Cheng Chor-heung was born on 21 August 1942 under the name Cheng Mui-mui and is a native of Chaoyang, Guangdong, an actress of Chaozhou opera and Teochew-language film. She moved to Hong Kong in the early 1950s and in 1953, aged eleven, was accepted into the Xintiancai Chaozhou Opera Troupe as a huadan trainee, studying under Cheung Muk-chun alongside Chan Chor-wai. Early in her career she dubbed Chaozhou songs for Amoy- and Cantonese-language films, later moving from the recording studio into the film studio as Teochew-language cinema took off. She made her screen debut in 1960 in a picture produced by Donghai Film Company, and went on to star opposite Chan Chor-wai in two Xintiancai opera films, The Stepmother (1960) and The Chaozhou Female Top Scholar (1962). In 1961 she was invited by Thailand's Zhong Yizhixiang Chaozhou Opera Troupe to tour with the Hong Kong performer Wong Mei-ling. In 1963 she joined the Lingdong Chaozhou Opera Troupe at Hsi Kin's invitation and performed in a tale of the upright official Hai Rui; that year and the next she also appeared in The Story of Liu Yuniang (1963) and Four Appeals (1964), the latter sharing the stage with Chan Chor-wai and Cheung Ying-yin. Teochew-language films were popular in Hong Kong and among overseas Chinese communities in Southeast Asia in the 1950s and 1960s, when Xintiancai and Dongshan were the two leading companies, and she was part of that wave. She later took part in stage productions by troupes such as Xintiancai and Lesheng, her career spanning both the opera stage and Teochew-language cinema. Her husband is the veteran Chaozhou opera laosheng performer Cheung Ying-yin, and the couple live in Hong Kong.
Cheng Chor-heung was one of the leading huadan of Hong Kong's Chaozhou opera films in the 1950s and 60s, starring in a number of Teochew-language costume pictures. She began by dubbing Chaozhou songs for Amoy- and Cantonese-language films and later toured Thailand with her troupe, carrying Chaozhou opera and Teochew cinema to Chinese communities beyond Hong Kong.
Achievements
- 1953 · Entered the Xintiancai Chaozhou Opera Troupe as a huadan trainee under Cheung Muk-chun.
- 1960 · Made her screen debut in 1960 in a picture produced by Donghai Film Company.
- 1963 · Joined the Lingdong Chaozhou Opera Troupe and performed in a tale of the upright official Hai Rui.