Kenneth Ma has been silently plowing through at TVB for 12 years. In the early years, he was an extra, playing bystanders and roles without a name. A few years later, he was given roles with names. Over the years he had just been seen as a good boy, boring audience and himself. Fortunately, in the recent years he accepted villain roles and has got positive response from the audience. Earlier in The Hippocratic Crush (THC), Kenneth makes a breakthrough based on his role as Dr. Cheung Yat Kin "Yat Kin Tau".
Bored of the Good Boy Roles
Kenneth is unsure of how to layout his acting career, but he believes its all about opportunities for artists: "To some extent, the success of THC came from my previous villain roles, Grace Under Fire, The Other Truth and The Life and Times of a Sentinel. It's been a long time since I've been a good boy, so being good again kept the fresh feelings. Its easier for villains to stand out. I've done too many good boy roles in the past, it was the same for about 6 or 7 years, everything was just too stable. I was bored of playing those roles, [viewers] were bored watching me in those roles. An artist needs to give viewers fresh feelings, so in 2007 my role in Survivor's Law II was a little different. I'm very pleased with that series, it was significant to me. The series reversed the impression producers and viewers had on me, and this is how I got more opportunities, such as the villain roles. Everyone had misunderstood me before, in fact, I am not that filial. Acting and being a person is the same, it's difficult to be a good person!"
When speaking of Three Kingdoms RPG, Raymond Lam and Tavia Yeung are Kenneth's same co-stars as in The Mysteries of Love, both series were produced by former TVB senior producer Lau Kar Ho. Kenneth: "Kar Ho gor gives artists a lot of space. I am a person with a lot of opinions, but he was willing to listen and accept them."
Tells Younger Generation its their time to Shine
However, Lau Kar Ho already left the company, as an artist, how does Kenneth see the current television crisis? Kenneth said: "Such a pity, but there's no choice, that is the politics. But, I would think this industry is pretty narrow. Those who left, perhaps in the next few years, they'll be back. An artist must not be too risky or be stuck in one place. When there is a good opportunity, then should go give it a try and collaborate with directors from different places. However, TVB won't break and my home is in HK, I can't live long-term in another place."
Kenneth continues: "Those who left, of course they have their opportunities, but those who stay behind also have more opportunities. What others are saying, the lack of Siu Sang and FaDans, perhaps that is true. When I was shooting THC, I told the group of youngsters, this is a good opportunity for you, not for Ron Ng, Bosco Wong or myself, it is your opportunity because TVB have to shoot a certain amount of series each year and need people to do it."
Came back to HK looking for a job, but no luck
Kenneth returned to HK from Canada in 1998. At the time, he thought he would be an engineer, but unfortunately the economy wasn't good at the time. He sent out many job applications, but didn't get one reply back. Then, he put his interest as a priority, and entered the TVB Artistes Training Class. Today, acting has become his life career. He has a special feeling towards the television industry.
He said: "TVB is a school, when I first graduated, I had countless amount of NGs and my acting was bad, but I kept trying different styles, those that didn't work, then its bye bye." Kenneth recalls when he first graduated, he just couldn't memorize his lines: "I could not handle it at all. It was all based on luck that I could finish saying my lines. Today, when I get into position, my heart doesn't beat as fast anymore and I can put time into the planning."
Time to advertise! Kenneth said Three Kingdoms RPG is a very fun series. Its fun to act and fun to watch. "An average time travel story is usually about a modern person traveling back to the ancient times and becomes very smart, but this time it's different. The modern man living in the ancient world without a cell phone, computer, car or technology basically cannot live. Modern people loves instant culture, being unfaithful in love, profit from others and have tons of bad habits. A modern man goes back to the past, and have to re-learn Chinese traditional practices, its actually meaningful education, good for a family of all ages to watch."
[Source: 3 Weekly] [Three Kingdoms RPG Spoilers of the Story + Ending]
Kenneth dies of a heart attack: "Tavia and I have No Results"
Yesterday [3 Weekly] received news on the story and discovers the light-hearted comedy series actually has no happy ending. That's a shocker.
In the series, Kenneth accidentally travels back in time, and only wished to get back to modern day Hong Kong, but he later develops true relationships with the Three Kingdoms people including ChuGot Leung, Lau Bei, Kwan Yu and Cheung Fei. He also falls in love with the maid (Tavia Yeung) and has an one-night stand with her. When he didn't have thoughts of going back to the future, he encounters a typhoon and falls into the time warp again. Initially he wanted to take Tavia back with him to the future, but it did not work out.
Back in the future, Kenneth tries countless times to get back to the Three Kingdoms, but after 30 years of trying, he still had no luck. In the end, he gets a heart attack and as he dies, he sees Tavia in front of him. However, it is unclear if that was just his imaginations or if its actually true Tavia came to the future.
Suddenly Turns Evil, After ChuGot Leung's betrayal
Traveling back to Three Kingdoms, Kenneth had 2,000 years more knowledge than the local ancient person, but because he was unfamiliar with history, he only relied on texting his sister back in the future to tell him the historical information.
ChuGot Leung (Raymond) had always been Kenneth's idol, but their friendship breaks after Raymond betrayed him because of the big picture. Kenneth then switches sides to help Cho Cho (Law Lok Lam) and goes against Raymond. Kenneth later discovers Cho Cho's evil plans and understood Raymond's situation, so they became friends again. He also ends up changing history due to all the advice he gave.
The story sounds similar to Louis Koo's A Step into the Past, the difference is Louis never makes it back to the future.
Kenneth was unwilling to reveal the story, he only expressed he and Tavia indeed won't have any results: "How can I tell you the ending... after all in the series Tavia and I won't have any results. But, I enjoyed shooting this series. Just like that one scene where I danced to CHOK, at the time Raymond Lam didn't have a dance for it yet, so I made it up. During the actual shoot, Raymond happily watched my CHOK dance. Later, I have a few more singing scenes, like my song with Tavia You Are Always On My Mind and other mainstream songs. It's pretty funny!"
Credits to TVB News World
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