After my last two posts on Hong Kong idols, I felt I just had to do a post on my personal favourite of the current bunch: Cecilia Cheung. Although largely unknown in the west, she is easily one of the top ten Chinese idols at the moment, and for my money definitely the prettiest: to me she looks something like an Asian version of Audrey Hepburn – high praise indeed! She also has a lovely trim and slender body, as can be seen in the photo below:
Indeed, she can be a little too slender at times – like many of the current Chinese idols such as Kelly Chen and Faye Wong, she is prone to bouts of anorexia. Clearly it isn’t any easier being an idol in the east than it is in the west!

Born in Hong Kong, she is one quarter white and went to high school in Melbourne, Australia (unfortunately I was in Sydney at the time – damn!). After returning to Hong Kong, she got her big break when in 1999, when she starred in the Stephen Chow film, The King of Comedy. Since then, she’s appeared in well over 20 other films, of the usual highly variable quality of Hong Kong cinema.

I’ve only actually seen one of her films, the comedy The Lion Roars. Like most HK comedies it’s pretty silly, but in a good way – quite a lot of fun! Cecilia is outstanding as a tough, sexy, domineering girl who only one man can handle – I really find this kind of woman very attractive, and Cecilia clearly knows how to play one. 😉 And although she can’t really belly dance, the sight of her in a belly dance costume was very sexy indeed! (Those of you who know me will note some parallels between this character and a certain model I do a web site for…)

Although known mostly as an actress, she also has a succesful singing career, having released several albums. The real surprise though is that she has a really beautiful singing voice, and great emotional expression. Although I’ve never actually heard any of her recorded works, I have seen her performing live, and was bowled over by her singing ability. A whole lot better than I’ve come to expect from Hong Kong idols! On the basis of past experience though, I strongly suspect her recorded works wouldn’t be as good as she is live, especially if they make her sing that modern dance pop stuff. If anybody can track down some MP3s please let me know!

Given her relatively low profile in the west, there isn’t a whole lot of English language material on the web. By far the best fan site I’ve found is ceciliacheung.us. Be warned, however: they say they’re looking for a web designer, and they certainly need one! They do have plenty of pictures though.