SIAO Fong-fong
2000 Honorary Fellow
Citation
Siao Fong-fong was born in Shanghai and moved to Hong Kong with her parents when she was two years old. She made her film debut at the age of six. In a period of some 45 years of prolific creativity, she has appeared in over 230 films in Mandarin and the Cantonese dialect. The numerous prizes she has won throughout her career include: the best child actress for Mei Goo at the Southeast Asia Film Festival in 1955; best supporting actress for Girl Friends at the Taiwan Golden Horse Awards in 1975; best actress for Autumn Sky at the Taiwan Golden Bell Television Awards in 1981; best actress for The Wrong Couple at the Hong Kong Film Awards in 1988; and five best actress awards in the film Summer Snow, namely the Silver Bear Award at the Berlin International Film Festival 1995, the Taiwan Golden Horse Awards, the Hong Kong Film Critics Award 1995, the Bauhinia Award 1996 and the Hong Kong Film Awards 1996; followed by a further double best actress awards for the film Hu Du Men at the Asia Pacific Film Exhibition and the Taiwan Golden Horse Awards 1996. Despite an extremely busy career which completely displaced a normal childhood and schooling opportunities, Siao Fong-fong succeeded in maintaining a rigorous discipline of private study and scholarship. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications and Asian Studies from the Seton Hall University in New Jersey and a Master of Arts degree in Psychology from Regis University, Denver. She has served as a psychologist and counsellor at a leading hospital in Hong Kong and established her own Foundation for the protection and care of children to which she now devotes much of her time, energy and personal attention. She is deeply concerned with the well-being of the deaf and serves on the Advisory Committee of the School of Drama at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. In 1997, Siao Fong-fong was awarded the MBE and also elected Artist of the Year by the Hong Kong Artists’ Guild.