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Lee Wing-Sze

Only a few stars manage to stay away from the gossip pages. Kelly Chen Wai-lum is one of them.

While the wild antics and affairs of local idols such as Nicholas Tse Ting-fung and Edison Chen Kwoon-hei, and international stars like Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Maggie Cheung Man-yuk fill inch after inch of showbiz columns, you seldom read anything negative about Canto-pop diva Chen.

The 29-year-old's squeaky-clean image is down to clean living, according to her management company, UFO Production.

'She doesn't do anything special to keep herself away from the paparazzi, she just doesn't go to places like bars and pubs,' says Bono Lau, promotion officer from UFO.

Chen's positive and healthy image has attracted a lot of young fans.

Last year, she was voted the most popular idol by local young people in a City University survey, and second behind former chief secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang in a RTHK online survey seeking Hong Kong's ideal woman.

In 1999 and 2000, Chen was named the most popular female singer at the TVB JSG Awards and won the gold award for the best female singer at the Commercial Radio Billboard Awards.

She went a step better last year and was named the most popular female singer in The Asia-Pacific region at the TVB Jade Solid Gold awards.

Being a busy, popular artist, there is always a heavy demand on her time.

Attempts by Young Post to arrange an interview with Chen failed, but she was able make time to answer, through her management team, a list of submitted written questions.

'I just do my job to the best of my ability and keep my products and performances at the highest possible level,' says Chen, responding to a question about how she keeps her feet on the ground and her name out of the tabloid text.

Her hard work has certainly paid off - both inside and outside the showbiz industry.

One of her many roles is being the ambassador of the government's Workplace English campaign. Chen thinks the language is an important communication tool in her work and daily life.

In the movie Calmi Cuori Appassionati, which also stars Japanese actor Yutaka Takenouchi, Chen has to speak three languages - Japanese, Italian and English.

'When I am outside Hong Kong, I use English most of the time to communicate with others. And when I represent Hong Kong at international events, I have to use English to chat with people from other countries,' Chen says.

Watching DVDs, reading English magazines and listening to English songs are the ways in which she brushes up her English-language skills.

'By listening to English songs, I can pick up new words and the most up-to-date expressions,' she says.

Chen, a graphic design graduate of Parsons School of Design in New York, has thought about going back to college but not what to study.

'I don't have time to put it into action right now,' says Chen, who is determined to pursue life-long learning.

'Life-long learning is an attitude. You have to keep absorbing new knowledge,' says Chen, who also takes voice and dance lessons.

Student holiday led to stardom

Kelly Chen was on holiday in hometown Hong Kong from her American university in 1994 when she was spotted by Claudia Chung-chun, who became her manager. The following year, Chen made her movie debut in Whatever Will Be Will Be, the soundtrack of which features her first single Everything is Beautiful Because of You. In the same year, she released her first album Dedicated Lover and swept all the best newcomer awards in all the local music awards. Since then, she has released more than 48 albums, in both Cantonese and Mandarin, and her debut Japanese album Kelly Grace was released last year. She has also appeared in 12 movies, including the award-winning Infernal Affairs. She will also star in the movie's second sequel, Infernal Affairs III.

Last year, the singer-actress was selected as one of the Ten Outstan-ding Young Persons for her achievements in show business and her contributions to society.

The Canto-pop diva was appointed Hongkong Post's new philatelic ambassador two months ago.



Kelly keeps it clean