In Hong Kong in 1966, the city was struggling to rise among high-rise buildings, and people were looking for opportunities and hope. Guan Baohui, who is a descendant of the Manchu people, and Guan Xiumei, who was born in an ordinary family, two cross-border girls also started their journey of chasing stars with a longing for performance.
Bao Hui, who was born in a professional class, has a lively personality and loves to look in the mirror and imitate actresses since she was a child. At the age of 16, she applied for the Department of Social Work at Shue Yan University, but she always felt out of place.
What I yearn for in my heart is the flash of the stage. So she switched to the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, and soon graduated with honors and got the first notice in her life.
Unlike Baohui, the grassroots girl Xiumei grew up in an ordinary family. My mother is a vegetable vendor, and she often helps set up stalls to make money. Xi to the life of a small citizen, she slowly learned to endure and endure hardship.
When she grew up, Xiumei relied on her proud figure and appearance to become a fitness coach. It wasn't until 1987 that she signed up for Miss Hong Kong, which was her first attempt at upward mobility.
However, she did not make the cut, which is undoubtedly a blow.
The two seem to have similar starting points, but they are quite different. However, they are all eager to make a career in the entertainment industry.
In the blink of an eye, the footsteps of the 90s of the 20th century are approaching. In this era of opportunities and traps, the two post-80s flowers began their dream-chasing life.
At that time in Hong Kong, famous directors such as Wang Jing and John Woo were pushing their film careers to the peak. At the same time, the big stations in the TV circle are also focusing on idol dramas, with many crews, and the opportunity is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
As early as the last decade, Baohui and Xiumei resolutely joined TVB and began to start from the trick. It took ten years for them to finally accumulate a certain amount of contacts and acting skills.
In 1990, the two began to think about the next direction.
As a sexy goddess, Xiumei chose to move to the big screen, and she soon played the heroine in many gangster films with both word-of-mouth and box office successes, successfully creating the classic image of "Big Brother's Woman".
The audience and the director couldn't get tired of her.
At the same time, Baohui is facing an olive branch from TVB to renew its contract. She could have signed honestly and continued to hone her acting skills on the small screen. However, Bao Hui chose a film career without hesitation, and she aspired to become the next generation of Zhao Wei or Maggie Cheung.
So, Bao Hui resigned from TVB and began to devote herself to film shooting.
Time flies, and youth does not return. When entering middle age, Guan Baohui and Guan Xiumei gradually faded out of the public eye.
In 2002, just when her career was at its peak, Xiumei was arrested and imprisoned for a traffic accident caused by drunk driving. This is undoubtedly a heavy blow, and the ups and downs of life have reached a low point again.
The days and nights in prison made her constantly reflect, career, love, family, what else did she have? She reviewed the past chronicle from beginning to end with red eyes.
At the same time, after going through the ups and downs of the film industry, Baohui has long been depressed, and her life and mood have fallen into a trough. With the help of her friends, she gradually came out of the shadow of depression.
And he is determined to let go of his unpleasant experience in the film industry in the past and go all out to return to the stage play.
On the stage, Baohui exudes the fragrance after precipitation. Every movement, every expression, shows the incomparable love and dedication to the performing arts. Finally, in 2019, Bao Hui won the Best Actress award for a drama.
In her more than 40-year acting career, this is her first and only award. But she was content, because she had lived again.
The years are not forgiving, Guan Baohui and Guan Xiumei have also entered middle age. Leaving behind the hustle and bustle of the city, in a quiet life, they began to look back on their ups and downs in their acting career.
In the 80s, the two were the best of their peers. One has excellent acting skills, and the other has a charming appearance. They could have relied on their advantages to shine in the film and television industry and become well-deserved first-line actresses.
However, they did not reach the top after all.
In the Hong Kong entertainment industry back then, examples of fame abounded. Whether it is Anita Mui or Maggie Cheung, or later Zhao Wei and Chen Chong, they shine on the screen with their acting skills and hard work.
And Guan Baohui and Guan Xiumei can only linger in the second and third lines in the end.
So people can't help but say that they are the regret of "being born at the wrong time" in the Hong Kong film industry. But in fact, the biggest regret is precisely that they were not cherished well in that era.
These excellent actors should not have been reduced to just side and supporting roles. If fate had been fairer, history might have been rewritten.
There is a big misunderstanding in the saying that "born at the wrong time". It overemphasizes the perspective of the outcome and ignores the process.
Kwan Baohui and Kwan Xiumei, as actors who emerged in the 80s, although they did not achieve great success in the film industry in the end, their hard work and struggle have confirmed their worth.
In that era of fierce competition in the entertainment industry, they were not afraid of hardships, passed the test, and dedicated all their youth and passion to the screen. Even after repeated defeats, they never gave up their love for the performing arts.
It is this perseverance that allows them to successfully demonstrate the professionalism of film actors.
Therefore, calling them "lost pearls" itself carries a slight negative color. In fact, in that era, Guan Baohui and Guan Xiumei were already well-deserved stars.
They fulfilled each other with that era and completed their self-sublimation. The so-called "born at the wrong time" is nothing more than wishful thinking on the part of future generations.