So Hang-shuen

Biography

So Hang-shuen was a Hong Kong actress born on 8 October 1951. She grew up in the Sai Wan Ho area of Hong Kong Island and studied at Sai Kung Bay Government Primary School and Sai Kung Bay Chung Chun School. She joined the Sai Kung Bay Youth Association Drama Troupe with the encouragement of actress Cecilia Yip, then enrolled in the first TVB artist training course in 1971 and joined the station after graduation, participating in numerous television dramas. She was known for her superb acting and specialized in playing mothers in the 1980s, most notably in "Police Cadet" where she played the mother of Tony Leung's character despite being only eleven years older, and in "Looking Back in Anger" as a kind mother raising four non-biological children who is later killed by her adopted son. In 1996 she retired from acting and opened a vegetarian restaurant on Tong Choi Street in Mong Kok, later appearing in a few ATV dramas. In 2011 she returned to acting in the social crime film "Life Without Principle" playing "Sister Juan" and won Best Supporting Actress at the 31st Hong Kong Film Awards, though she could not attend due to illness and hospitalization. She suffered from diabetes for many years and was frequently hospitalized until she passed away on 12 June 2013 at Queen Elizabeth Hospital due to complications from a stroke, at the age of 61.