Kayi Cheung (; born on 18 November 1983) is a Hongkonger-Canadian model and

beauty pageant A beauty pageant is a competition in which the contestants are judged and ranked based on various physical and mental attributes. Per its name, beauty pageants traditionally focus on judging the contestants' physical attractiveness, sometimes sol ...

titleholder who was crowned Miss Hong Kong 2007 and 1st Runner-up of the Miss Chinese International 2008. She also received the Miss Vitality Ambassador award. Cheung had said her goal is to become a successful programme host and to promote healthy living. Cheung is best friends with

Tracy Chu Tracy Chu Tsin-suet (born 28 June 1988) is a Hong Kong Canadian, Hong Kong-born Canadian actress, television presenter and barrister. Chu debuted in the entertainment industry through the Miss Hong Kong Pageant in 2012. In 2015, she won the Mo ...

, Roxanne Tong,

Angel Chiang Angel Chiang (; born November 10, 1989) is a Hong Kong actress contracted to TVB. Career Angel Chiang went to school at Yan Chai Hospital Lim Por Yen Secondary School. In 2007, she became a TVB artiste after entering the TVbeople talent competi ...

and Jennifer Shum.

Early life

Cheung was born on 18 November 1983 in

British Hong Kong Hong Kong was under British Empire, British rule from 1841 to 1997, except for a Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, brief period of Japanese occupation during World War II from 1941 to 1945. It was a crown colony of the United Kingdom from 1841 ...

with family roots in

Chaozhou Chaozhou ( zh, t=潮州), alternatively Chiuchow, Chaochow or Teochew, is a city in the eastern Guangdong province of China. It borders Shantou to the south, Jieyang to the southwest, Meizhou to the northwest, the province of Fujian to the east, ...

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

. She was educated at David Thompson Secondary School and graduated from

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

and

Chinese University of Hong Kong The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a public university, public research university in Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong. Established in 1963 as a federation of three university college, collegesChung Chi College, New Asia Coll ...

. At the age of 9, her family moved to

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Pageant career

In 2005, Cheung entered the

Miss Chinese (Vancouver) Pageant Miss Chinese Vancouver Pageant (Chinese: 溫哥華華裔小姐競選), also known as MCV and formerly branded as Miss Chinese (Vancouver) Pageant, is an annual beauty pageant organized by Fairchild TV that selects Vancouver's representative for t ...

but she did not make the Top 3. However, she captured the Miss Vivacious Beauty award. She hosted What's On on Fairchild Television until April 2007 when she returned to Hong Kong as an overseas contestant in the

Miss Hong Kong Pageant Miss Hong Kong Pageant (), or Miss HK () for short, is an annual beauty pageant organised by local Hong Kong television station, TVB. The pageant was established in 1946, and acquired by TVB in 1973. Regulations Recruitment All participants ...

. Cheung was not a favourite to win, and was not considered a contender. When she was announced as the winner, the reception by the audience and the public was very controversial. What followed was massive criticism totally unseen in Hong Kong pageant history. The media and the public severely bashed Cheung for being one of the least beautiful Miss Hong Kong winners ever. TVB, the organiser of the pageant, claimed that the onstage performance on the final night was just part of the game and that Cheung had shown very strong communication skills when meeting the judges before the final, which might prove decisive. The public were not convinced, and insisted that Cheung's win was fixed. The bashing continued to the point that there were informal polls among internet fans on whether there should be a re-election of Miss Hong Kong 2007. Nevertheless, Cheung handled the pressure gracefully and remained calm and composed whenever she was asked about all the harsh comments made on her looks. Cheung competed in

Sanya Sanya; Chinese postal romanization, also spelled Samah is the southernmost city on Hainan Island, and one of the four prefecture-level cities of Hainan, Hainan Province in Southeast China, South China. According to the Sixth National Populati ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

for the

Miss World 2007 Miss World 2007 was the 57th edition of the Miss World pageant, held at the Crown of Beauty Theatre in Sanya, China, on December 1, 2007. Taťána Kuchařová of the Czech Republic crowned Zhang Zilin of China as her successor at the end of ...

pageant in December 2007. In the pageant she made history by becoming the first Miss Hong Kong to win the

Beauty With A Purpose Julia Evelyn Morley (née Pritchard; born 25 October 1939) is an English businesswoman, charity worker and former model. She is the chairman and CEO of the Miss World Organization, which organizes the Miss World and Mister World pageants. Sh ...

award, based on her charity work for the "Wai Yin Association", a charitable organisation set up by a group of former Miss Hong Kong winners/participants since 1982. Cheung tied with Miss Ecuador,

Valeska Saab Valeska Alexandra Saab Gómez (born 7 May 1984) is an Ecuadorian charity worker, model, and beauty pageant titleholder. The 2005 ''Miss Maja Mundial'' title holder and, with Kayi Cheung from Hong Kong, the 2007 Beauty with a Purpose Challenge ...

for the award, so both advanced to the semifinals automatically. She is the first Miss Hong Kong to make the semi-finals since Pauline Yeung in 1987. The Miss World 2007 title went to Zhang Zilin of the People's Republic of China. In January 2008, Cheung went on to compete in the Miss Chinese International 2008 pageant where she was met again with the same criticism and was not expected to win despite being the host delegate representative. Again she broke all odds and became 1st runner up. This was again criticised as being the result of TVB's "help."

Post TVB Career

In 2022, Kayi and her family permanently moved back to Richmond, BC to work on obtaining her real estate license. At the beginning of 2025 she announced that she was kick starting her career as a realtor and has recently shifted her social media focus to selling homes in the Greater Vancouver area.

Filmography

Films

*''72 Tenants of Prosperity'' (2010) *''I Love Hong Kong 2013'' (2013)

TV series

Kayi Cheung at chinesemov.com
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References

External links

Kayi Cheung's Official Blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheung, Kayi 1983 births Living people Hong Kong emigrants to Canada Hong Kong film actresses Hong Kong female models Hong Kong television actresses Hong Kong television presenters Hong Kong women television presenters Miss Hong Kong winners Miss World 2007 delegates Naturalized citizens of Canada TVB actors University of British Columbia alumni