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Profile | Cherie Chung a screen goddess, the Marilyn Monroe of Hong Kong, fans said – how she retired from acting at the height of her career and hasn’t looked back
- Cherie Chung capitalised on her fourth place in the Miss Hong Kong 1979 beauty pageant to appear in almost 50 films in the 1980s – then left it all behind at 31
- The retired actress, still frequently described by fans as a ‘screen goddess’, keeps a relatively low profile now and has developed a passion for photography
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This is the 12th instalment in a biweekly series profiling major Hong Kong pop culture figures of recent decades.
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Actress Cherie Chung Chor-hung, once called the Marilyn Monroe of Hong Kong, was revered in the city’s entertainment scene during the 1980s for her talent, charm and beauty.
At the age of 31 and at the peak of her career – she received three best actress nominations in the Hong Kong Film Awards for her roles in The Story of Woo Viet (1981), Hong Kong, Hong Kong (1983) and An Autumn’s Tale (1987) – Chung left it all behind for a life away from the limelight.
Although she has not appeared in a film since 1991, the retired actress is still frequently described by her fans as a “screen goddess”.
Born in Hong Kong in 1960, Chung got her first taste of the spotlight through a beauty pageant. Her family signed her up for the 1979 Miss Hong Kong competition and, after placing fourth, she was cast by film director Johnnie To Kei-fung to play the female lead in his directorial debut, a martial arts crime thriller called The Enigmatic Case (1980).
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Chung went on to appear in a succession of films, including Ann Hui On-wah’s The Story of Woo Viet.
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