[雜誌] 香港 LEGEND 6月號封面人物
Cover story:
Taiwanese singer-actress Vivian Hsu on her journey, challenges and inspiration
By:
Zaneta Cheng
June 1, 2021
With a single set to release this month, a movie to hit the screens in
November, after launching an album and a hit Netflix movie last year, the
Taiwanese-born star remains a singing and acting force to be reckoned with.
She talks to Zaneta Cheng about hard work, overcoming challenges and why she
will always be grateful for a career in the entertainment industry
When Vivian Hsu won first place in the 1990 Talented Beautiful Girl contest
held by Taiwanese broadcaster China Television company, she knew she would be
in it for the long haul. 31 years later, Hsu has worn almost all the hats
there are to wear as a performer in the entertainment industry. From idol
singer to model, actress, soloist, lyricist, and now movie producer who is as
beloved in her homeland Taiwan as she is in Japan and Hong Kong, Hsu is the
first to surmise that she was one of the very first iterations of today’s
multi-hyphenate.
Asymmetric denim midi dress and black corset-waist belt by Alexander McQueen;
Chronomat Automatic 36 South Sea Stainless Steel (Gem-Set) watch in Midnight
Blue by Breitling
In the beginning, Hsu had no choice but to stretch her time in the
entertainment business beyond its 15 minute average. “I have this concept
that the one earning money should take care of the family so I entered the
entertainment industry when I was 14 in order to support my family,” Hsu
says. “I was raised in a very poor household with a single mother and was
one of three children. My mother showed us how she took care of us all by
herself and she never complained about it. She treasured and took whatever
opportunities came and she even worked two jobs in a single day in order to
earn money so that she could take better care of us. I think that set a very
important example for me because I in turn treasure every opportunity I get
be it in work or daily life.”
And so from 1990 onward, Hsu has been working, taking any chance she was
given. First she was part of a girl group “Girls’ Team”, which disbanded
after releasing two albums in 1991 and 1992. Subsequently Hsu went into
modelling and produced photobooks of herself in 1995 and 1996 at the height
of her modelling career. Leveraging her popularity, Hsu embarked on a solo
singing career at the same time, releasing her first album “Tianshi Xian”
in 1996, which she sang entirely in Japanese and, after a crash course in
Korean, re-released the same album in Korean titled “Cheonsa Misonyeo”.
In the following five years she would form a band with Japanese comedians and
vocalists Black Biscuits, disband and release three Chinese language albums
and one more Japanese one all while working on two to three films per year.
In 2001, she appeared in The Accidental Spy with Jackie Chan and starred in
three more Hong Kong productions before expanding in 2006 into Chinese-Hong
Kong romance The Knot.
Green turtleneck, and blue and white athletic T-shirt by Gucci;
Chronomat Automatic 36 Stainless Steel (Gem-Set) watch in Mint Green by
Breitling
“Each professional role I take on represents a new challenge for me and a
new opportunity to learn” says Hsu over a WeChat call. “It also represents
the possibility of me bravely trying new things again and again.”
Today, the much accomplished and respected singer and actress is a breath of
fresh air even on the phone. Prior to our call on a 10:30am morning, her
greetings come in the form of a slew of cheeky stickers in the group chat.
There’s one where a man is taking off his sunglasses to say hello only to
reveal a pair of sunglasses beneath. There’s another with a man slyly
skateboarding past and once everyone agrees to start the call, she sends over
a sticker of Zach Galifianakis flying past palm trees on either side with
arms outstretched Superman style. It certainly doesn’t seem as though I’m
talking to one of the most revered performers of Hsu’s generation and
apparently, according to Hsu herself, she doesn’t hold her years over
anyone, not even herself.
“I actually treasure every work opportunity I have. Although I’ve been
working for such a long time, my heart is still as young as it was 30 years
ago when I was still a child. I take every job and every member of staff very
seriously.
Asymmetric denim midi dress, black corset-waist belt and black lace-up boots
by Alexander McQueen;
Chronomat Automatic 36 South Sea Stainless Steel (Gem-Set) watch in Midnight
Blue by Breitling
“To be frank, I entered the entertainment industry when I was 14 years old
and I never had the opportunity to try any other type of job. I actually have
no idea what other kind of work I might be able to do. This is why I hold my
career in the entertainment industry very dear – each job, and each moment. I
’m still very serious about every single job I can get because I’m afraid
that if there happens to come a day that I’m cast out by the entertainment
industry, I won’t know what to do for work. I put in lots of effort so that
I will not be abandoned by the entertainment industry and can do it forever,
until I’m very old.”
This is said in equal parts seriousness and jest. Ageing remains a serious
obstacle for women in any industry but particularly in Hsu’s industry where
tides of the next bright young things rush in to the detriment of more
established female performers.
“Although I’ve been working for such a long time, my heart is still as
young as it was 30 years ago. I take every job and every member of staff very
seriously”
Vivian Hsu
When asked for her #legends, Hsu cites Teresa Teng and Anita Mui, both female
performers who had long illustrious careers on the stage. “These two women
are irreplaceable to me,” she says. “During the eight years I spent working
in Tokyo, Teresa Teng was my idol. I wanted to be as unique and successful as
her. She was also my senior and treated me so well. Although we didn’t meet
up very frequently, she would call me for a get together whenever she was
back in Taiwan and I really enjoyed spending time with her.
“Anita Mui is another figure I look up to. For me, she was like a really
cool older sister. She would almost take care of people like a man and I
think I saw her not only as a big sister but also a big brother. She took
care of a lot of younger singers as well. I still listen to her song ‘
Intimate Lovers’. It’s one of the songs I play the most on my playlists and
I think of her whenever it comes on. I think I just want to be like her –
not only to stay in the entertainment industry as long as she did but to
take care of younger singers like a big brother or sister the same way she
did.”
White nylon dress by Fendi; Blue and white slingbacks by Boss; Tights stylist
’s own;
Chronomat 32 Stainless Steel and 18k Red Gold (Gem-Set) watch in White by
Breitling
With two movies just out however, a single on the way and plans to stage a
solo concert, age is really the least of Hsu’s concerns.
“The best solution is to not think about age,” Hsu says. “Age is not
something I consider restrictive. Attitude is more important. The most
important this is that one treats everyone and everything sincerely and
seriously. If you spend too much time thinking about the problems of ageing
it leads you nowhere. Just go and do it.”
Hsu speaks from experience. After all, she’s encountered worse. In her own
words, “20 years ago, I loved to sing and I was mainly developing my career
as a singer. Unfortunately I ran into this problem where I was frozen and so
I switched gears and began working as an actress. I told myself that I was
made of steel and I had to just make it work on my own. I actually call
myself Steel V, and I really am my own cheerleader.”
It’s very well talking about it with twenty years of success since then but
asked to recall what it was like at the time, Hsu admits it was one of her
lowest moments. “It was a truly unbearable experience,” she says. “These
types of experiences make you judge yourself and question your life
decisions. They were an inevitable part of the process so I definitely bawled
my eyes out at home but I’m the type of person who looks for solutions after
letting out my emotions. It’s probably a result of the training I had at
home. I spent time thinking about why this happened to me – who wouldn’t –
but I still needed to live and take care of my family so I had to find an
answer for this business problem. And I really believe that life never cuts
off anybody’s path and it’s just a matter of finding a different way out.
Orange wool blazer and white printed T-shirt by Chloé;
Chronomat Automatic 36 Stainless Steel (Gem-Set) watch in Mint Green by
Breitling
“But that philosophy only applies to those who are willing to look up so
that they can see the light and the opportunities and stand up again. It
would be hard for those who don’t even raise their heads when feeling down.
It’s hard to save yourself but we have to train ourselves to be strong
enough to do so. Strength is like a muscle. You have to exercise it often to
protect yourself when life doesn’t go smoothly because it’s hard for others
to save you. Nobody can be there for us every second of every day.”
And exercise that muscle she did resulting now in an extensive filmography
that spans Asia. Not that Hsu wants reminding of her earlier forays in film.
“Don’t discuss my earlier work with me,” she says with a laugh. “I shot a
lot of movies at the same time I was trying to build my career in Japan so I
was working with Black Biscuits three days a week and for the other four days
I had to fly to Hong Kong to shoot for two days on set before flying back to
Tokyo. In addition to the language barrier – I couldn’t understand Cantonese
– the pace of a Hong Kong crew is very quick so before I knew it, it would
be my turn to speak. Looking back now, I had no idea what acting was, I was
just reciting my lines.”
“If I didn’t have this job, I would have no way of taking care of my mum
the way I have been able to nor would I have been able to raise my family’s
quality of life. Entertainment is akin to my best friend”
Vivian Hsu
It wasn’t until Hsu participated in The Knot, a Chinese film set in the
1940s, directed and produced by Yin Li who taught Hsu how to prepare for and
embody her character who faced separation from her lover possibly never
seeing him again. “That was the first time I saw myself behave very
differently in acting but I wasn’t able to take myself out of the character
once I got myself into character,” Hsu recalls. “Actors would be able to
retract themselves from their roles when work is over. It’s very dangerous
if they don’t stay in that state. I hadn’t taken any acting classes at that
point and we were shooting from midnight to noon the next day and even though
I only had four to five hours rest periods I couldn’t fall asleep and would
cry and take sleeping pills. It was only when I participated in Sex Appeal in
2014 playing a lawyer, which is not an industry that normal people understand
or come in regular contact with, that our director Wang Wei-ming insisted
that we all take acting classes that I finally understood how to again,
prepare for a role and finally how to take myself out of it.”
White nylon dress by Fendi;
Chronomat 32 Stainless Steel and 18k Red Gold (Gem-Set) watch in White by
Breitling
Since then Hsu has caught the acting bug – “later I got married and gave
birth to a child but after five years, my desire to act is back in full force.
”
In 2018, Hsu returned to the silver screen in The Tag-Along: The Devil Fish,
a family tragedy and in 2020 played Chen Wan-yu in Little Big Women, a movie
about a family processing the death of an absent father. “I remember when
the director came to me for the first time with a script where the character
was the second sister in a family whose father had left them in childhood and
who was living with an aunt who took care of her growing up. I connected with
these similarities so I felt in a way destined for the part and the
screenplay is one that’s very close to my heart” Hsu says.
Recently, Hsu wrapped up filming Mama Boy where she plays Lele, a
single-mother working as an assistant manager at a sex hotel where she meets
Xiao Hong, a younger man with whom she falls in love and helps her come to an
understanding about romantic relationships as well as the one with her son.
Perhaps it’s because that she is now mother to Dalton, a five year old boy
she had with husband Sean Lee that she is drawn to maternal roles albeit with
a twist. “Every time I analyse a character for shooting, I get to absorb and
take part in experiences that I wouldn’t otherwise in my own life so I think
acting can actually play a role in transforming me into a better person
because I learn lessons from the actions of others through putting myself in
their shoes.”
Green turtleneck, and blue and white athletic T-shirt by Gucci;
Chronomat Automatic 36 Stainless Steel (Gem-Set) watch in Mint Green by
Breitling
In her own shoes, Hsu released I’m V, an album that marks her return to
music which includes 15 of her greatest hits alongside five new songs in
September. “I’m V is an abbreviation of ‘I am Vivian’ and the album links
my entire musical journey,” says Hsu. “The five new songs are all new
attempts for me. Others is my first attempt at a Hokkien song and I’ve
experimented in epic rock, lyrical rock and 80s retro synthesizers alongside
singing with aboriginal notes to create a different style, which has been
really enjoyable.”
With a single due to release this month, an upbeat rock tune, Hsu is not
looking to slow down. “I hope to hold a personal concert to thank my fans,
old friends and new friends who have supported me for 30 years. I hope that
there will be a big stage for them to sing and perform well. This is a new
goal I set for myself this year.”
Despite setting better boundaries between work and family, the star remains
focused on her craft. “I’ve been such a workaholic that if I wasn’t forced
to stop I would just keep working. Thanks to the pandemic, I’ve been able to
spend half my time at home and half my time working” she says. “It needs to
be fair.”
Orange wool blazer, white printed T-shirt and lilac wide-leg trousers by Chlo
é;
Blue and white slingbacks by Boss; Chronomat Automatic 36 Stainless Steel
(Gem-Set) watch in Mint Green by Breitling
And fair she is. Listening to Hsu speak about the entertainment industry, one
can’t help but feel moved by the depth of feeling she clearly has for it. “
This industry is my benefactor. I will not abandon this benefactor that has
given me so much,” she says simply. “If I didn’t have this job, I would
have no way of taking care of my mum the way I have been able to nor would I
have been able to raise my family’s quality of life. It’s been with me for
three decades, which is longer than many marriages.
“It has been with me from the time I knew absolutely nothing and has given
me the opportunity to learn to sing, dance, write lyrics, learn Japanese,
learn to be an emcee. I have always had this friend beside me and it’s seen
me from the time I was a blank slate and seen me grow so entertainment is
akin to my best friend, the friend who understands me the most.”
Follow Vivian Hsu on Instagram @vivianhsu.ironv
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