Kelly Chen talks about her new movie, Horseplay, and her career

an established actress and one of the biggest Canto-pop stars of the past two decades, has found herself going down an innocuous spiral of late.

Ever since she put her career on cruise control to focus on starting a family five years ago, the 40-year-old entertainer has been busy fielding persistent, albeit genial, inquiries about her personal life - as if that is the only interesting aspect of her persona.

She has been busy promoting , her first major screen role since 2008's and when I ask her to pinpoint the question she's encountered the most thus far on her promotion duties, she offers a conclusive response. "It's about my family. They like to ask about my sons. Every time, they'd ask - even though I have no intention to talk about them - and then people would think all I want to do is talk about them. The thing is, once the reporters have posed the question, I have to answer them, don't I?"

She pauses for a few seconds and, perhaps sensing a dash of irritation in her answer, goes on to clarify her stance. "Well, I mean, I'm fine with that. It's not a problem for me to answer these questions. It's just that I'm afraid the audience would think that I only want to talk about my sons. It's not my fault, really. It's just what the reporters ask. I'm afraid that my audience would be annoyed."

But why shouldn't feel irked? After all, the singer-actress has become increasingly particular about the film projects she takes on, and is more keen to talk about her choice of roles than, say, her two young sons (whom Chen, in true celebrity fashion, has given nicknames after Chinese shrimp dumplings and soup dumplings).

Chen believes that interesting female parts don't come around often in the male-dominated industry, which might explain why she has fewer than 30 acting roles - a low number for a star of her calibre - on her resume.