Biography for
Anita Mui More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

10 October 1963, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Date of Death

30 December 2003, Hong Kong, China (cervical cancer)

Birth Name

Mei Yan Fang

Nickname

Madonna of Asia

Height

5' 6¼" (1.68 m)

Mini Biography

With a career that began in her early childhood, Anita Mui is the queen of Hong Kong's pop-music industry. After she won a singing contest in 1982, her life in the limelight began. In the early stages of her career her image was a little bit tomboy-ish and sexy (which was the reason she was called the "Madonna of Hong Kong"), and some of her songs were considered too risqué, with one of them, "Bad Girl", actually being banned for airplay due to its suggestive content. She started her acting career at about the same time, usually starring with Anthony Chan in such films as Huai nu hai (1986) and Yi qi liang fu (1988). Other acting partners included Jackie Chan and Leslie Cheung. Both her singing and acting careers were a success. She won an enormous number of "Best Female Singer" and "Most Popular Female Singer" awards in the 1980s, and her acting career's climax was winning "Best Actress" awards (Golden Horse Award and the inaugural Golden Dragon Awards in Taiwan, Hong Kong Film Award, and the Pan-Asia Pacific Film Festival) in 1987 for Stanley Kwan's "Rouge" Yin ji kau (1987). In the early 1990s she announced her "half" retirement from the singing industry. However, by popular demand, she continued to record albums and to act in movies, and by 1994, she engineered a full comeback to great critical and popular acclaim.

She passed away from cervical cancer on December 30th, 2003. Many of her friends were with her in her last hours.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Angie "Cougar Walk" Lau Update by: TCF; Update by FSY

Trivia

At one time was called "The Ugly Queen of Pop".

Spoke Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese, and some English.

Did her own dubbing for the Mandarin version of her movies earlier in her career.

Sang the Mandarin version of her songs for the Mandarin version of her movies. Usually, most of the songs in the Mandarin version of HK movies were the original Cantonese ones.

Sister of Ann Mui.

In 2003, she announced that she had cancer of the cervix and was determined to fight it but sadly only survived until the end of the year.

Was set to play the rebel leader Nia in Shi mian mai fu (2004) at the time of her death. Out of respect, the role was not recast and the character only appeared in one scene, played by an actress with a similar body type to Anita's, whose face was covered. The film was also dedicated to her.

Personal Quotes

"Instant shining is not eternity. Show business is a hard life. I wonder how many people will remember me after I leave the business for good. My hope is that when they feel bored and look at the stars in the sky, people will think of my name."

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