Sammi ready for challenges

Singer-actress Sammi Cheng Sau-man has overcome her fear of filming after suffering depression triggered by a tragic movie role. The 35-year-old Canto-pop queen said she wouldn't even mind reprising director Stanley Kwan Kam-pang's Everlasting Regret, the film that led to her stumble two years ago.

'I am not afraid any more. If you asked me two years ago, I wouldn't have been ready. But I'm now up for any challenge,' she said.

Cheng (left) struggled in her 2005 role as tragic Shanghainese beauty Wang Qiyao in Everlasting Regret, opposite Tony Leung Ka-fai and Daniel Wu Yin-cho. Pressure over the role reportedly made her miserable, and the break-up of her long-time relationship with singer Andy Hui Chi-on aggravated matters. Although her music career was secure, Cheng took a year off to travel around India, write journals and paint.

Cheng said there was nothing and no one to blame for her difficulties but herself. 'I was my own problem,' she said. 'The only person who can influence my life is myself; it has nothing to do with the surroundings.'

But she pulled herself together, found religion and is now back on a hectic schedule of concert performances, movie projects and publicity rounds.

Cheng said she was comfortable back in her busy lifestyle - 'that is always part of me' - but would not be making three or four movies each year as she had in the past.

'Yes, I was thrilled to have such a satisfying career but I was a very unhappy person behind the scenes,' she said. 'It was very frustrating. At a certain stage of my career, I had to take all the opportunities that were available to me. I couldn't afford to miss a chance so I had to sacrifice my own time. But if you gain something, you lose something; you can't have it all.