It's been a long time since we've heard from Nnadia Chan.
(TN: Apparently Nnadia changed her named to 'Adia' last year, removing the double n's.)
This time she comes back for the promotion of her new CD. Nnadia's
acting career started at age 14 and her personal life ended at age 14 as
well. In the past, her album had reached six platinum record sales
before, even more powerful than Alan Tam. But, she wasn't happy and felt
like a loner. "Aside from acting, I didn't know anything else. I was
like living with disabilities."
20 years later (year 2005), the
34 year old Nnadia decided to end her acting career and officially start
her personal life. "I gave all my LV handbags away because I really
didn't need them." Materials were actually a burden to her, she had to
get back to the basics in order to start her new life. In 2007, she met a
Mainland actor Zhang Ze, 8 years her junior. The pleasant way to label
this type of romance is "sister-brother love", but there are other
medias that like to be more fierce, calling her "old cow eating young
grass".
Nnadia: "God puts each person besides you for a reason.
When you find your other half, age is basically not a concern. Why
should I care about what others say?" Nnadia currently resides in
Beijing, over there, she doesn't feel like a loner.
Hold Out Hands And Ask For Money
Where
is Nnadia's home now? She didn't even pause to think of her answer,
"Must be with my lover. My home is where ever he goes!"
What a
heart warming response. Nnadia has never held back on expressing the
love she has for her husband. Zhang Ze is from Harbin (Northeast China)
and a graduate of Shanghai Theatrical Institute. Because of his
outstanding academic record, the institute hired him to be an
instructor. In the past years, he's been working both behind the scenes
and on-screen, when he met Nnadia, he was working on the Chinese drama
Blood Isn't Cold Yet (血未冷).
"His
parents are in the communist party, thus he grew up being educated
orthodoxically. At first, we really couldn't communicate. Of course, I
wasn't his dream lover. The only type of Hong Kong actresses he knew
were those like Vivian Chow or Rosamund Kwan. When I met him, I had
short hair, very much like a tomboy."
The man had a little
arrogance in him, but the woman was like who cares. Unexpectedly, the
thousand mile fate had already been destined.
"Perhaps because
he was a teacher before and has taken his students on a field trip to
Europe before. He has a lot of self-confidence and has his own
principles. Although I have more acting experience compared to him, I
did not know anything about drama theory and thus I liked to listen to
his theory talks. What part of me attracted him? I think its my simple
and pure character. He has so many students, what type of girl hasn't he
seen? I have never thought of myself to have any spot lights. The only
thing I knew how to do was to try my best to be an upright person."
The
local students studying drama each have their own goals, but
encountering a girl from HK, who actually doesn't have her desires or
demands, perhaps that is her spot light. The two had many common topics
and when they finally realized they were 8 years apart, it was too late,
they had already sank into the river of love.
"Due to the
living conditions, he matured and learned to be independent early. His
type is like a mountain, who would have known he was younger than me?
Just by the looks, he didn't look younger! When I found out he was 8
years younger, I sent out a signal of retreat and the worries of a
typical HK girl came right out: 'Men don't age that fast and they can
easily keep it well...' I said to him, I have to consider on whether or
not we should continue. He just said: 'I'm not afraid, what are you
afraid of?'"
After getting through her psychological gateway, she had to get through future mother and father in-law's gateway too.
"At
first, they really couldn't accept a HK girl and the fact that I'm
older than their son. But because my husband is the only son, they just
loved him too much. If their son liked this girl, then they could only
accept it. They aren't hard to get along with, but I definitely had to
spend some time to break the ice. I later realized honesty is the way to
go for anything. Just say whatever is in your heart, slowly they
understood whether I'm a '0' or '1' person, it really doesn't matter. We
currently get along very well. They moved to Beijing as well. When I'm
in HK too long, my husband would call me and say: 'My mom wants to say
she misses you, hurry up and come back!'"
Ever since the couple
got married in 2010, Nnadia's home was in Beijing. When her husband goes
to other provinces for work, she would put on her tennis shoes, grab
her backpack and follow him where ever he goes.
"It's not that
I'm trying to check on my husband. Instead, I believe a marriage needs
to be maintained. While at work, he needs someone to take care of his
food and lodging! I take care of his everyday life necessities. He takes
care of my brain."
Nnadia's husband knows she's clumsy woman,
so he taught her a special catchphrase: "Hold out your hand and ask for
money." (Say that in Mandarin)
"Actually, its
'ID-Cell-Keys-Money', meaning my ID card, cell phone, keys and wallet. I
just have to remember to bring these 4 items whenever I walk out the
door, then no matter where I go, I don't have to be afraid I can't make
it home!"
Nnadia emphasized several times that her husband was
the man God destined for her. Zhang Ze greatly loves and protects his
wife as well, even if he's filming in Dalian, he would fly back to
Beijing daily to see her. When she comes to HK for promotions, they
would talk via face time and it's always going to be her husband making
the calls. Consequently, Nnadia is more than willing to tone her jobs
down and stay in Beijing to be his housewife.
"All of my old LV
bags, I gave them all away. When it comes to bags, backpacks are
actually more useful. The only thing I kept was my Cartier wrist watch
because it still holds value. Living in Beijing the last several years, I
re-integrated myself. It turns out, people actually have to smash
themselves in pieces in order to grow up."
Still Felt Lonely
Nnadia's
story, only the latter half is filled with happiness. It turns out the
first half was all loneliness and sadness. At age 14, she participated
in the
Sally Yeh Impersonation Contest (part of Enjoy Yourself
Tonight) and entered showbiz from there. She signed a contract with a
record company and by the summer she became a singer. When she portrayed
Zhou Xuan in the 1989 TVB series
Song Bird, she was just 17 years old.
"Uncle
Siu Sang (1980s producer) wanted to find a female lead and found me
through my record company at the time. That time I was surprised myself.
I was at home making soup and dropped the soup ladle I had in my hand
from the surprise, then the soup over boiled and spilled all over my
thigh. Uncle Siu Sang saw me lying in the hospital with a pitiful look,
and gave me the Zhou Xuan role. I'm an Indonesian-Chinese, that time
China basically had no knowledge whatsoever, but you tell me to do it,
then I'll do it."
Her father is Indonesian and her mother has a
bit of Spanish blood in her family. She possesses the qualities of a
foreigner, she looked enthusiastic and simple. This face was rarely seen
in HK. Nnadia instantly became popular once she debuted, the
Song Bird OST reached 6 platinum record sales, which was more than Alan Tam's
Illusion Stage selling that same year.
"I
didn't know how to be happy, actually I was like a machine, operating
24 hours a day and didn't have any thoughts of my own. I watched the
movie
You Are the Apple of My Eye two years ago, but I didn't
have much feeling because I have never experienced that type of feeling
before. Once I debuted, I sang (Midnight Ten Minutes), then I was in
Song Bird, that was a lonely feeling."
Encouraged to Drop Out of School
Back
then, the young Nnadia didn't know she was feeling lonely, she just
knew she wasn't happy. She insisted to continue on with her education
and got into the Bible Seminary of Hong Kong, where she barely got
through 2 years of studies. The one who could see her unhappiness was
the university president.
"It was better in middle school, I was
just studying on one side and acting on the other. The feeling was
quite refreshing, but when I got to college, I started feeling
exhausted. Aside from studying and acting, I did not have a life. The
most disturbing was I insisted on not shooting kiss or bed scenes
because when I got back to school, my classmates would point fingers at
me. I really felt uncomfortable, but it wouldn't be professional for me
to drop out because of that. I just didn't know what to do..."
The university's president actually encouraged her to stop school and concentrate entirely on her acting career.
"I
was crying as I heard him say that to me because I thought he was
rushing me away, but the adult saw right through me. It was probably
because he saw the difficulties I had and I just wasn't aware."
Disabled Life
In 1993, Nnadia began working as a full-time actress. She was a female lead in several grand productions such as
Instinct and
Cold Blood Warm Heart.
"So
what if I'm the female lead? My daily life was completely disabled. My
water, gas and electric bills, I didn't know anything about them. I
didn't know how to apply for a credit card, I didn't even know how to
take the subway. That is not funny at all and not something to be proud
of."
Her manager arranged everything for her, but in fact that made her feel like a useless person.
"From
the start, I was just a student who mistakenly entered showbiz and
foolishly rolled through 10 years in the industry. Basically, I have
never really put my heart into acting. I didn't try, and taking a step
back was the right thing to do."
In 2005, there was finally a
turning point. She hired a new assistant, but the media reported she was
a lesbian and because of this, she had a fall out with her manager,
whom she had known for many years. It never rains, but it pours.
Eventually the tumor in her ovary came back to haunt her and she had to
go through surgery. When she recovered, her father passed away and
suffering all those impacts, she just couldn't handle it and decided to
leave [the industry].
"Since 1985 when I participated in that
singing contest until 2005, it was already 20 years. I was really really
tired. That year, too many unfortunate events happened. Since then, I
felt completely unsecured about my future, I didn't want any money, my
only goal was to leave HK. I could go to Taiwan, Singapore, where ever,
even Hollywood or Bollywood I would have been willing to go!"
She
didn't need to go to Bollywood, she had plenty of places to go in
China. Just as long as she finds the right direction, that would be for
life.
"Several years ago, I didn't cut my hair, didn't put on
makeup and didn't dress up. I just wanted to be an ordinary person as
much as possible. I wanted to be myself. One day I looked at myself in
the mirror again and realized how long my hair has grown out. I came to
realize that I finally didn't care about my image. It was that moment, I
had truly grown up."
2013, now at the age of 42, Nnadia finally knows how to discipline herself.
"At
present time, I'm ready for any combination in life. I still wait for a
good script, I could sing again, but whatever it is, family is always
in the first place."
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