Nam Hung

Biography

Nam Hung, born So Shook-mei in 1934 in Shunde County, Guangdong Province, is a Hong Kong Cantonese opera actress, film actress, singer, and television actress, and the wife of the renowned director, screenwriter, and actor Chor Yuen. She is the daughter of the famous singer and actress Chan Jin-na. Introduced by her mother, she became a disciple of the celebrated opera performer Hung Sin-nu, who gave her the stage name "Nam Hung." She also studied Cantonese opera vocal techniques under Wong Yuet-sang. She began her film career in the 1950s and became a movie star in the 1960s, joining the Guangyi Film Production Company alongside Ka Ling and Kong Suet as one of the "Three Leading Ladies of Guangyi." She co-founded the Qing Hong Jia Opera Troupe with Yee Kar. She appeared in over one hundred contemporary films and more than a dozen opera films, including notable works like "Twelve Rails and Twelve Hairpins" (1964) and "The Red Plum Blossom Revisited" (1968) with Connie Chan. She also sang theme songs for various films. She was one of the "Eight Peonies" of Cantonese opera, known as the "Green Peony." As Cantonese-language films declined in the mid-1970s, she transitioned to television, working with RTV, TVB, and ATV, where she became known for playing virtuous wives and mothers in series like "The Bund," "Glittering Days," and "The Radio Tycoon." She retired from acting in 1998 but made occasional appearances, including accompanying her husband at the 37th Hong Kong Film Awards to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018, and performing in a Cantonese opera show in Bangkok in 2025.