning her degree and venturing into the Hong Kong entertainment scene.

In the decade since she has honed her acting skills in a range of very physical roles. So when her new management company approached her about singing, no one was more surprised than Chui. 

“I feel like they’re so brave,” she says. “They asked me to do this when they haven’t actually [heard] me sing. I’m quite surprised that they think since I can play the piano and dance that it means I can sing as well.” 

Nevertheless, it was an opportunity the actress seized without reservation, earning her a 10-year contract with Honger Music Venture as a result.

Embarking on a singing career isn’t the only change for Chui in the past year or so. Social-distancing guidelines forced the entertainer to re-evaluate and re-prioritise elements in her life. She observed changes in her habits, she says, as well as her behaviour and feelings towards her family.

“My mum and I are very close,” she says. “But due to my work, I travelled a lot. I probably stayed in Hong Kong for 10 or 20 per cent of my time. While I was in work mode all the time [before], now family comes first.”

While the star continues to gain traction for her performance in front of the camera, Chui has also shown her versatility behind the lens. She starred in and produced Follia (2019), a French film directed by Charles Guérin Surville. 

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“Producing something like a film is almost like calculating mathematics,” Chui says. “It shows that whatever I have studied at university can always be useful.” 

The film talks about a “crazy love” with dark undertones, Chui reveals. She was first pulled in by the feature after meeting Surville at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. “Long story short, I got interested in it, so I decided to produce the film. It is [shot] in French, so I learned a little bit of the language but not enough to communicate.” 

Although language barriers often result in mishaps, in this case, Chui was undeterred. Mainly because of the passion the director brought to the film as “there are no borders between the languages”, she explains, when it comes to conveying such passion. 

Chui hopes Follia can be screened at Cannes this year, which is projected to be hosted in May. In the meantime, she’s focusing on her budding singing career. There aren’t many singers in Hong Kong who can both sing and dance. “You cannot name more than five good [female] singers who can also dance in Western or Korean style,” says Chui, who aims to be the next.

At the very least, she says, the dancing comes easy. “I’m a very sporty person. Whether it’s hiking, running marathons or dance, I love all things cardio and I love all the hardcore stuff,” she says with a laugh. Chui’s usual warm-up takes on average an hour. “I like it when my workouts make me sweat. I feel like I’m alive.” 

Still, the realist in Chui knows that this new chapter is not an easy path to go down: “For a new singer like me, because I don’t have any experience on stage with singing and dancing at the same time, it’s going to be hard.”

But as she says it, there is a gleam of determination. Chui has never shied away from a challenge. With her piano skills and stringent training regimen (Chui hasn’t touched a drop of alcohol for over six months to preserve her voice), is there an ambition to venture into songwriting in the near future? 

“Producing my own songs? I think it will be quite a long, long path to go,” she says. “I started my acting career 10 years ago when I came to Hong Kong from the UK. So that’s almost a decade in the film industry before I produced my first film. Starting singing right now, I can see myself maybe in eight to 10 years producing my own songs. Though I can be aggressive in my pursuits, I’m also a cautious person. I like taking things one step at a time to stay on the right track.” 

CREDITS
Creative concept and production / #legend
Photographer / Ricky Lo
Videographer / Lewis Lau
Styling / Kellie Chan
Hair / Bowie Lo
Makeup / Mi Tung
Assistants / Alston Chan, Chung Sun and Kelvin Sim
Location / Conrad Hong Kong

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