Tuesday 10 May 2016

Chilam Cheung On Doing Reality Shows with Anita Yuen: “Every Moment is Important”


Chilam Cheung (張智霖) may not like the idea of acting alongside his wife Anita Yuen (袁詠儀), but doing reality shows is a completely different story. “I get to be myself with herself. Every new thing we try becomes an important moment for us,” said Chilam.

Recently, the actor guested on an episode of Christine Ng’s (伍詠薇) cable talk show Miss Five: Taste of Life <伍姑娘真識食>. Being friends for many years, Christine and Chilam talked candidly throughout the show and revealed many interesting tidbits of their own lives. 

On the episode, Christine admitted to Chilam that she was almost “sponsored” by a wealthy businessman when she first debuted. With a smile, Chilam said he never received such sponsor offers before, but joked that he is open to it. “If that person gives me $500 million I’ll consider it.”

Together for over twenty years, Chilam and Anita secretly married in 2001 and had their son, Morton, in 2006. Though Chilam and Anita starred as a couple in the Taiwanese drama The New Judge <草民縣令> in 2001, they have been hesitant to act alongside each other ever since. Chilam even professed that he would never act with Anita again.

“When we act together, it gets even more difficult to get out of character,” explained Chilam. “We  shot a fighting scene together once, and we couldn’t get out of character. We stayed mad at each other even after work.”

However, Chilam and Anita broke their work and family barrier and decided to try doing reality shows together. The couple are currently regulars on the Chinese reality show With You All the Way <一路上有你>, and have been so for two seasons.

Asking if they agreed to do the variety show because of money, Chilam admitted, “Money was never the issue. It’s different from acting. In reality shows, we get to be ourselves. Every new thing we try becomes an important moment for us.”

When speaking about his 9-year-old son Morton, Chilam happily said, “He told me that he has a girlfriend and is already thinking about having kids of his own. He wants to earn enough money to take care of his family!”