Steven Ma

Steven Ma Chun-wai (born 26 October 1971) is a Hong Kong actor and singer. In 1993, Ma won a record deal after winning first place at an annual singing contest in Hong Kong, later releasing his debut album, ''Lucky for Meeting You'' (幸運就是遇到你), that December. Not long after his singing debut, Ma joined TVB and began filming television dramas, later achieving fame through his supporting role in 1995's legal drama '' File of Justice IV''. Many of Ma's television works are critically acclaimed and are popular successes in Hong Kong, Mainland China, and Southeast Asia, he has starred in several popular TV series, most notably '' Healing Hands'' (1998), ''Return of the Cuckoo'' (2000), ''Where the Legend Begins'' (2002), '' Steps'' (2007), ''A Watchdog's Tale'' (2009–10), ''Ghost Writer'' (2010), '' The Life and Times of a Sentinel'' (2011), '' Storm in a Cocoon'' (2014) and ''Deep in the Realm of Conscience'' (2018). Ma currently holds the record for holding the most "Favourite Character" awards with a total of four recognitions. Ma's best known for his portrayals of historical characters in many period television dramas.

Early life

Ma was born in a family of "grassroots" background. He was raised in the Pak Tin Estate in Sham Shui Po and lived with his father, a bus driver, his mother, three older sisters, and one younger sister. He attended the Pak Tin Catholic Primary School and later the CMA Secondary School.

Music career

In 1993, Ma won first place at an annual singing contest in Hong Kong, also winning a record deal. He released his debut album, ''Lucky for Meet You'' (幸運就是遇到你), that December. To promote the album, his record label created the slogan "He's not Leon Lai, he's not Jacky Cheung" to describe Ma's singing talent, which caused their fans to criticise and badmouth Ma. However, when Ma's contract terminated, Warners did not want to renew their contract.

In 2013, Ma fought in the music scene and participated in the new song 《給媽媽的「倦」》 in the name [二牛」.

TV career

1993-2003

In 1993, Ma signed a per series contract with TVB and portrayed minor roles in various television dramas. In 1994, Ma was cast as the supporting character Dr. Stephen Chan Cheuk-yiu in the fourth instalment of the popular legal drama ''File of Justice'' series. The drama was a popular success, and Ma gained his first footstep into TVB series. His portrayal of the intelligent Kangxi Emperor, Hong-hei Emperor in the The Duke of Mount Deer (1998 TV series), 1998 remake of the popular wuxia novel '' The Duke of Mount Deer'' garnered even more interest from critics and producers alike, and Ma began earning leading roles.

In 1998, Ma filmed the ever-popular TV series, " Healing Hands", but unlike his carefree and sunny disposition Dr. Joe character in the said series, from 1998 until his mother's death, Ma was actually deeply depressed over the rapidly declining health of his mother, a cancer patient of 22 years. His mother's death in July 1999 totally devastated him. For months he isolated himself in his bedroom to deal with the pain of losing his beloved mother. Ma eventually put aside his pain to get on with his life. In 2002 he set up a publishing company, and in the same year he published the first of his book series of: Steven Ma's True Tales of Society with ''Why Suicide?'' (2002) followed up ''Steven Ma's Tales of Society: I Am the Patient's Family'' (2003).

Ma's portrayal of the historical figure Cho Chik in the drama ''Where the Legend Begins'' (2002) was both a popular and critical success. Following ''Where'' was the popular but critically mixed ''Perish in the Name of Love