Last year, Charmaine Sheh beat out all of TVB’s ‘siu sangs’ and ‘fa dans’ to be the ‘Queen’ in the earnings department – that year, she earned over 10 million HKD. Looking at hear earnings so far heading into the new year 2010: Charmaine just returned from a $1 million HKD gig in Malaysia shooting a commercial for a beauty products company. Also, during the Lunar New Year holiday, she took over for actress Carina Lau as the spokesperson for fashion label Wanko, earning another 7-figure sum. With all the money that she has made so far in the new year, Charmaine smiles and says: “The first 2 months were a good start due to the 7-figure commercial – hopefully the trend will continue…it would be best if there is one of these types of commercials a month!”
Endless commercials:On the day of shooting for this particular fashion label commercial, it was extremely cold; wearing a thin, short-sleeved dress from the label’s spring collection, Charmaine was constantly shivering, to the point where prior to the shoot, she had to rely on a portable stove to keep warm. However, once the shoot officially began, Charmaine completely forgot about the cold and become very energetic – jumping and skipping around (though she was wearing high heels) as instructed. The shoot turned out so smoothly that even the label’s owner Mrs. Cheng – who was present to help supervise – complimented Charmaine’s performance, commenting that no matter what type of attire she is wearing, she is able to bring forth the special qualities of the outfits. In response to this, Charmaine said: “This time, wearing a ‘career woman’ dress suit was quite unique, as I don’t usually get a chance to wear this type of outfit. I remember when I was younger, whenever I went shopping and saw a suit, I always wanted to buy it because it looked so professional – I never got the chance to experience putting on a dress suit and going to work like other OLs in Central. In terms of the types of outfits I like to wear on a regular basis, I actually prefer casual – a pair of jeans and a T-shirt made of comfortable material. Add to that a pair of glasses and no makeup, and I’m all set.”
With leading role in the highest rated series from last year <
> plus her status as top earner in the area of commercials throughout the year, it can be said then that her status as the ‘#1 fadan’ in television is safe and steady. To this, Charmaine replied: “What is considered ‘#1 fadan’? In my opinion, Liza Wang is the #1 fadan in TVB – she is the ‘Treasure of the Stage’ after all! Actually, I don’t view fame and fortune very heavily, which is why I never put any unnecessary pressure on myself by wondering whether I can become ‘#1 fadan’ or whether I can be the highest earner or whether I would get a certain award. The goal I have for myself is not very ambitious – I just hope to be happy every day and be able to smile when I go to sleep…of course, in order to make a living, earning money is important – plus I need to rely on myself, since there isn’t anyone to ‘take care’ of me!”
Doesn’t Care About Boyfriend’s Financial Background
With the fame and fortune she has currently, it seems that being able to find a man who can ‘match’ her financially will be more and more difficult – is she afraid that men will be afraid to court her? Laughing, Charmaine replied: “I don’t know. First of all, the guy wouldn’t tell me anyway [if he were afraid] and second, I would never ask a guy if he is afraid of me. I feel that one of the important things in choosing a partner is whether we have things in common and are able to get along as well as how happy and comfortable we are with each other….I don’t look at how much money he has. I believe that there aren’t that many people who, when they die, are concerned only with how much money they have in the bank rather than their loved ones. In addition, I would never use the criteria of whether the person ‘matches’ me or not because it’s so subjective – you may think he matches, others may feel he does not…the most important thing is that the two are able to communicate well – after all, the relationship is forever!”
Charmaine has been working non-stop recently – after filming for <> wrapped, she is currently busy with the new series <>; in addition she will be filming a series with actor Raymond Lam shortly plus a mainland China series that she just accepted. With so much going on, there has been barely any time for her to take vacation or rest, let alone seek out a ‘good man’. Smiling, Charmaine commented: “My upcoming schedule is very jam-packed – based on calculation at this point, I won’t have time to rest until October at the earliest. Therefore, at this point in time, if you were to ask me what I want most, I would tell you that I want to have a vacation so I can rest and enjoy life. I really want to find someone to accompany me to Greece for a trip – one of my girl friends said that if she is able to accommodate with her schedule, she would come. I’m also planning on taking a month off to go back to Hawaii to visit my mom. There are different stages in life – when I first started in the work force, I was young and career-driven, so the focus is on continuously working without regard for anything else…it’s also a time to work hard and take advantage of every opportunity possible to move forward – therefore, I was so focused on trying different things in my career that I was not able to see anything outside of that. Now, more than a decade later, my attitude has changed – there’s more financial stability and I’ve found a ‘rhythm’ that works for me, so there is more focus on my surroundings as well as the people around me (my family). In addition, the year before, my mother went through a very serious illness, to the point of her heart almost stopping, which caused me to reflect and decide that I want to spend more time with her. Throughout all these years, my mom has always allowed me a lot of freedom to do my work and has never complained – therefore, these past few years, I always take at least 1 month off to go back to Hawaii and be with my mom as well as meet up with my brothers. I cherish these moments that I’m able to be together with them – in terms of the company (TVB), they have been quite understanding and have always tried to accommodate as much as possible.
Buying A Car
In terms of plans to buy a car or a house, Charmaine expressed: “I’ve been so busy lately, but recently I did have a chance to buy a car that I liked. Since I didn’t have much time, I only looked at the model of the car in a catalog but never actually saw it in person. In fact, the day I bought it, I left the keys to my old car with the security guard at work and had the car salesman drive the new car over to the parking lot. After picking up the key to my old car from the security guard, he helped to unload the stuff in my old car and put it in the new car, then drove the old car away. This way, after I got off work, I was able to drive my new car back home. Of course, if I were to buy a house, I wouldn’t be able to do the same thing, as it is important to go inspect the house in person.” Wow, Charmaine has been so busy that she doesn’t even have time to go down to the car dealership to buy a car – in a sense, it’s a good thing, as it’s proof that she is definitely earning good money.
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