'I was afraid of nothing': Anita Yuen recounts only time she had stage fright and it was with late Leslie Cheung

When Hong Kong actress Anita Yuen entered showbiz after winning the Miss Hong Kong pageant in 1990, she was young, wild and fearless.

As a new actress then, she was already starring alongside big names in the industry, including Tony Leung, Carina Lau, Jacky Cheung and the late Anita Mui, and won the Best Actress award twice in a row, a feat that is still unprecedented till this day.

The 52-year-old shared her experiences with local host Quan Yi Fong, 49, in the latest episode of Mediacorp talk show Hear U Out, which was uploaded to meWATCH yesterday (Sept 21).

"I was definitely lucky. I can't deny that," said Anita, adding that she was fortunate to have met director Peter Chan, who gave her many opportunities to act in his films.

Yi Fong asked if she ever felt intimidated or experienced stage fright when she acted in leading roles and starred alongside A-listers as a new actress, Anita shared: "I was young and fearless… I was afraid of nothing".

"I often spoke without worrying about offending people. I ate a lot without worrying about gaining weight and I had fun without worrying about danger," she added.

However, she shared that the only time she felt fear was when she acted alongside the late Leslie Cheung in their 1994 hit movie He's a Woman, She's a Man.

Anita said that she has "quite a good memory" and is good at remembering her lines.

On the first day they met, Leslie told her: "I heard you're good at memorising lines", to which she answered that she was "not too bad".

However, after the camera started rolling, she NG-ed (had no-good takes) close to 10 times.

"I was afraid all of a sudden," Anita told Yi Fong.

She continued: "I had to sound animated and not like I was just reciting a passage… I was thinking about how to convey the right emotions and expressions behind the dialogue and when I thought I wasn't doing it well, I stopped.

"I wanted to show him that I was good at speaking my dialogue and conveying the right emotions besides just memorising lines, and that made me slip up."

Anita added that it was a huge blow to her and it was something that she would "never forget".

Yi Fong also discussed the bad press about Anita early in her career which she was said to have a feisty temper and prone to offend others.

"I can't deny that I have a temper. I think sometimes I am too principled… perhaps I was too unyielding on my principles back then," said Anita, who shared that her father's emphasis on punctuality had influenced her greatly since she was young.

She added that occasionally due to lighting, locations and other filming conditions, filming times might be extended.

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Anita said: "I couldn't accept that. I felt that filming should begin and be completed on time. Perhaps that's how I offended people. I told them off.

"I'd chase after the producers and ask, 'Tell me what time you will let me go and stick to it and stop evading my question. If filming doesn't resume, I'm leaving!'"

Despite that, Anita said that she was good friends with some of them and would go for drinks together after filming ended.

She added: "Those who understood and empathised with me would not mind it. But some had their difficulties, yet they couldn't understand why or they were incompetent in the first place and couldn't resolve the problem, so they fell out with me."

Anita said that her attitude changed after a work-related incident around 1997 to 1998, when she openly told a newcomer actress to "stop pushing" her during filming because the actress felt that she wasn't visible for the cameras.

The newcomer cried and filming paused as everyone took a break. During the break, Anita recalled the director told her that she had embarrassed him.

"At that point, no one stepped forward to speak up for me or to find out what really happened. Everyone quietly listened to what the director said to me. I suddenly felt that those people were all strangers to me," she said.

This incident made Anita wonder if the staff members could no longer accept her ways or that showbiz was no longer the same as before. She also developed a fear of the cameras.

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Anita took a break from the industry after the incident and only resumed work in around 2000 after speaking to various directors she had worked with before.

She said: "I changed the way I spoke to others, especially newcomers… In the past, many veteran actors gave us pointers too during filming, so I thought that I should do the same as a senior, but I realised that not everyone will listen or take it as well-meaning advice.

"I think those people were sent by Buddha to test me… I could take the opportunity to learn how to keep my temper."

The full interview with Anita Yuen is available on meWATCH.

ALSO READ: 'I smashed the plate of food on the floor': Julian Cheung speaks about his and Anita Yuen's temper differences

yeo.shuhui@asiaone.com

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