THE DUSTY BACKBLOCKS of the Television Broadcasts complex in the Clear Water Bay of the early 1970s were hardly what you'd call Hollywood. But for one little local girl, there was still enough buzz around the studios to sow the seeds of a passion that would eventually take her all the way to Tinseltown.
As a Maryknoll Convent School student, Teresa Cheng was taken to TVB as part of a field trip. She wandered around for a day, watched them shoot a few scenes for a local drama, and then went home wondering. 'I thought that this was a real kick - these people were doing a job that must never feel like an office job,' Cheng says. 'So that's what got me interested in the industry.'
Although Cheng's family relocated from their home on the Peak to Seattle in 1974 - when she was 16 - that day at TVB had left its mark. When she finished high school, she opted for a bachelor of arts (communications) course from the University of Washington - and then doors started opening. First, it was on-air TV promotions, then a move into visual effects, and then a move into movies.
'It was a case of one thing leading to another,' says 47-year-old Cheng from her base near Redwood City in northern California. 'I ended up doing visual effects for things like Batman Forever. Then, about eight years ago, I got a call asking if I wanted to join DreamWorks.'
It was with the DreamWorks team - the people behind such smash hits as Shrek - that Cheng found her calling. 'Because I'd worked at so many different places - and because all the jobs I had were production jobs - I began to consider myself a jack of all trades, master of none. And the other title for a producer is 'universal problem solver', and that includes fiscal problems, artistic problems and people problems. It's all about putting out fires, so every day is different - and I love that.'
Her new role as a producer has just landed Cheng the biggest job of her career - as one of the people behind DreamWorks' latest animated blockbuster, Madagascar. And with her background in graphics she found it a perfect fit.
'I moved from television graphics to computer graphics for films so I had always had a love for computer-generated imagery,' she says. 'It was great doing the visual effects, but I wanted to do more than just big explosions and I think animation tends to be more story- and character-driven. You have to have a combination of a wonderful story, great characters and beautiful imagery. It combines all the things that are of interest to me - and the people are nice. Those involved in animation come from all walks of life - Asia, Europe, North America, from everywhere.'