Don't think this weak and slender girl grew up in a heartwarming home with lots of love from her parents and elder brother. In fact, her life is the opposite. The family she speaks of is a broken one, her father continuously works and lives in Mainland, her mother works hard making a living in Hong Kong and her parent's relationship had issues. Perhaps its because Natalie was born passive, that she didn't follow the bad examples. Since youth, Natalie's wishes weren't to be good in school or to marry into a wealthy family, she just wanted a complete and heartwarming family.
"I never had a plan. I'm not like some people who have plans to become a lawyer one day. When I was young, I just wanted a nice home. Not my own home, but my parents' home. Some people say Heaven is fair, taking away something in your life, but then giving you back another thing."
"My mom always said I was pretty and always told me to go participate in Miss HK. The more she told me to do it, the more I didn't want to. I'm not doing it, I'm not doing it! Actually she was very happy that I became a model because she felt she had a beautiful daughter, and with that I should do something that can make money. My mom used to look very pretty as well, not sure if this was my dream or was it her dream. Kinda like she pushed the dream to me."
I believe, the current Natalie Tong, she can confidently tell her mother that she has become an artist that people will recognize when she's out on the streets, even if Mrs. Tong (Natalie's mother) is already in a far away place.
When Natalie won the Most Improved Actress award at the [2010 TVB Anniversary Awards], she said whatever she used to do, it was just a 'three minute passion', but now she truly likes to act and will start working hard to plan for the future.
"In the past, I felt I had the modern look. Later, they suggested that I shoot more costume dramas. The ancient costumes had helped me a lot because when we are all away from reality, we may see things differently."
Currently, Natalie just started shooting Lee Tim Shing's new series Detective Columbo, and is heavily used by the producer once again. This time, no only does she take on the lead actress role, but she will also develops a relationship with Wayne Lai's role.
Don't Have You, But Still Love You
It is not because Mother's Day was approaching that Natalie felt so emotional, but because she mentioned her late mother during the interview, and as a normal person would, tears filled up her eyes.
"I miss her every day. When I sleep at night, I would talk to her and pretend she can hear me! It's strange, when she is not here, I miss her severely and that's when I realize how much I really do love her. I only know that now though. In the past, we didn't have a good relationship. If she was still here, I may still be complaining about her.
In the past, my family had great financial difficulty. It was only my mother raising the family own her own. My brother was financially unstable, and my father, I haven't seen him for several years because he works long-term in Mainland. After I finished shooting Y2K at age 20, it was then I realized how bad our family was living. My mother had been trying to make a living all along, but that's how my mother is. She will not ask you to help her. When she can't handle it, she will go find something else to cover it and will never tell me about it."
Last Thursday (May 3rd), it was Natalie's birthday. Actually she should have celebrated, but it's not important anymore.
"Ever since my mom passed away, I never celebrated my birthday. Perhaps I'm different now, I want peace and quiet. On that day, I would get really emotional because I would think about my birthday is the day my mother gave birth to me and then many thoughts would run through my mind. So, I don't think its suitable for me to do any birthday celebrations. I don't want people to see me like I'm so happy, but then suddenly I get unhappy. So I want to spend the day by myself."
Grew Up Alone
Not only does Natalie celebrate her birthday alone, she spent most of her childhood alone as well.
"In the past, my thoughts were truly too childish. No one accompanied me at home, and it seems like they cared more about me when I'm not in school. It's because no one looked after me, no one would know if I went to school or not. Each day, I would sleep for over 10 hours and no one cared. When I was in elementary school, I went to the park to play alone after school and no one cared. I always thought to myself, why doesn't anyone care about me? When I was young, I wasn't sociable and didn't have many friends. I'm always eating alone, why isn't anyone playing with me? Why does everyone get to go on vacation and I don't?"
Natalie admitted her emotional development was much slower than the people her age. Perhaps it was after 4-5 years when she stepped into society and started working that she started to understand what type of person she really was.
"When I was growing up, there was no elders that taught me. I got everything from trips and falls. [For example], if I do something this way, people won't like it, then next time I won't do it that way. When I first entered TVB, I really didn't know how to treat my colleagues. Although I'm slow to get familiar, even if I don't know the person, I can still be very enthusiastic. Sometimes when I'm really happy, I would be like that and then get the wrong attitude. There are just too many, too many problems. This industry is very strange, sometimes I think of this person as a big sister, and I just don't know why I would really trust her and really want to tell her things, but in her standpoint, she only thinks of me as a regular friend. There were so many things I couldn't grasp, I couldn't feel it, and that would cause too many misunderstandings."
Close and Intimate Friend
With Amigo Chui, he is not simply just like a regular friend.
"We both have broken families. He really understands me and that may be because he thinks the same way I do. There was a period of time in the past that he really helped me a lot, but it is me, that didn't know how to handle the interpersonal relationship. Indeed, he has helped me a lot, but I really don't want to talk about him."
Kevin Cheng is a good senior in Natalie's heart.
"I collaborated with him in my very first TVB series. Up until now, we have been in over 7 series together. From being not familiar with him to....wah it seems like he's hard to get along with...to we can get along...he is considered a senior that watched me grow. He speaks very directly, "Hey you don't have a good reaction! Do it again!" Perhaps we are familiar with one another, so I had no hard feelings. I hope he speaks to me like that more often!
Actually, I really have to thank Marco (Law Wing Yin) too. He gave me a different role in every series. Before when I was in A Great Way to Care, my role was a woman who had a slight mental disorder and that got lots of reactions. The Confidant (Not released yet) is also one of his works too. The first time he asked me to be the Empress, which is such a serious role, but he still gave it to me. He has so much confidence in me, I really have to thank him because he just understands me too well. Also, Tim Gor (Lee Tim Shing), he created a very tragic role for me (A Fistful of Stances) and in another series, I play a dancer (currently shooting Detective Columbo). I have never ever imagined that I could be a dancer, but he gave the role to me. In the past, if you asked me to be a dancer, I would not do it. I would tell him I can't accept it, but now I would do it."
Prove a Miracle
Natalie's mother passed away in 2009, that is also the same year her elder brother defaulted due to losing in the stock market and the same year her father retired. She broke up with Amigo earlier that year as well. That year, Natalie was like a tragic character, similar to her role Ah Ngan in A Fistful of Stances.
"Before many people thought I just had a pretty face, a pretty girl that comes out with a smile. Because of this series, many people saw that I really act with my heart. When I was filming that series, perhaps I really experienced too much and in between, a lot of the plot was written for me, so I was able to naturally act it out."
This role won her the TVB "Most Improved Actress Award".
"It is the turning point in my life. I was really unhappy in the previous 2-3 years. I won the award because I accepted that series under such circumstances. In terms of my personal matters, I had a lot of unhappy events happening in life, and suddenly my career shed some light. I felt like I had some hope. I felt everyone felt differently about me and producers felt more confident to use me. I can do a lot of things with this career, and that is when I began to think of it positively."
"To a person that is in such withdrawal and lonely, being able to bring entertainment to everyone, that is like magic. All of my high school classmates, not a single one of them believed I could be an actress. Since I started being a model, they already believed that it was impossible for me to do this. Until I started being an actress and won the award, I received a lot of messages from my classmates, they said they never thought I could reach this level. I felt so touched."
In Natalie's childhood, she was alone and had no direction. When she was a teenager, she was again alone, tripping and falling as she grew up. As an adult, Natalie is still alone, but yet she's very proud of her achievements and has clear thoughts. In the last several years, Natalie has matured a lot.
A Strong Striving Heart
On cameras, Natalie's figure may seem like she gained 10 pounds, but she still looks slim. I thought she wasn't even 90 pounds.
"My mother is like that too. I am a 100 pounds! It's just I have small bones, and I don't get too fat. It's pretty ok because I'm healthy! In the past when I shoot series, I get dizzy. Raymond Wong is really afraid to be in the same series as me because I look like I already got a heatstroke even before we start shooting. That time, I really was a weakling. Three years ago, I collaborated with him for the first time, he bought me a can of Pocari Sweat and was always afraid I'll get dizzy. Last time when we were shooting Gloves Come Off, he did the same and brought me a Pocari Sweat. I told him I don't need it. I'm a lot better now. Actually I have been physically active all along, so it's OK."
In this world, there are big and fat people, people that are weaker, people that look like they are made of steel and people who are strong on the inside. Because of family inheritance, Natalie is definitely not going to become a fat girl, but rather an independent strong woman.
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