Sally Yeh, whose ancestral home is Zhongshan in Guangdong, was born in Taiwan on 30 September 1961 and moved to Canada with her family as a child. She took modelling courses at sixteen and placed third in the Miss Vancouver Chinatown pageant at seventeen. Her first film was Yi Gen Huo Chai (1980), for which she also released her first record. In the early 1980s she came to Hong Kong through an introduction by Wong On-nei, editor of Silver Screen, taking a role in Bin Mui (1982) and then in Sha Ru Ai Qing Jie (1982) and the comedies Kong Xin Da Shao Ye (1983) and Tie Ban Shao (1984), becoming familiar to local audiences. Joining the Hong Kong music scene in 1984, she rose quickly with the Cantonese album Ling Shi Shi Fen, which led Cinema City to cast her in Ling Qi Po Ren (1984) and then Cupid One (1985); the following year she appeared in the big production Aces Go Places IV (1986) and, opposite Brigitte Lin and Cherie Chung, in Peking Opera Blues (1986), earning a Best Actress nomination at the 6th Hong Kong Film Awards. Her song Dawn, Don't Come from A Chinese Ghost Story (1987) won Best Original Film Song at the 7th Hong Kong Film Awards. She also appeared in Shanghai Blues (1984), Maria (1988) and The Killer (1989), and stepped back from film after Sisters of the World Unite (1991). On the music side she released many albums and her soundtrack hits such as Wan Feng, Zhu Fu and Fen Xin Yi Huo were widely popular, the last taking the Gold Song Gold Award at the 1990 Jade Solid Gold Awards; from 1990 she won Best Female Singer at the Jade Solid Gold Awards for four straight years, took Best Song of the Year at Taiwan's 4th Golden Melody Awards in 1993 for Xiao Sa Zou Yi Hui, later won Best Mandarin Female Vocalist at the Golden Melody Awards, and received the Golden Needle Award of the RTHK Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs in 2010. She is married to the singer-actor George Lam.
Starting as a model from Taiwan, Yeh rose in the Hong Kong music scene with Ling Shi Shi Fen and became a leading lady in Cinema City films while winning a Best Actress nomination for Peking Opera Blues. Her soundtrack hits became widely sung in the 1980s and 1990s.
Achievements
- 1986 · Earned a Best Actress nomination at the 6th Hong Kong Film Awards for Peking Opera Blues.
- 1987 · Won Best Original Film Song at the 7th Hong Kong Film Awards for Dawn, Don't Come from A Chinese Ghost Story.
- 2010 · Received the Golden Needle Award, the top honour of the RTHK Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs.