林小湛

简介

Alannah Ong was born in Macau in 1940 to a prominent military family; her father was the top graduate of the Army Officer Cadet School and was awarded a sword by the Japanese Emperor, later rising to the rank of lieutenant general and training at West Point. She began piano lessons at age five, and at nine her family moved to Hong Kong during the Second Chinese Civil War. She achieved the highest score in the Royal Music Board of Britain's Hong Kong examinations in 1959, then studied at the Royal Academy of Music in the UK, earning diplomas as a performer and professor. She returned to Hong Kong to teach music at New Method College, where actress Sylvia Chang was among her students. In 1967 her family emigrated to Canada following the 1967 riots, where she taught piano performance, pedagogy, and performance at Canadian universities. She also studied television, radio, and stage arts at Alberta Polytechnic Institute, graduating in 1973. She was a music professor at Mount Royal College from 1970 to 1973 and at the University of Ottawa until 1980. She joined the Canadian Department of Defence Band and became the first woman in the Canadian Army Band's history, performing at Rideau Hall (the Governor General's residence) before British royalty and foreign dignitaries, including performing at a state banquet for Queen Elizabeth II in 1977, for which she received the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal. At age 45 she began an acting career, appearing in commercials and television series in Canada and the United States. She returned to Hong Kong in 1987 to appear in the film "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World II" and later joined TVB, appearing in the sitcom "A Kindred Spirit" as the high school principal. She also founded a performing arts academy and taught social etiquette across all age levels from kindergarten to university.