Chinese actress Vicky Zhao is going through a rough patch and she has to take on more jobs to collect funds to pay off compensation arising from law suits.
According to Chinese portal Sina.com, the 44-year-old actress and her husband Huang You Long tried to buy 50 per cent shares of a listed company Zhejiang Wanjia in 2016 via a company they controlled in Tibet Longwei. It was reported that their bid was said to have disrupted the market so in November 2018, the China Securities Regulatory Commission banned Zhao and her husband from securities market for a duration of five years.
The situation became worse for Zhao and her husband in 2019 when shareholders sued them for giving false statements. At last count, the actress had accumulated more than 500 suits that are now at the appeal stage, where she may end up paying 84 million yuan (SGD$16 million) in compensation if she loses the appeal. Insiders shared that Zhao, who shot to fame playing Huan Zhu Ge Ge in TV series My Fair Princess, had been diligently taking up jobs in the hopes of gathering more funds to pay off the compensation.
In the past, she would deny taking assignments that are perceived too small but it was reported that she has since changed her mind. Zhao recently joined Zhejiang Television’s variety show Everybody Standby.
Born on March 12, 1976 as Zhao Wei, Vicky Zhao or Vicki Zhao is a Chinese actress, businesswoman, film director, producer and pop singer. She is considered one of the most popular actresses in China and Chinese-speaking regions, and one of the highest paid actresses.
While studying at the Beijing Film Academy, Zhao rose to national and regional prominence overnight for her role as Xiao Yanzi (“Little Swallow”) in the hit TV series My Fair Princess (1998–1999), for which she also won Golden Eagle Award for Best Actress. My Fair Princess enjoyed unprecedented success in East and Southeast Asian countries, and Zhao is regarded by many as Mainland China’s first “national idol” since the economic reform began in 1978.
Over her 20 years acting career, Zhao has starred in many box-office hits, including Shaolin Soccer (2001), Red Cliff (2008–2009), Painted Skin (2008), Painted Skin: The Resurrection (2012), Dearest (2014) and Lost in Hong Kong (2015).
She has received numerous awards from the Shanghai International Film Festival, Huabiao Awards, Changchun Film Festival, Hundred Flowers Awards and Shanghai Film Critics Awards for films like A Time to Love (2005) and Mulan (2009). In 2014, after almost a two-year break from acting, she appeared in Peter Chan’s film Dearest, and won the Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award and Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress.