Charmaine onscreen partners

(in alphabetical order)

Alex Fong

Dubbed the chinese Richard Gere, Alex Fong is one of the hottest (and most manly) actors around TVB. He exudes charisma and sexiness whenever he appeared onscreen; you’re forgiven if your mind starts to think naughty stuff about him. Anyway, love his chemistry with Charmaine in Life Begins at Forty; they certainly have intense sexual attraction going on between their characters (hey, after all LBAF is a story about men and their mid-life crisis).

There were rumors that their attraction transpired to real life when paparazzi caught them going out for drinks (for your information Alex already has a long time girlfriend, also a MHK). Alex remains friendly with Charmaine till now.


Benny Chan

They acted together 3 times; 1 movie and 2 television series. To be honest, I don’t fancy this pairing: I’m practically squirming at their kissing scene in Carry Me Fly and Walk Away. Look wise, they were a good looking couple but for chemistry… let’s just say that Benny lusty kisses ruined it for me.

Charmaine rumored beau – at one time they were even rumored to be engaged! Charmaine denied him as her boyfriend, which I think is true. Maybe they’ve a few casual dates but that doesn’t make him her boyfriend. Hate it when the reporters bring him up every chance they got (and it doesn’t help when Benny said those mushy stuff to promote himself).


Bobby Au

What?! Bobby and Charmaine?! This is the reaction from most people when they saw Bobby and Charmaine pairing up for Witness to a Prosecution 2. I agree; look wise they don’t match and they really lack chemistry in this series. They collaborated again in TVB telemovie Final Shot and this time the chemistry was better. I was actually rooting for Charmaine to choose Bobby (but the ending sucks).

Charmaine has always held an admiration for Bobby happy go lucky attitude in real life and even mentioned that she wanted her future husband to be just like Bobby.


Chilam (Julian Cheung)

I’m a Chilam-Charmaine (CC) fan ever since I laid eyes on them. Charmaine has partnered with Chilam a total of 4 times:

1. TVB series: Return of The Cuckoo (a.k.a. Macau Street) – their chemistry is so good that they won the best partnership award

2. Movie: Perfect Match – the producers were so impressed by CC performance in ROTC and cast them as lead. I love this movie!

3. Movie: Blue Moon – Perfect Match was a great success so they filmed a sequel (same cast, different storyline). Another good movie, but the theme was darker.

4. TVB series: Point of No Return – After 3 collaboration their chemistry keep getting stronger. A must watch for CC fans.

CC rumors always appeared on tabloid every time they worked together. So much news that even Anita (Chilam long time girlfriend, another MHK) often pay ‘surprise visit’ to Chilam during his filming with Charmaine. Of course they both denied having affair – Charmaine once said in an interview that she won’t be stupid and ruin her career by stealing another’s boyfriend. What can be sure was that CC relationship was very close during filming of the two movies – but their friendship cooled off a bit after that to avoid rumors. No matter what, Chilam-Charmaine rocks!


Gallen Lo

The same situation as Bobby-Charmaine pairing. Many complained Gallen was too old for Charmaine – but Zhi Tong (Gallen character) was supposed to be a lot more mature than Yuk Cham (Charmaine), so I kind of accepted their pairing. Nevertheless their love story was sweet. Gallen can work his magic with any actress. Love Zhi Tong, adores Yuk Cham.

Charmaine learned a lot of acting skill from Gallen – their relationship was sort of older brother and mentor like. Gallen has openly praised Charmaine improvement many times – he rooted for her to win the favorite actress award (but she lost to Liza Wang) and sees her as a potential fa dan. When Gallen marriage was on rocks, Charmaine and Jessica were rumored to be the third party. Gallen was extremely upset over the reporters’ allegation and denied having a third party in his marriage.


Gordon Lam

I have always regard their chemistry was much better in Crimson Sabre than Country Spirit. In Crimson Sabre, you know they can’t be together, yet you will want them to be together (much more when the other actress was irritating and annoying like hell). In Country Spirit, again their love was forbidden but you will dislike Gordon wishy washy way. And Joe Ma character was too good to be true. Well at least initially…

I must say that Charmaine owed her improvement to the experienced actors she worked with like Sunny, Gallen and Gordon. Charmaine was extremely grateful of these 3 actors in particular and regard them as her half-mentor. She was closest with Gordon – he was like her older brother and they actually lived across each other. Gordon laughed that in his career he only has rumors with two actress – Florence Kwok and Charmaine. Gordon brushed of the rumors with Charmaine as they are not each other cup of tea. Plus, he’s so tired from filming he have no mood to court girls! LOL…


Joe Ma

Charmaine character Shun Fung has a crush on Joe and later married him as a virgin widow (they thought he was dead). Later she fell in love with Gordon but “surprise surprise” Joe wasn’t dead and he came back to reclaim his wife. Initially I feel Charmaine should give him another chance but when his character begins to wallow in self pity, I really disliked him and think otherwise. However, he is a good man and even sold his blood to buy food and medicine for Charmaine (who was sick and pining for Gordon) when they escaped to the city after the war struck. They were paired up again in recently released Strike at Heart and this time it was the other way round – Charmaine pining over him. Average chemistry – not too memorable. Most importantly, I have another person on my mind.

Not much on real life info. Think they’re just normal friends.


Roger Kwok

One of my top three onscreen partner of Charmaine. Roger and Charmaine have sparks in their chemistry and it shone through in An Herbalist Affair. I love their tender but passionate kiss in the telephone booth; I still get butterflies when I think about it. Drools~ I really hope to see them get paired up again in the future – I have enough of Lo Por Chai (their chemistry was great, but TVB went overboard and hard sell this for so long! Just like seeing Bowie and Gigi acting intimate EVERY chance they have after their success in WAB. Come on give me a break!)

Roger was well known to be a Mr. Nice Guy and friendly with his partners. When Charmaine was hospitalized after her car accident, he went to visit her a few times.


Sammul Chan

Look wise, they were pretty cute together onscreen to the point of near mushiness. A funny and a bit mismatch couple in White Flame (Sammul debut as leading actor) – I like it when they argued their way to friendship, then love. However, their chemistry was just average in here. Nothing too outstanding. In PONR, Sammul acting has improved and this time their chemistry was better. Plus, Sammul character was too good to be true – guys like him have gone extinct in this world a long, long time ago. Except for his role as Vincent in Survivors Law, this is his best performance to date.

Sammul is a nice guy and he treats ladies kindly. Charmaine was injured during filming due to road accident and Sammul was very helpful to Charmaine as she has to wear neck braces. Charmaine praise Sammul as a kind person and always make her happy.


Stephen Au

Right now I totally head over heels with this pair (however, CC will always be no.1)! Stephen was not your conventional handsome actor, but he was attractive in his own way. Even though he wasn’t handsome, he own a great body (he knows martial art) and he’s intelligent (he knows a great deal of literature and often directs and participate in stage theatre). They were briefly paired up in WTP2 and Angels of Mission. The first being funny, the second was attractive. I rooted for Wallace and Fa in AOM therefore I look forward to this pair in SAH. They didn’t disappoint me. I love Thirteen – Siu Keng in Strike at Heart. Tragic and memorable…

Stephen was friendly with most of his co-actress. In fact, he was very close with Charmaine best friend, Sonija. In an interview Stephen acknowledged Charmaine as a talented actress (thanks to Stephen Au superfan CarlaVidaAmor for providing me with Stephen’s detail). I’ll definitely want to see them working together again.


Steven Ma

Ah, a lot of people swear being Steven-Charmaine fans after watching Perish in the Name of Love (PITNOL). That excludes me, not because their chemistry was lacking – but my opinion on this couple was shadowed by ROTC. You see, I rooted for Chilam in there but Steven character Lai Soon get in the way and stole Charmaine away! GRRRRRR! You can see how emotional I get when I mention this. Therefore I’m a bit biased of this pair in PITNOL. The name Lai Soon keeps repeating itself in my mind whenever he appeared.

Steven and Charmaine were great friends. Why I said ‘were’ instead of ‘are’? Remember the incident where Steven claimed to have dated Sonija during filming PITNOL and Sonija denied this – they went on arguing in front of the press? Well, Charmaine backed up Sonija defense and though Steven said he doesn’t blame Charmaine, somehow I think their friendship has been affected by this incident.


Sunny Chan

A picture means a thousand words. And the ones above show you how close and perfect this pair was onscreen. They were once regarded as the golden couple before Sunny left TVB. Their numerous kissing scenes in Detective Investigation Files 4 were enough to make you melt. Those occasional pecks, long tender kiss and some VERY passionate ones as well. Mmmmmm… Plus Sunny Chan was a real hottie back then. He still was, but somehow Sunny has aged considerably (he look tired in SAH). And did I mention he has sexy lips?

I want another Sunny-Charmaine series! Charmaine acting was raw (FFOSM and DIF4 was among her earliest series) therefore their chemistry wasn’t fully explored. Imagine Charmaine current polished acting skill in those roles. Delicious…


Honorable mention:

Michael Tong

A honorable mention must go to Michael Tong, whose character seem perpetually after Charmaine in every series or movie they acted together. His character in ROTC, PITNOL and Perfect Match always have unrequited feelings for Charmaine. In ROTC as the rebellious cousin, in PITNOL as Steven best buddy and in Perfect Match as her fiancé. Ironically, in these 3 production he loses either to Chilam or Steven. I do not remember this but was Michael her boyfriend in Blue Moon?

Michael was another TVB most underrated supporting actor. He certainly has improved in his acting but he was often stuck with those dumb roles (does Family Man, Riches and Stitches and TCTU ring a bell to you?).


Mark Kwok

Another honorable mention goes to Mark Kwok, this time the other way round because he was stuck playing the first class jerk. Those really good looking but rotten to the core type of character. The only good role was in Time Off were he acted as Charmaine husband (this was also Charmaine debut role). In An Herbalist Affair again he was Charmaine husband but this time he’s the biggest jerk on earth. In upcoming series Food for Life he will again dump Charmaine character. Why oh why?!