Profile | How Hong Kong actress Carman Lee found fame in Condor Heroes on TV, then gave it all up

This is the 48th instalment in a biweekly series profiling major Hong Kong pop culture figures of recent decades. Few actresses embody the cultural zeitgeist of 1990s Hong Kong quite like Carman Lee Yeuk-tung. Her portrayal of Little Dragon Maiden, or Xiaolongnü, in the 1995 TVB drama series The Condor Heroes 95 defined a generation’s ideal of femininity in the wuxia fantasy world created by martial arts novelist Louis Cha Leung-yung, better known as Jin Yong. Her portrayal of the ethereal, sword-wielding nun who possesses qualities of loyalty and independence and an unbreakable spirit despite personal trauma was lauded by the author himself as the embodiment of the character he created. Now, 30 years later, she is still regarded by many as the best casting of a Cha heroine. Born Lee Wai-han in Hong Kong, the seventh of 10 children, Lee was raised in Kowloon’s Ngau Tau Kok Upper Estate and later in Sha Tin, where she attended Kiangsu-Chekiang College (Shatin). After dropping out of high school she joined Cathay Pacific as a flight attendant in 1986. Following a chance encounter with a talent scout, an early foray into entertainment saw her appear in a cameo role as Joey Wong Cho-yee’s classmate in the 1990 film Killer’s Romance. This was followed by a breakthrough shampoo commercial the following year. Filmmaker Tsui Hark then cast her in a speaking role in the 1992 anime adaptation The Wicked City – produced by Tsui and directed by Peter Mak Tai-kit – while she was still working her airline job. She changed her Chinese name to Lee Yeuk-tung partly at Tsui’s suggestion. Lee signed with Johnnie To Kei-fung’s talent agency in 1993 and acted in films that included Ringo Lam Ling-tung’s action epic Burning Paradise and Gordon Chan Kar-seung’s acclaimed police drama The Final Option (both 1994). Her big break came in 1995, when she was cast in the co-leading role of Little Dragon Maiden in The Condor Heroes 95, a small-screen adaptation of Cha’s novel The Return of the Condor Heroes, opposite future film icon Louis Koo Tin-lok. The role etched her into pop culture folklore and catapulted her to fame throughout Greater China. At the same time Lee was taking on several of her career-defining movie parts, such as her leading role opposite Lau Ching-wan in Loving You, the crime drama that Johnnie To repeatedly cites as the turning point of his career as a director, or her scene-stealing performance in the Stephen Chow Sing-chi comedy Forbidden City Cop (1996). In 1997, she took on the challenge of portraying three distinct characters in another Louis Cha adaptation, the TVB series Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils: the ethereal Wong Yu-yin, her cunning mother, and a celestial beauty. This earned her a best actress nomination in that year’s TVB Anniversary Awards. Lee’s other film appearances in this period included roles in Johnnie To’s popular firefighter thriller Lifeline (1997), Patrick Yau Tat-chi’s unconventional contract killer drama The Odd One Dies (1997), and Tsui Hark’s Knock Off (1998), in which she starred alongside Jean-Claude Van Damme as a fearless police officer. From elegant wuxia fighter to contemporary heroine, these varied roles showed Lee’s range and versatility and solidified her status as one of Hong Kong’s most accomplished actresses of the 1990s. Lee soon branched into mainland Chinese productions, making her TV debut in Home (2000) and appearing in Legendary Fighter – Yang’s Heroine (2001), where her portrayal of the spirited Eighth Sister became a fan favourite. Her dual role in Wudang (2003), as a noblewoman and a warrior, showed her martial arts prowess and led to her appointment as an ambassador of Wudang Mountain, the cradle of Taoism in China’s Hubei province. Yet in 2004, Lee stepped away from acting at the request of her businessman boyfriend Kwok Ying-chuen, whom she had begun dating in 1998. In the years that followed she underwent some personal trials: Lee’s decade-long relationship with Kwok ended in 2008, a year later her father died following a stroke, and she began to suffer from depression. “My mood was very bad. I lost my temper over even trifling things,” she recalled in a 2020 interview with the Post. “I couldn’t even handle my father’s funeral affairs. I felt I had no strength. “After taking drugs to lift my mood, I just stayed at home looking dazed all day. My mom told me to snap out of it. My doctor was afraid that I might do something stupid, like attempting suicide.” Lee highlighted the importance of having her family support her, which was what eventually allowed her to pull through. “In times of adversity, you have to mostly rely on yourself to overcome it,” she said. “But [your] family’s understanding is also very important. My mother and siblings give me a lot of support when I have difficulties in life.” At the invitation of TVB’s Eric Tsang Chi-wai, Lee re-emerged in 2014 in the drama series Never Dance Alone, about middle-aged women reclaiming their dreams. Her nuanced portrayal of a housewife earned three nominations for the StarHub TVB Awards. That year also marked her reunion with Koo for a zany cameo in the gigolo comedy 12 Golden Ducks that saw the pair send up their roles in The Condor Heroes 95 and delighted long-time fans. Lately, Lee has become known in mainland China for her fitness routine. Her sculpted six-pack abs, which she shows on her Weibo account, are the fruit of more than 10 years of self-discipline. A gym regular who has worked out three to five times a week for over 20 years, her fitness journey took a decisive turn during a work trip to China amid the Covid-19 pandemic, where two weeks’ quarantine in a hotel room became an unexpected opportunity for transformation. She packed her resistance bands and small weights, determined not to let isolation derail her routine. With little else to do she trained daily, and to her surprise, her long-hidden abs finally emerged. Today her rigorous two-hour workouts combine weight training for her core, glutes, arms, and back with endless sit-ups. Equally disciplined in her diet, she starts her day with a light breakfast – cereal or eggs with a banana to avoid sluggishness before training, followed by a post-workout lunch of yogurt and fruit. Lee, 58, is known for speaking up about the discrimination she faces as a single, childless, middle-aged woman. “It is crucial for women to remain autonomous, irrespective of their circumstances,” she was quoted by VN Express as saying during a speech she gave in Shanghai in 2024. “Even in solitude, one must sustain their zest for life and determination to thrive.” Want more articles like this? Follow SCMP Film on Facebook

Profile | How Hong Kong actress Carman Lee found fame in Condor Heroes on TV, then gave it all up

Actress got her big break in a Hong Kong TV adaptation of a Louis Cha wuxia novel, shone in a variety of roles, then quit acting