The Mystery of Her Abduction And Rape,
The Shame of Eastweek Magazine,
And The Strange Secret Inner Workings
Of The Big Budget Hong Kong Movie Business
Born Jialing Liu on December 8, 1965 in the Chinese province of Xuzhou. Her parents, who were both painters, moved her to Hong Kong when she was 13. She later studied at Kiangsu College and after graduating she applied to TVB, the main TV network in Hong Kong. Initially, she was rejected because of her Mandarin accented Cantonese but in 1983 she got work.
She appeared in a number of television dramas - many with her now long time boyfriend Tony Leung Chiu-wai. In 1986 she made her film debut with Naughty Boys and has been nominated four times for Best Actress - Intimates, Gigolo and Whore, I Am Sorry (a.k.a. Her Beautiful Life Lies), and Days of Being Wild - but has never won. When she lost to Maggie Cheung in 1997, there was apparently an uproar of disappointment from the acting community and also the showbusiness media. Some other films - Project A II, He's a Woman, She's a Man, She Shoots Straight, Forbidden City Cop, Girls without Tomorrow, Deadful Melody, The Eagle Shooting Heroes (with much of the rest of the Ashes of Time cast plus Joey Wong and Kenny Bee) and of course in one of my very favorite roles - she is "The Pet Lady" (a.k.a. “Madam of Pets”) in Saviour of the Soul.
In 2002 Carina found herself involved in a scandal that rocked Hong Kong for months. Eastweek Magazine, owned by Albert Yeung (head of EEG and manager of The Twins and Joey Yung among others) displayed a picture in it's Oct 30 Issue of a female Hong Kong actress in an obvious state of distress and topless. Though the face was pixillated over it soon became common knowledge that the person was Carina and that the picture was taken years before when she was kidnapped by some triad thugs.
These Hong Kong movie people don't play around. They kidnapped her, photographed her, and apparently filmed her rape which has recently turned up being sold in VCD form on Hong Kong streets. But this wasn't done for kicks, or for money - but just to shame a famous person for, as of yet, unknown reasons. She was released unharmed. This isn't the only instance of this kind of thing happening in this industry. Andy Lau was threatened at gun-point to take up a movie project, and Amy Yip was also forced to go nude in a movie, or face disfigurement. And in the case of Carina, speculation has it that she offended an influential figure by pulling out of a movie role. The Hong Kong film industry commonly used the cut-throat Triad Gangs to make a point, or get things done in the late 80's and early 90's. The movie business was booming - they wanted in.
As more information spilled out it was revealed that at the time of the kidnapping Carina was having a financial dispute with Yeung and much speculation arose that he was in fact behind the kidnapping and the photo and was now publishing it to embarrass Carina. The city and other actors were outraged and with the help of some other Hong Kong celebs, including Jackie Chan, the magazine was shut down - but as of yet the investigation into the kidnapping has not come up with anything.
Some Images
Carina Lau Filmography
Naughty Boys (1986)
Armour of God (1986, cameo)
Lemon Husband (1987, TV)
I Am Sorry (1987)
Tragic Hero (1987)
Project A II (1987)
Rich and Famous (1987)
Heart to Hearts (1988)
Profiles of Pleasure (1988)
The Romancing Star 2 (1988)
Looking Back in Anger (1989, TV)
China White (1989)
Four Lovers (1989)
Lucky Guys (1989)
Return of the Lucky Stars (1989)
Queen's Bench 3 (1990)
City Warriors (1991)
She Shoots Straight (1991)
Days of Being Wild (1991)
The Banquet (1991, cameo)
Gigolo and Whore (1991)
Saviour of the Soul (1991)
Now You See Love, Now You Don't (1992)
Actress (1992)
Girls Without Tomorrow (1992)
The Eagle Shooting Heroes (1993)
Crazy Hong Kong (1993)
Holy Weapon (1993)
Lady Supercop (1993)
Lord Of East China Sea (1993)
Lord Of East China Sea 2 (1993)
Lover Of The Swindler (1993)
No More Love, No More Death (1993)
Rose, Rose I Love You (1993)
Shadow Cop (1993)
C'est la Vie, Mon Cherie (1993)
He Ain't Heavy, He's My Father (1993)
He's a Woman, She's a Man (1994)
Deadful Melody (1994)
Ashes of Time (1994)
Forbidden City Cop (1996)
Who's the Woman, Who's the Man (1996)
Intimates (1997)
The Flowers of Shanghai (1998)
Love Generation Hong Kong (1998)
Cop Shop Babes (2001)
La Brassiere (2001)
Mighty Baby (2002)
Infernal Affairs 2 (2003)
Infernal Affairs 3 (2003)
Sex and the Beauties (2004)
2046 (2004)
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