Wei Shiya, a Hong Kong actress with nearly 20 years of experience, won the 38th Hundred Flowers Award for Best Actress after years of steady, diligent work.
With her lip—which had been stitched with more than fifty stitches—still covered in blood-stained gauze, and her ankles—wearing high heels—still trembling slightly from an old injury sustained during days of back-to-back work, she stood there under the spotlight at the Hundred Flowers Awards.
Her name is Wei Shiya, an actress who has been working her way up in Hong Kong’s entertainment industry for nearly two decades.Coming from an ordinary family, she dropped out of school at sixteen to earn a living. She entered the industry as a model in her early years, and in her spare time between working as an extra on various film sets, she earned more than a dozen professional certifications—including in nursing, cosmetology, and funeral services—to prepare for any eventuality.Before taking on the role in the film *Breaking Hell*, she spent nine months in advance learning all the traditional customs and practical procedures from a professional funeral director, following the entire process diligently and without a single thought of cutting corners.
In her first eleven years in the industry, she never bought a single luxury item,She cut back on daily expenses wherever possible, making every penny go as far as it could, and finally saved up enough for a down payment to buy a small 32-ping apartment priced at 7.8 million Hong Kong dollars. She personally oversaw every detail, from the renovation to furnishing the home, and never once compared her material circumstances with those of others.
In August of this year, she suffered a serious injury in an accident while filming. Even though the effects of the anesthesia from the stitches on her face had not yet fully worn off, she still took the stage on time at the 38th Hundred Flowers Film Awards, as per her previously scheduled itinerary, and accepted the Best Actress trophy from the presenter——making her the second non-mainland Chinese actress to win this award since the Hundred Flowers Awards were established.
People in the industry usually call her the “Queen of Cards.”
This reputation was never something that just fell into her lap by chance; she built it up bit by bit by planning her next move in advance and taking a steady, down-to-earth approach to everything she did.
Few people know that this newly crowned Best Actress, now in the spotlight, has been known as the “Card King” by Hong Kong audiences for more than a decade.
She was born in a public housing estate in Hong Kong. She didn’t follow a traditional path through school, and for her first ten years in the industry, she played nothing but bit parts with barely any lines. During her most financially difficult times, she sold goods at a street stall to make ends meet, and even had to budget carefully for something as small as changing a door lock.Success in the entertainment industry is unpredictable—you might be at the top of your game today, but by tomorrow, you might not have any work. From her very first day as an extra, she was always afraid of going hungry if she didn’t have a job. While others would go out networking after work, she would hole up in her rented room, poring over books until the wee hours of the night.She earned every professional certification she could—accounting, nursing, and everything in between. It was like stuffing cards into a bag: every extra card gave her a little more confidence as a safety net.Even for the smallest extra role, she pored over every detail; no matter how minor the part, she’d spend half a month beforehand poring over reference materials and doing her homework. She’s been dedicated to her craft for over a decade without ever letting up.
In life, you often come across people like her—people who stay calm in the face of challenges, take each step with care and without haste, and are rarely thrown off course by unexpected obstacles.
When people reach middle age and look back, most have gone through a phase in their youth when they were short-sighted and obsessed with material possessions, constantly comparing themselves to others. It is only at this stage in life that they gradually come to realize that taking a steady, step-by-step approach is the most reliable foundation for living.
From now on, there’s no need to get caught up in superficial formalities. Plan for the long term in everything you do, stay focused, and do your work thoroughly—after all, a good life for ordinary people has always been built one step at a time.
