Charmaine Sheh’s journey from 90s pageant contestant to TVB queen

The pageant also gave rise to several big-name actresses in the 1990s. Along with 1993 Hong Kong Film Awards best newcomer award winner Anita Yuen, 1997 Miss Hong Kong second runner-up Charmaine Sheh stands out as one of the most prolific actresses of her generation.

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Having spent the past decade in mainland China and landing iconic roles in some of the most-watched television dramas in recent years, Sheh found herself at the centre of the Hong Kong entertainment scene once again with the recent TV hit The Queen of News. Her role as a fierce television news anchor landed her a best actress award at the recent TVB Anniversary Awards on January 14. She’s the first to win the accolade three times, per 8 Days.

Sheh has come a long way since landing her second runner-up title at the Miss Hong Kong pageant. Though she was a graduate of the International Hotel Management Institute Switzerland, Sheh signed a contract with TVB soon after competing at Miss International 1997.

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She was given many opportunities to star alongside lead actors, including Julian Cheung in the 2000 drama Return of the Cuckoo, where she played a young, optimistic woman in the coming-of-age story. The role confirmed her natural knack for acting, and she went on to take on a diverse range of roles.

But what really catapulted her to fame was her takes on various characters in several palace-themed dramas.

In the 2009 drama Beyond the Realm of Conscience, Sheh portrayed a kind-hearted palace servant. The role caused her popularity to skyrocket not only in Hong Kong but across Asia, and laid the groundwork for her subsequent success playing various palace characters in dramas produced in China.

At the height of her popularity, Sheh played Hoifa-Nara Shushen, Consort Xian to Qinglong Emperor, in Story of Yanxi Palace. The show’s single-day 530 million views set the record for the most-watched television show in China in 2018, and it pulled in a total of 13 billion views for its 70 episodes. Netflix subsequently picked up a short-lived six-episode sequel, though Sheh was not a part of that production.

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At age 48, Sheh is at the height of her popularity and regularly appears in magazines and at events, modelling the season’s hottest fashion and jewellery designs. At the recent TVB Anniversary Awards, Sheh wore a black strapless gown and Louboutins, accenting her look with jewels from Harry Winston’s Cluster collection and the jeweller’s Ultimate Emerald Signature timepiece.