Vivian Chow

Vivian Chow, a leading Cantopop performer, rose to prominence in both music and film from the start through the middle of the 1990s, only to step away from public life near the close of that decade after the relentless media scrutiny became too much to bear. She was born in Hong Kong on November 10, 1967, and entered the 1985 New Talent Singing Awards without taking the top prize, yet this participation opened the door to a position on the staff of Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) in 1987. Her first screen appearance arrived the next year in Heart to Heart (1988), which brought a nomination for Best New Performer at the 1989 Hong Kong Film Awards. Also in 1989 she issued her debut Cantopop album, Zhou Hui Min, and ventured into the Mandarin market a few years afterward via Liu Yan (1992). By roughly 1997 she had decided to abandon celebrity altogether, settling in Vancouver, Canada, to pursue a quieter existence removed from press attention.