Stephy Tang Lai-yan (Chinese: 鄧麗欣; born 15 October 1983) is a Hong Kong singer and actress. She was formerly the leader of the Cantopop group Cookies. She won the Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress in 2017 for her performance in The Empty Hands, and was nominated twice for the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress.

Stephy Tang
鄧麗欣
Tang in 2024
Born (1983-10-15) 15 October 1983 (age 41)
Occupation(s)Singer, actress
Years active2002–present
Partner(s)Alex Fong (2006–2016)
Prince Chiu (2018–2021)
AwardsHong Kong Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
2017 The Empty Hands
Musical career
GenresCantopop
InstrumentVocals
LabelsGold Label (2002–2011)
Neway Star (2011–2014)
Sun Entertainment Culture (2014–2016)
Supreme Art Entertainment (2017–present)
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese鄧麗欣
Simplified Chinese邓丽欣
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinDèng Lìxīn
Yue: Cantonese
JyutpingDang6 Lai6-jan1

Early life

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Tang is a Hakka of Dongguan ancestry, and is able to speak Hakka, Cantonese and Mandarin. She graduated from Buddhist Sum Heung Lam Memorial College and the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education's Department of Fashion Design.

She represented Hong Kong in volleyball since Form 1 mainly as a left wing spiker or libero, but gave up to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. In March 2015, Tang, who became a fashion label founder/owner (Loey), got sponsorship from the shop to reassemble a women's volleyball team, with herself being a left wing spiker as well as the captain and founder of the team (she cannot become a captain as a libero), and participated in an open-grade C-class qualifications, where it got a record of a win and a loss.[1] She then led Loey to play charity matches against Chinese National Volleyball team, and had trained in Taiwan against secondary school teams in late 2015.

Career

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Musical career

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In 2002, she started her singing career in the Hong Kong music group Cookies and became the lead singer. The main style of music from Cookies was teen pop. When Tang started her solo singing career, her record company, EMI, wanted a change to a more grown-up look and style. Some songs on her first album, Coloring Stephy, had a more mature and soft jazz influence than her previous music in Cookies. Generally, the album was widely heard and was popular, and it was certified Gold by IFPI Hong Kong.

She sang with Alex Fong in 「好心好報」, 「好好戀愛」, 「十分.愛(合唱版)」 (which won a Jade Solid Gold Award for the best duet in 2006), 「我的最愛」, 「重愛」,「七年」,「同屋主」and 「危城」. She also appeared on TVB's variety show Beautiful Cooking.

Tang's second solo album was Fantasy. The album had a total of five editions. One was a deluxe edition which contains a DVD featuring her music videos from this album. The only difference between the other four was the color themes of the album covers: red, yellow, blue, and green, which were four different themes for photo shoots.

Her third album is Dating Stephy. This album also features different covers, and a special edition was released three months after the original release. The album also sold as well as her previous two. There was no official announcement of the certification, as Gold Label Entertainment Ltd and EMI Music Hong Kong did not participate in IFPI Hong Kong. However, the newspapers announced that Dating Stephy has sold over 30,000 in one month, and it was at least Gold certified.[2]

In 2007, she performed at the S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Charity Gala at Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada with many other artists.

Tang performed her first headline solo concert, called "Stephy, See Thru Live 2007". It was held from December 7 to 9, 2007 at the Star Hall in Hong Kong. A live album was released featuring songs performed at this concert.

She also did a Mandarin version of "Breaking Free" from High School Musical with Anson Hu.

Tang released her new album The Red Album in November 2008. Some tracks in this album, such as "女兒紅", have led to media attention on the improvement in Tang's voice.

In July 2009, Tang published her first romance novel, Running Alongside Me (陪著我走). The book takes the form of a diary about a girl who has recently broken up with her lover. She goes on a cruise and writes about the things she sees and does. This book also includes 100+ pages of photos, making it a photo book as well.

In December 2009, Tang released her collection of "Greatest Hits" plus "New Songs" songs in a 2CD+ DVD Collection called 'Music Cafe' which includes four new songs, including Running Alongside Me, which served as the same name as her novel. The collectors edition comes with a mousepad featuring Tang's face that is available in two designs.

In 2011, Tang left her previous record company Gold Typhoon and signed to Neway Star as her new record label.

Acting career

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In 2002, Stephy Tang played the role of Kaka in Nine Girls and a Ghost, which starred the full Cookies team and Edison Chen. She also sang the song 不要離我太遠 for the film. The next year she performed in TVB drama series Aqua Heroes, which depicted a youth swimming team, and starred alongside Ronald Cheng in comedy film Dragon Loaded 2003.

Between 2004 and 2016, Tang played the leading roles in several films directed by Patrick Kong, most notably his "Love Quadrilogy" — Marriage with a Fool (2006), Love Is Not All Around (2007), L for Love L for Lies (2008) and Anniversary (2016) — which also starred Alex Fong as the leading actor.

Tang's portrayal of a Karate athlete in The Empty Hands (2017) saw a breakthrough of her acting performance, which earned her the Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress and a nomination for the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress. Her performance in My Prince Edward (2020) earned her second nominations in the Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award and the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress. She also sang the titular theme song for the film.

In 2020, Tang starred alongside Zeno Koo, Mirror and Error in ViuTV drama series We are the Littles. She portrayed Chiang Ka-yu, a veteran volleyball player-turned coach who trained a novice volleyball team to advance through the top league.

Personal life

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Tang and Alex Fong, her on-screen partner in films such as L for Love L for Lies, Love Is Not All Around, Marriage with a Fool and Anniversary, were in a relationship for 10 years. Their relationship was revealed by Mark Lui at his concert at the Hong Kong Coliseum in June 2013. However, on March 15, 2016, Tang and Fong announced the end of their relationship. In 2018, she announced to be in relationship with former JPM member Prince Chiu. Tang and Chiu announced the end of their relationship in 2021.

Discography

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Cookies

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Cantonese albums/EPs

  1. Happy Birthday (2002)
  2. Merry Christmas (2002)
  3. All the Best (2003) - first album as Mini-Cookies
  4. 4 Play (2004)
  5. 4 in Love (2004)

Karaoke albums

  1. Holidays (2002)
  2. Channel Cookies (2003)

Mini-concert album

  • 903 California Red: Eleven Fires Concert (2004)

Solo

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Cantonese albums

  1. Coloring Stephy (2005 August 5, 2nd ver:2005 September 28) (Certified Gold 25,000 units shipped in September)
  2. Stephy Fantasy (2006 March 28, 2nd ver:2006 June 5) (has sold 20,000 copies)
  3. Dating Stephy (2007 February 14, 2nd ver:2007 May 10) (has sold 35,000 copies in May)
  4. Stephilosophy (2007 December 21) (Certified Gold 20,000 units shipped in December)
  5. The Red Album (2008 November 27)
  6. Music Cafe (2009 December 23)
  7. No One Knows (2010 July 15)

Other Albums

  • 17 May 2006 - All About Women (金牌女兒紅) - Track 05 - Let It Flow, and Track 08 - 偏愛 (with Kary Ng (吳雨霏))
  • 14 June 2007 - Another Chivas Music Experience Concert Live - Track 10. 愛與痛的邊緣

Filmography

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Film

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Year English title Original title Role Notes
2001 Merry-Go-Round Herself Cameo
2002 Nine Girls and A Ghost 九個女仔一隻鬼 Ka Ka
2003 Feel 100% 百分百感覺 Cherie
Dragon Loaded 2003 龍咁威 Man Ching
Love Under the Sun Herself Cameo
2004 Dating Death 失驚無神 Lily
My Sweetie 甜絲絲 Chan Tze Keung
2005 Herbie: Fully Loaded Maggie Peyton Cantonese voice dub
2006 Marriage with a Fool 獨家試愛 Kwong Mei Bo
Love @ First Note 戀愛初歌 Amy
2007 Trivial Matters 破事兒 Cheung Ho Kei
Love in Macau 濠情歲月 Chu Yanhong
Love Is Not All Around 十分愛 Kwong Mei Bo
In Love with the Dead 塚愛 Luk Wai
2008 L for Love L for Lies 我的最愛 Kwong Mei Bo
La Lingerie 內衣少女 Ho Kei Miu
Nobody's Perfect 絕代雙嬌 Lam Fung Kiu
2009 Love Connected 保持愛你 Bo
Poker King 撲克王 Ho Siu Yung
2010 Just Another Pandora's Box 越光寶盒 Painted Skin Cameo
72 Tenants of Prosperity Wu Lei Yuk
2011 All's Well, Ends Well 2011 Arnold Cheng's Niece
Mr. Zhai 宅男總動員之女神歸來 Wen Rou
Summer Love Love 戀夏戀夏戀戀下 Herself Cameo
Let's Go! None Annie
East Meets West 2011 None Herself
Hong Kong Ghost Stories 猛鬼愛情故事 Phoenix Cameo
2012 Princess's Temptation 公主的诱惑
Love in Time 等,我愛你 Tina/Chi Ling
The Guillotines 在断头台 Red Devil
Bleeding Mountain 在山的恶魔 None
2013 Badges of Fury 不二神探
2014 The True Love 不愛不散
Hello Babies
Golden Brother 男人唔可以窮
2015 An Inspector Calls 浮華宴
Guia in Love 燈塔下的戀人
Anniversary 紀念日 Chung Ka Bo
Opus 1
2016 Special Female Force 辣警霸王花
L for Love L for Life Too 失戀日
2017 Paradox 貪狼
Kick Ball 仙球大戰
The Empty Hands 空手道 Mari Hirakawa Won Best Actress at HK Film Critics Awards & HK Film Awards
Husband Killers 女士復仇
2017 Somewhere Beyond the Mist Angela
2018 A Beautiful Moment 我的情敵女婿 Mrs. Chan [3]
2018 Lucid Dreams 八步半喜怒哀樂 Tung Tung [4]
2018 L Storm L風暴 Eva [5]
2018 Keyboard Warriors Or Chi-Nam
2019 The Invincible Dragon 九龍不敗 Fong Ning [6]
2019 My Prince Edward 金都 Cheung Lei-fong [7]
2022 Table for Six 飯戲攻心 Monica
2023 Shadows 殘影空間 Dr. Tsui Hiu-ching
Twelve Days 12日 Jeanie
2024 Love Lies 我談的那場戀愛 Joan

Television series

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Year English title Original title Role Notes
2002 Feel 100% 百分百感覺 Herself
2003 Four Songs, Wonder Tales 當四葉草碰上劍尖時
Not Just a Pretty Face 美麗在望 Herself Cameo
Aqua Heroes 戀愛自由式 Poon Siu Fung/Stephy
Hearts of Fencing 當四葉草碰上劍尖時 Herself Cameo
2007 Colours of Love 森之愛情 Yan
2011 Wind and Rain in Peach Blossom Town 風雨桃花鎮
2012 Chinese Traditional Magic 大戏法 Shen Xin Ping
2013 Towering Cannon 沖天炮
To Advance Toward the Victory Cameo
2019 Haters Gonna Stay 仇老爺爺 Senior student Cameo
2020 We are the Littles 男排女將 Chiang Ka-yu Main Role

Television Shows

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Year English title Original title Network Notes
2021 Littles Volleyball Games in Summer 力圖打排球 ViuTV [8]

MV Appearance (Actress)

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Year Title
2022 Dear Jane - "What Happened"
Dear Jane - "What Happened (Music Film)"

Books

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  • 2002 - Delicious Cookies
  • 2006 - 不要忘記 (Bat Yiu Mong Gei)
  • 2007 - Stephy & Alex 十分愛
  • 2008 - 我的最愛Stephy & Alex電影寫真
  • 2008 - 內衣少女電影小說 (La Lingerie Movie Novel)
  • 2009 - 陪著我走 Visual Diary (Pui Jeuk Ngo Zau)
  • 2009 - Heart Sweet 心甜

References

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  1. ^ 鄧麗欣組排球隊 殺入公開賽!
  2. ^ "Lo and behold". Malaysia Star. 21 Oct 2008.
  3. ^ "A Beautiful Moment (2018)". hkmdb.com. February 15, 2019. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
  4. ^ "Lucid Dreams (2018)". hkmdb.com. October 25, 2019. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
  5. ^ "L Storm (2018)". hkmdb.com. August 23, 2019. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
  6. ^ "The Invincible Dragon (2019)". hkmdb.com. May 16, 2019. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
  7. ^ "My Prince Edward (2019)". hkmdb.com. November 17, 2019. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
  8. ^ "Littles Volleyball Games in Summer". ViuTV. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
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