Donnie Yen’s daughter awarded scholarship to Berklee

Compiled by C. ARUNO and RAGANANTHINI VETHASALAM

THE daughter of martial arts star Donnie Yen (pic) has won a scholarship to study at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in the United States, China Press reported.

Jasmine Yen, 18, will be following in the footsteps of other big names who had studied at the college in Boston such as Taiwanese-American celebrity Wang Leehom and Taiwanese singer Ouyang Nana.

In a video uploaded on Instagram by her mother Cissy Wang, the family of four could be seen jumping for joy and hugging each other.

Donnie, who is best known for playing the titular character in the martial arts series Ip Man, later wrote that he was proud of his daughter’s unrelenting spirit in pursuit of her dreams.

He is one of Asia’s highest paid actors, having started his career in the Hong Kong show business.

> A doctor in Hong Kong, who gave up his medical career to pursue acting, has ended his 13-year stint with broadcasting company TVB, China Press also reported.

Marcus Kwok, 40, known for his roles in dramas such as Divas in Distress and the medical TV series The Hippocratic Crush, said his move from the medical field into entertainment was not easy.

However, he adapted to it quickly as he said he was used to moving around in his childhood.

“I’ve followed my parents and lived in many different places including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia. I had to adapt to a new environment every few years, experience new cultures and learn how to get along with different people.”

He had previously said that his income as an actor was much lower than that of a doctor but he had managed to get by without financial help from his family.

For now, Kwok said he is looking forward to the next stage of his life as an independent actor.

“Never be afraid of change. Always look forward to exciting times ahead,” he wrote.

Kwok graduated from Monash University as a doctor at the age of 24. He had worked at the Box Hill Hospital in Melbourne.

He took part in a Mr Hong Kong contest in 2009. Even though he did not win, it gave him a glimpse of the entertainment industry and he began to develop an interest in it.

Eventually, he returned to Hong Kong to spend more time with his parents where he began a career as an actor.

During his stint with TVB, Kwok took on 47 roles as a doctor, dentist and gynaecologist.

The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.