Tavia Yeung Turned Down High-Paying Roles—31 Years in the Industry, 18 Award Nominations But No Wins

A film company once offered a million HKD (about 490,000 MYR) fee to Tavia Yeung to star in a Category III film. Considering herself conservative, she was not tempted but rather felt it was "crazy" (Cantonese, meaning insane).

In a recent interview on Hong Kong Commercial Radio’s 'Behind the Stardom', Tavia described herself as conservative. She debuted in 1995 by participating in the 14th New Talent Singing Awards. She said: “Back then, I chose not to join Miss Hong Kong and instead joined the New Talent competition, simply because I couldn’t accept the swimsuit segment in the pageant. Even at the beach, I wouldn’t wear a swimsuit.”

She mentioned that she had been approached by film companies offering high fees to persuade her to act in Category III films. “Some even asked me to do nude scenes, but I just thought they were crazy! Although someone offered a million in fees, I simply couldn't accept it. I may not seem like it, but I'm actually a very conservative person.”

Tavia Yeung was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the 44th Hong Kong Film Awards in 2026 for the film 'A Step into the Past', but ultimately lost to Angela Yuen in 'Farewell UFO'. Regarding missing out on the award, she said, “Of course, I thought I had a chance, but I wasn’t at all disappointed, because the whole thing was already a win for me.”

Tavia has been in the industry for 31 years, and over the years has been nominated 18 times at the TVB Anniversary Awards, but has never won. Thus, she no longer cares much about winning or losing awards. However, she admits she was especially disappointed in 2000.

In 2000, she starred in 'Armed Reaction II’ as the policewoman Chan Sam Yuen, who was raped. She was up for Best Actress at the TVB Anniversary Awards that year, but missed out on the award in the end.

She said: “Because the show had really high viewership, I felt that even if not for the role, the drama itself should've gotten an award. At the time, I was genuinely disappointed. After that, I told myself not to be disappointed anymore, because some things are simply out of your control, so I learnt to let go.”

On relationships, Tavia admits she has a “love-brain” personality. She had two past relationships within the industry, with Steven Ma and Kwok Jing Hung. Later, through learning about wine, she met her current husband Matthew, whom she dated for two years before marrying in 2013.

She said she once thought about having children after getting married, but although she doesn't have any now, she has no regrets. Speaking about the secret to 13 years of marriage, she noted that the key is honest communication and being her true self—making no reservations. “We’ve never stopped having fun. We do silly, fun things every day. As soon as I get home, I have to run up for a hug, even if friends are there, I don’t mind.”

As for her secret to dealing with negative emotions, she said: “People say I don’t seem to age, probably because I don’t remember unhappy things very well. Life is short—if you always dwell on unhappy things, it’s really not worth it. I honestly forget about such things very quickly.”