Sold as an infant to a foster family in Xiamen, Ivy Ling Po was raised as Kwan Hoi-tong and moved to Hong Kong with her foster mother Ng Bo-sik, who knew people in the Amoy film world, so she began a screen career as a child. Under the names Siu Ling and later Siu Kuen she made two Amoy films in 1954-55 and appeared in many more, including a breeches role in Snow Plum Teaches Her Son (1955), and took her first lead in Nezha Stirs the Eastern Sea (1956); over eight years she appeared in more than eighty Amoy pictures and was also prominent as a singer of nanyin. In 1962 director Yuen Chau-fung recommended her to dub the jade role in Shaw Brothers' Huangmei opera Dream of the Red Chamber (1962), and in 1963 she joined Shaw and, renamed Ling Po, played Liang Shanbo in The Love Eterne, which made her a sensation across Taiwan and Southeast Asia and earned her a special award at the second Golden Horse Awards. She won Best Actress at the 11th Asian Film Festival for Lady General Hua Mulan (1964) and became Shaw's leading Huangmei star. Leaving Shaw in 1975, she and her husband Chin Han founded Today's Film Company. She later emigrated to Canada; her sons include director Patrick Pui and music producer Pui Kwok-yung.
Ivy Ling Po shot to fame across Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia as the cross-dressed Liang Shanbo in The Love Eterne, triggering a craze for Huangmei opera films in Taiwan and making her Shaw Brothers' leading Huangmei star. Beginning as a child actor in Amoy films, she appeared in more than eighty of them, becoming a hugely influential actress between the Hong Kong and Taiwanese film worlds.
Achievements
- 1963 · Joined Shaw Brothers and became a sensation as Liang Shanbo in The Love Eterne.
- 1964 · Won a special award at the 2nd Golden Horse Awards and Best Actress at the 11th Asian Film Festival for Lady General Hua Mulan.
- 1975 · Left Shaw Brothers and founded Today's Film Company with her husband Chin Han.