Profile | Who’s Joey Wong? She acted with Jackie Chan, Leslie Cheung in Hong Kong film’s golden age

Joey Wong shot to fame after her role in 1987’s A Chinese Ghost Story and was one of the ‘four flowers’ of Hong Kong cinema

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Joey Wong and Leslie Cheung in a still from A Chinese Ghost Story, the 1987 film that made the fledgling Taiwanese actress’ name in Hong Kong. She appeared in a string of films before stepping out of the public eye in 1994. Photo: Film Workshop

Mabel Lui

Published: 7:15am, 7 Jun 2024Updated: 11:05am, 7 Jun 2024

This is the 26th instalment in a biweekly series profiling major Hong Kong pop culture figures of recent decades.

Joey Wong Cho-yee, also known as Joey Wong Cho-yin and Joey Wang, is one of the most well-known actresses of the 1980s and 90s Hong Kong entertainment scene.

One of the “four flowers” of Hong Kong cinema – along with Maggie Cheung Man-yuk, Cherie Chung Chor-hung and Rosamund Kwan Chi-lam – the Taiwanese actress shot to fame after starring in A Chinese Ghost Story (1987) and became known for a range of fantasy and supernatural roles thereafter.

Born in 1967, Wong grew up in Taipei. During her teens, she became a basketball player while pursuing a modelling career in Taiwan.

As an actress, you shouldn’t be scared. If it’s a good [role], chase for it if you feel like you have the ability to do it.

Wong on landing the part in A Chinese Ghost Story

Among the jobs she took on was a television advertisement for sports shoes, after which Wong was scouted by a film producer, who cast her as a leading actress in the Taiwanese film It’ll Be Cold by the Lakeside This Year (1983).

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Hong Kong’s pop culture icons

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