Pinky Cheung Man-Chi 張文慈
At the turn of the century, Pinky Cheung appeared frequently in Hong Kong films, but her favourite role was on television. In My Date with a Vampire 2 she played the white-haired Kam Mei-Loi, who, having become a vampire, tries to save her child. ATV series made Cheung a familiar face on the mainland too, where she later spent several years acting and performing. When Cheung returned to Hong Kong television and began working for TVB, she was more often given supporting roles. Among them are a court official, a school staff member in charge of discipline, and the flighty elder sister of a paramedic in Life on the Line — one of her funniest and most touching characters.
Pinky Cheung (Cheung Man-Chi, 張文慈) was born in Hong Kong on 30 September 1971. Her parents separated when she was four, and by her own recollection the children were raised by their grandmother. The family lived in a public housing estate. In the courtyard Pinky was often picked on by older kids, and at home she was afraid to speak of it. After school she worked as a model and appeared in karaoke videos. Even before joining television she had studied languages in Japan and the US, and she had already made a brief appearance in Hong Kong cinema back in 1991, in the comedies The Great Pretenders and Happy Ghost V. According to Cheung, after returning to Hong Kong she had no idea what profession to choose and applied for Miss Asia following the example of model friends. In 1996 she made the final eight and won the best figure award.
The pageant was staged by ATV, with which Pinky soon signed a contract. By 1997 she was already appearing in Interpol and played Donna in the family drama Forrest Cat. That same year, in Young and Dangerous 4, she played Kay-Kay, the wife of one of the young gangsters. Kay-Kay is on screen only briefly, but she shows how easily the heroes' feuds spill over onto those close to them. Cheung herself considered the pageant the start of her career, after which filming became steady work for her.
ATV viewers remember her above all for My Date with a Vampire (1998). In this series vampires roam contemporary Hong Kong, though some of them still remember the war with Japan. Cheung plays Mirai Yamamoto, the daughter of a former Japanese officer. Fearing to lose his daughter, her father turned her into a vampire, and she has never been able to come to terms with the fact that he decided everything for her. In My Date with a Vampire 2 (2000) many of the actors returned in different roles. This time Pinky played Kam Mei-Loi, who herself must decide what she is willing to do for her child. This grey-haired vampire remained Cheung's favourite character. The actress said she still cannot watch the scene in which she defends her son without getting emotional. In 2023 she even recreated the makeup for a short video. In My Date with a Vampire 3 (2004) Cheung played Wanyan Wulei, a sorceress from the Jin state who has lived to the present day under a new name.
Series work alternated with film work. In the late 1990s Pinky was in demand for thrillers aimed at adult audiences. In Raped by an Angel 3: Sexual Fantasy of the Chief Executive (1998) she played an office worker whose report of an assault jeopardises her boss's election campaign. Cheung recalled that after Miss Asia she quickly learned how easy it is to end up in the newspapers in a revealing outfit. In cinema that image proved marketable too, though she wanted to play a range of roles. There was plenty of work in ghost films as well. Cheung appeared in the horror Horoscope 1: The Voice from Hell (1999), and in the second film of the series, Horoscope II: The Woman from Hell (2000), she landed one of the central roles. In the crime thriller Colour of the Truth (2003) she played the mother of one of the young heroes. Cheung remembers that shoot because of a fear that was anything but cinematic. Filming took place in a hospital and a funeral parlour during the SARS outbreak, and in front of the camera she had to take off her mask.
Her relationship with ATV was uneven. As Cheung recounted in 2008, after her first contract ended she left the channel, worked with the film company China Star and the Shanghai agency Star East, and returned to her old colleagues for individual shoots. She was invited back when Wong Jing took on a series for ATV. Cheung agreed — even off the payroll, she considered herself a person of that television company. In Central Affairs (2005) she plays Queenie, the head of an insurance company department where her lover's daughter comes to work. Queenie knows how to carry herself with dignity and knows exactly whom to lean on and how. After this job, Cheung admitted she was tired of playing women everyone expects to be up to something. In Central Affairs 2 (2006), where the story starts afresh, she is now the elder of two sisters who have married brothers from a wealthy family.
Cheung was delighted when she was offered the part of a policewoman in The Men of Justice (2010). By her own account, this straightforward, businesslike woman was much closer to her own character. Around the same time, on the big screen she landed the role of an inspector in A Very Short Life (2009). Her heroine recounts over dinner the investigation into a girl's death, and the entire film grows out of that conversation. And in Vampire Warriors (2010) she played a vampire once again, this time in an action film. After leaving ATV, Pinky began working more often in mainland China — appearing in series, touring with performances and also singing in clubs. At first it was hard for her to get used to such work, but, as she told Ming Pao Weekly, it was precisely these trips that allowed her to support her family. In 2012, at the celebration of ATV's 55th anniversary, Cheung received a jubilee award.
In those years Cheung embraced Christianity. In an interview with The Media Evangelism she spoke of how hard she had taken the publicity after one of her first conversations with the press. Then, answering a question about her first love, she had spoken of a trauma she endured at seventeen, and in the newspapers her story turned into a sensation. Years later Cheung recalled how heavily she had depended on reporters' attention and how afraid she was that she would be forgotten. According to her, the faith she came to in 2010 helped her get through the time when there was almost no work in Hong Kong.
In 2016 Cheung signed a contract with TVB. The first to air was the comedy Oh My Grad (2017), where she played a formidable school staff member in charge of discipline. The role was written in when preparations for shooting were already under way, and Cheung appears only in the tenth episode. In the historical series Deep in the Realm of Conscience (宮心計2深宮計, 2018) she played Wang Min, an official who oversees the imperial kitchen and for years sends her salary to her family. In Life on the Line she played the elder sister of a paramedic team leader (Joe Ma). The series aired in 2018. The sister makes videos for social media and becomes so carried away chasing views that she eventually quarrels with her brother. In this scene her noisy, self-assured heroine suddenly falls silent and listens to everything her brother thinks of her. You can see what it costs her to hold back the tears.
In Forensic Heroes IV (2020) Cheung played a costume assistant in a Cantonese opera troupe. She is so devoted to the actress she serves that she is ready to commit a crime for her sake. Cheung said she loves series for the chance to reveal a heroine's character in all its fullness. She especially treasured a short message in which the producer praised her work after watching it. That same year The Witness came out, after which Cheung disappeared from new TVB series for several years. During the pandemic she began working more in mainland China, where she performed and sold clothes in livestreams.
She returned to TVB in 2024, playing a small role as the divorced Sabrina in Darkside of the Moon. In 2025, after her stepmother's death, Cheung said she moved back to Hong Kong to live with her father, while continuing to commute to work on the mainland. In 2026, TVB aired Sei Jau Deoi Zing, in which she played Mei-Na, a wealthy Malaysian woman who reunites with the man who deceived her. Cheung decided that Mei-Na would speak in a hoarse voice, since the character had damaged her vocal cords in the past. As the actress told TVB, the unfamiliar voice left her short of breath, and she had to keep it under control even in scenes where Mei-Na can barely contain her anger.
