‘I am not Anita Mui’: Louise Wong on playing the Canto-pop legend in new biopic Anita, her experience as a first-time actress, and her mentor Dick Liu – exclusive interview

Nov 10 , 2021

Louise Wong plays Canto-pop queen Anita Mui in the new biopic, Anita. Photo: Handout

Plenty of films and TV series feature male celebrities like Bruce Lee, but Anita – releasing on November 12 – focuses on the ‘Madonna of Asia’

Model-turned-actress Wong looks up to local legends like Leslie Cheung and Maggie Cheung, and was asked to audition to play the Hong Kong icon in a Facebook message

It’s certainly not difficult to name iconic Hong Kong actors from different eras, but there are not many stars who get the coveted title of “legend”.

The lives of male superstars, like the late martial artist Bruce Lee, have been adapted into countless films and TV series throughout the years, but renditions of local female icons have largely been absent from cinema. But this year, audiences will be treated to the biopic Anita about Canto-pop singer and actress Anita Mui Yim-fong, who was also known as the “Madonna of Asia”, on November 12.

The movie began its casting call throughout Asia in late 2016, but it took almost a year for the production team to make up their minds about who would play Mui. They finally selected 31-year-old Louise Wong for the role, a model who won the Elite Model Look Asia Pacific regional contest at the age of 17.

I received a message on Facebook asking me to audition for the role

Louise Wong

“I received a message on Facebook asking me to audition for the role, and then one day they told me that I was chosen. The first thing that popped up in my mind was that it could be a cybercrime,” recalled the model-turned-actress in an interview with famous host Carol Do Do Cheng Yu-ling. “It gave me quite a scare as I had no experience in acting. I booked myself an air ticket to escape to Thailand right away and cried by myself in the hotel room for two days.”

Wong added that she never thought about becoming an actress. It took her a few days to digest the news, adjust her state of mind and accept the challenge.

Model-turned-actress Louise Wong plays music legend Anita Mui in a biopic about her life. Photo: Edko Films Ltd.

Being popular not only in Hong Kong but throughout the whole of East Asia since the early 1980s, Mui was a triple threat – she was a hugely talented singer, dancer and actress. Undertaking the role of a music and acting legend was no easy feat for any actor chosen to portray the beloved Canto-pop star.

“I did a lot of research before I made up my mind to act in the way I did,” Wong told STYLE. “And I used half a year to train up my skills in acting, dancing and singing.”

Louise Wong was asked to audition for the role of Canto-pop legend Anita Mui via Facebook. Photo: Edko Films Ltd.

It was no secret that Mui’s childhood was mired with hardships, as she grew up in a single-parent home after her father died at a young age. As a child, the budding star would perform on stage with her sister Ann Mui Oi-fong at the Lai Chi Kok Amusement Park.

Wong’s childhood was actually similar to Mui’s. Her parents separated when she was a child and she took a part-time job at the age of 14 to help earn a living for her mother and younger brother.