How local kids stay on the straight and narrow

Compared with their Hollywood counterparts, Hong Kong child stars seem to be a fairly level-headed lot, handling their relative fame without resorting to drugs or nervous breakdowns.

As they grow older, some soldier on in the industry - often as B-list actors - while others move into completely different careers.

Jimmy Wong Shu-kei is probably one of the best-known and still best-loved of the city's child stars. From 1976, he starred in the RTHK television series When We Were Young, and his cuddly appearance and bubbly character endeared him to viewers. In July this year - almost 30 years after his debut - he was voted Most Memorable Little Actor in an RTHK-organised poll.

These days, Wong is married to former singer Maple Hui Chau-yee and is the father of a two-year- old son. Although he never left the entertainment business, he certainly changed direction. Some of his childhood fans may have been shocked by his appearance in 1997's The Fruit is Swelling, a Category III film described as a sleaze-romp. (His co-star in the steamy caper is Shu Qi, who has come a long way from her soft-porn days, having been crowned best actress last week at the Golden Horse Awards.)

In interviews, Wong insists that his transformation from good boy to adult-movie star wasn't part of a planned image change - he just regarded it as an actor's responsibility to get into any role and perform his best. Wong now works mostly on the mainland, performing concerts and acting in soap operas.

Whereas Wong persisted with acting, former child star John Tang Yat-kwan has now reinvented himself as an insurance broker - a career move that probably seemed unimaginable when he was nominated only three years ago for the best new performer award at the Hong Kong Film Awards (for his role of a timid university student in Yesteryou, Yesterme, Yesterday).