Loading AI tools
Hong Kong actress (born 1947) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Josephine Siao Fong-fong MBE (simplified Chinese: 萧芳芳; traditional Chinese: 蕭芳芳; pinyin: Xiāo Fāngfāng; Jyutping: siu1 fong1 fong1; born March 13, 1947) is a Hong Kong film star who became popular as a child actress and continued her success as a mature actress, winning numerous awards including Best Actress at the 45th Berlin International Film Festival (for Summer Snow).[1] Since retiring from show business (partly due to her increasing deafness), she has become a writer and a psychologist, known for her work against child abuse.
Josephine Siao | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese: 蕭芳芳 | |||||||||||
Siao in the 1960s | |||||||||||
| Born | Siao Loeng (蕭亮) 13 March 1947 Shanghai, China | ||||||||||
| Nationality | Australian | ||||||||||
| Alma mater | Seton Hall University, Regis University | ||||||||||
| Occupation(s) | Actress, television personality | ||||||||||
| Years active | 1954–1997 | ||||||||||
| Spouses | |||||||||||
| Children | 2 | ||||||||||
| Parents |
| ||||||||||
| Awards | Best Child Actor – Asia-Pacific Film Festival 1955 The Orphan Girl – Mui Kit (childhood) Silver Bear for Best Actress – Berlin International Film Festival 1975 Girl Friend – Meng Ya-ping Best Leading Actress 1995 Summer Snow – May Sun 1996 Hu-Du-Men – Lang Kim-sum Golden Bell Awards – Best Actress 1995 Autumn Water & Vast Sky – Hsiang I-hung | ||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 蕭芳芳 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 萧芳芳 | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| Musical career | |||||||||||
| Also known as | Sister Fong-fong (芳芳姐) | ||||||||||
| Origin | British Hong Kong | ||||||||||
Siao was born as Siao Liang in Shanghai, with her ancestral home in Luzhi, Suzhou, Jiangsu. At the age of two, she was brought to Hong Kong by her parents.
Soon after her father died, at the age of six (1953), she began to become a child star to solve the family's financial problems. When she was 7 years old, she took on the first film and art film "Little Star Tears" (1954). In 1956, she performed "Aunt Mei" for the Shaw Brothers Company. Her famous work is "The Wandering Children" (1960) and this made her became one of the biggest teen idols in Hong Kong during the late 1960s, along with frequent co-star Connie Chan Po-chu. The two were often cast in wuxia films as disciples of the same master and sometimes—when Connie played the male lead—as young heroes in love. Back in the 1960s, Josephine's and Connie's fans maintained a heated rivalry. News of their fans getting into catfights was not uncommon in those days.
Unlike many child stars, Siao made a successful transition to adult stardom, remaining one of Hong Kong's most prolific and popular actresses. She was also one of the directors (co-directing with Leung Po-Chih 梁普智) and writers of Jumping Ash (跳灰). This film is regarded as a prelude to the Hong Kong New Wave in the 1980s by film critics.
Having largely missed out on formal education because of her acting career as a child, Siao pursued her studies in later years despite her increasing deafness and the demands of raising a family (she has two daughters by her second husband). During this time she made fewer films, but her output included highly praised work such as her award-winning performance in Summer Snow (1995) as a middle-aged widow trying to cope with her father-in-law's Alzheimer's Disease.
Western fans of martial arts films will probably know her best from the Fong Sai-yuk films made in 1993, in which she played Jet Li's kung fu–fighting mother. (These films were released on Western DVD as The Legend and The Legend II.)
Siao has been retired from show business since 1997 in favour of her work in child psychology. In particular, she is a noted campaigner against child abuse, and founded the End Child Sexual Abuse Foundation, which she now chairs, in 1999. She is also a published author.
Some of the milestones in her life include:
This is a partial list of films.
The Siao Fong-fong Performing Art Hall was established in 1998 at Shantang Street of Luzhi township in the Siao family's former residence.
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
