Profile | How Raymond Lam went from Hong Kong TV extra to film star, singer and the ‘King of Chok’
We look at how Raymond Lam defied the expectations of his wealthy family to succeed as an award-winning actor and Cantopop singer
Affectionately dubbed the “King of Chok” – chok being a Cantonese slang term that means trying to look cool or handsome, often to the point of being pretentious or cocky – Raymond Lam Fung is one of Hong Kong’s most successful entertainers of the 2000s.
After training with Hong Kong broadcaster TVB at the beginning of his career, he made a name for himself as a television actor and cemented his status as a heartthrob through shows like La Femme Desperado, Moonlight Resonance and The Mysteries of Love.
In the following years, Lam also became a Cantopop singer – music was his first love – and later ventured into the mainland Chinese market in the 2010s.
Born in 1979 in Xiamen, in mainland China, Lam grew up as part of a wealthy family and moved to Hong Kong as a young child. As the eldest son of a property tycoon, he was expected to take over the family business when he became an adult.
But Lam, who had a passion for performing, had other plans – in 1998, he joined TVB’s 13th artist training class. After graduating, he began appearing as an extra on, and took bit roles in, Hong Kong shows like A Kindred Spirit, Side Beat and At the Threshold of an Era.