Sabrina Qiu, Chinese actress who is Wong Jing’s latest muse, on her most memorable role, her part in upcoming Louis Cha adaptation, and fleshing out parts
- Like Wong’s previous muses, who often played roles tailor-made for them by the director, Qiu has already enjoyed her share of appearances
- She says her biggest challenge is to capture male attention while not offending women in the process, and to bring more depth to her characters
When veteran Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Jing brought the young actress Sabrina Qiu onto the popular Chinese talk show Roast in 2018, some audience members thought she might be the daughter of Chingmy Yau Suk-ching, a movie star who was scouted and nurtured to become a sex symbol by Wong in the 1990s.
That was understandable – the actresses share the same surname in Chinese, and on Roast Qiu re-enacted a classic scene from Wong’s film God of Gamblers’ Returns (1994) in which Yau, dressed in a red jacket and hot pants, shows off her card tricks.
Dubbed the new “Jing girl” (because she signed with Wong’s star agency and has appeared in several of his movies), Qiu has been compared to other Hong Kong stars nurtured by Wong such as Sharla Cheung Man, Shu Qi and Loletta Lee Lai-chun.
The starlet tells the Post in an interview in Beijing that she admires those actresses who, after starring in Wong’s films, went on to carve out illustrious show business careers. “Each of them is different; there’s no point in making comparisons,” she says. “It takes time and memorable roles in good works for the audience to recognise me. I hope in future the audience will recognise me for who I am rather than compare me to others.”
Like Wong’s previous protégés, who often played sizzling roles tailor-made for them by Wong, Qiu already has her share of scantily clad appearances. The actress says audiences tend to find her role in Chasing the Dragon II: Wild Wild Bunch (2019), co-directed by Wong, her most memorable.