Slow Dancing With Karen Mok

As she celebrates 30 years in the entertainment business, Karen Mok talks about the crucial moments that led to her success, what the past three decades have meant to her, and why she might – at least on the surface – seem to be slowing down.

Photography Isaac Lam
Styling Kim Bui Kollar
Hair Derrick Ng
Makeup Ling Chang
Photography Assistants Jason Li, Ivan Ngai
Set Design Owen Lo
Gaffer and Lighting TK, Chung
Project Manager Alex Loong
Set Assistant Lai Tsz Chung, Haydn Yu
Management Earth Entertainment

What does it take to be hailed Queen of Asia? For someone like Karen Mok, who over the course of just one afternoon demonstrated to me her evident passion for showmanship and her singular determination to perfect it, perhaps a 30-year career filled with numerous accolades might suffice.

The truth is, Mok has long been celebrated as one of Asia’s leading female stars, her elevation to the ranks of entertainment royalty happening at a relatively early stage in her career. To those who’ve followed her throughout the past three decades and beyond, it comes as no surprise that the singer, actress and all-round entertainer had set her sights on show business as far back as childhood.

“I knew when I was three that I had to become a performer,” she tells me. “I didn’t know what it meant at the time, but I just knew I had to get up on stage in front of people and do something, whether it’s singing, acting, prancing around or whatever it is.” And that she did. While a student at Hong Kong’s Diocesan Girls’ School, she excelled not only academically, but also jumped at every chance she got to get up on stage.

“I’d perform all kinds of things, even as a small kid,” she tells me. “Throughout my school days, I took all kinds of opportunities to just perform. I was always participating in speech festivals and singing at music festivals. I’d play oboe with the school orchestra, I studied drama and Shakespeare – everything, you name it. I was outgoing in that way, and I just wanted to have fun.”

Her passion later earned her a scholarship to the incredibly scenic United World College of the Adriatic, near Trieste in Italy, where she took the opportunity to build a connection with the country and its people before heading for further study to the city that’s today her home base, where she completed her higher education at Royal Holloway, University of London. Back then, her prodigious talents had already established her as the go-to demo lead singer for Mark Lui, one of Hong Kong’s most celebrated Cantopop composers and producers.

During her university years, Mok’s love for performing spurred her to audition for a West End musical, which led to one of the most important decisions of her career. “One of the most defining moments I’d say would be even before I started in show business,” she recalls. “I was studying in London and my mind was set to go into showbiz. I thought because I was in London, maybe I should try my luck in the West End, so I auditioned for Miss Saigon. I ultimately decided not to go through with the role and came back to Hong Kong to sign a record deal, and I think I made the right choice. I felt, being Asian, there’d probably be more opportunities back here.”

How Mok’s career would have played out had she taken the role in the West End we’ll never know, but it’s hard to believe any other path would have taken her as far as she’s come today. Over the past three decades, she’s recorded more than 30 albums, starred in over 50 films and holds the Guinness World Record for performing a live solo concert at the highest altitude ever (a height of 3,650 metres, when she performed in front of 13,000 fans in Lhasa). Her many accolades include being the first Hong Kong artist to win Taiwan’s esteemed Golden Melody Award – she went on to win two more – and her movies span from Hong Kong household staples to Hollywood blockbusters.

But while she’s forged ahead full-throttle for the past 30 years, Covid has granted her a rare opportunity to step back and reflect on her priorities, which she tells me have now shifted – gratefully, she emphasises – towards her family.

“I’ve slowed down a little bit; I’ve forced myself to take it a bit easier,” she explains after looking back at the past three years that had very much put the world on hold. “It’s important to have some space for yourself and for your family. When Covid broke out I was already back in London with my husband. We figured, ‘OK, we might as well just stay put for a while.’ We stayed in England for nearly a year, and it was kind of refreshing for me to be able to sit back and relax for a change.”

As a reward for herself, she even took a whole year off in 2022, something you’d never have imagined the star doing before the pandemic. “Last year was amazing, because we were still in and out of lockdown, and we had this discussion for a long time about doing a road trip in Europe, so we figured it was the right time to do it,” she tells me with a gleam of excitement in her eyes. “We drove all around Europe for the whole year – it was amazing! So I’m glad I forced myself to just do something else rather than always working away.”

Although there’s no doubt Covid gave Mok the opportunity to enjoy a much-needed break, reassess her priorities and recalibrate her work-life balance, one can’t help thinking she hasn’t slowed down so much as simply become more efficient at doing what she does. Ask her about her plans to celebrate her 30th career anniversary and you learn about the myriad projects she currently has on her plate.

“Every day is like a celebration. I keep telling people this year is my 30th in showbiz – and every time I say it, it’s hard to wrap my head around it. That’s crazy – it all just seems like yesterday!” she says before telling me about shooting her latest reality show in the mainland. “I just did a TV show in China, Sheng Sheng Bu Xi, and it was really fun because the theme for this season is Taiwan. Of course, I was part of this period in Mandarin pop when everything was taking off and it was a very relevant force for the whole Chinese community across the globe. I was very fortunate to be part of that period, and so doing this show felt amazing. It felt like reliving a lot of the moments I had when my career was taking off in Taiwan, and I sang a bunch of my old songs, sang a lot of other people’s huge hits and collaborated with some of my friends. It felt really good.”

Television aside, she’s worked on a new feature film – to the delight of her fans, who haven’t seen her on the big screen since 2016 – and has plans for another live show, though she’s been told to keep her lips sealed regarding the details, as both projects are still at an early stage. Of course, there are also some new songs on the way, which she says should be released this summer alongside a multimedia exhibition, both in physical and digital form, that showcases some of her earlier work, as well as including never-before-seen photographs she took for a personal album. While she has no concrete plans for now, Mok tells me she also hopes to one day write and produce a musical, a format that’s eluded her since turning down the role for Miss Saigon.

“I still do love musicals, so the ultimate goal now for my career is to create an original musical from scratch dedicated to the Chinese audience and beyond,” she explains, after telling me her first love had always been music – though it must be on stage and live. “That’s why eventually I have to do a musical. Doing a musical really has it all: you’re acting, dancing, singing and you’re doing it live. That’s the ultimate thing for me.”

Outside of her creative endeavours, there’s also no shortage of roles Mok has taken on. Aside from her work with Unicef, the SPCA, the Animals Asia Foundation and Care for Children, she’s also recently become the cultural ambassador for the Chinese Italian Cultural Society, a responsibility she happily accepted given her affinity for all things italiano. She’s also joined the likes of Hins Cheung, Eason Chan and Niu Niu by becoming the latest artist to support the First Initiative Foundation (FIF).

“I wanted to support FIF because it’s all about promoting art and culture, which, being an artist myself, I think is immensely important,” she says. “It’s of utmost relevance, I also think, for a place like Hong Kong, which many have called a cultural desert and criticised for not having culture – and as I don’t agree with those sentiments at all we should be doing more to change people’s mindsets. For youngsters especially, it’s not always just about academics. It’s about developing as a person as a whole, and art and culture are very important in this regard. If I can give some support in this respect, I think I definitely should.”

After devoting three decades to mastering the art of performance in all its forms, there’s little question why someone as decorated and accomplished as Mok would want to wind down the pace at which she once so vehemently operated, and instead commit more of her time to her loved ones. But to suggest Mok’s momentum has slowed significantly would be a gross misstatement: she’s simply bloomed into a maestro of her domain, which she rules over with ingenious
efficiency.

(Header image: Dress, Self Portrait, Shoes, Jimmy Choo, Rings, Carnet)