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Carrie Chan

Daughter inspired Jacky Cheung to take job as frontman

For Canto-pop singer and actor Jacky Cheung Hok-yau,  the image of his three-year-old daughter popped into his head when he was offered the job of promoting Hong Kong Disneyland.

'My first reaction was that I wanted to do it. I wanted to do something that I could share with my daughter and [also] watch cartoons with her,' he said.

The 43-year-old award-winning performer is only the second spokesman appointed by the entertainment giant. The first was the Sound of Music's  star Julie Andrews in the United States.

Cheung's  job is to try to connect an Asian audience with the Disneyland theme park, which is expected to open late next year or early 2006 at Penny's Bay in Lantau Island.

His first task for the entertainment giant was his debut as a television host on TVB Jade on Saturday night. Cheung  appeared as a storyteller in the programme Magical World of Disneyland, shedding light on company founder Walt Disney's vision to bring magic to people's lives. The veteran singer said the experience of hosting a television programme made him feel like a college freshman.

'This is, perhaps, the only thing that worries me at first,' he said.

'I have become so used to talking in public over the past two decades, but usually it is before or after a singing performance. Now, I have to talk without stopping and I am the sole host of the programme.'

Cheung said the realisation that he was missing out on family life  spurred him  to marry actress May Law Mei-mei  in 1996.

'Without knowing why, I always felt home was the most important place,' he said.

'I felt I had started to ignore my family around 1992, [when his career was peaking] - this feeling prompted me to get married.'

The singer said he was trying to let his daughter Zoe Cheung Yiu-wa understand every part of his life, from his morning stretching exercises to his new Disneyland job.

'Before I attended the press conference that announced my appointment, I told her that I would become a spokesperson ... and she asked, 'Is this real?''

After being a singer for two decades, Cheung said he was toying with the idea of promoting  an entire album  himself as well as performing and composing a theme song for the park.

'I have experimented with so many musical styles. I don't know whether I have reached the limit and where the limit is, and I don't actually mind seeing the end.

'This is the reason why I have to keep trying different things,' he said.

His next  major project is to  stage his musical Snow, Wolf, Lake  in Beijing by the end of the year.

While Cheung said it was premature to reveal what promotional activities he would take part in for Disney,  he is expected to promote the park across Asia.

'I already brought my daughter to the Tokyo Disneyland after accepting this job. Of course, I'll be there at Hong Kong Disneyland when it opens,' he said.



Disney wishes upon a star to make dreams come true