Siu Yin Fei (28 August 1920 – 29 July 2013), born Fung Yin-ping and also known as Fung Yin-fei, was a Cantonese opera and Cantonese film actress from Panyu, Guangdong, born in Guangzhou. One of seven children of a rice merchant, she was fourth in the family; her father died young and she studied in private schools as a girl. Fond of Cantonese opera from childhood, she became a pupil of Ng Yat-siu in Guangzhou at fifteen and later had songs written for her by Wu Man-sum. She toured Annam (now Vietnam) and Shanghai with Cheung Yuet-yee, one of the 'Four Heavenly Kings' of Cantonese singing, and was noted for her female-voice singing style. She entered films in 1936 with Her Blood Money. After the fall of Hong Kong in 1941 she sang for a living in Guangzhou and Macau, returning after the war, and married the Cantonese opera and film actor Kwong Shan-siu, by whom she had a daughter and a son before they separated. She financed her own pictures through the Ling Fung Film Company, beginning with a 1947 release. Recognising the talent of director Chun Kim, she invited him to direct a run of films for Ling Fung in 1950-52 and introduced him to the Singapore exhibitors Ho Kai-sheung and Ho Kai-wing, who came to Hong Kong and set up the Kong Ngee production company under his management. In 1952 Siu co-founded the Union Film Enterprise with twenty-one film people including Lee Sun-fung, Pak Yin and Ng Cho-fan, dedicated to raising the quality of Cantonese cinema, and appeared in its productions through the 1950s. She retired after completing Little Orphan Girl and Murder Case in Chinatown in 1961, emigrated to the United States and once ran a restaurant there. She died in New York on 29 July 2013.
Siu Yin Fei did more than act: her Ling Fung company gave director Chun Kim his early directing opportunities and helped bring the Kong Ngee studio into being. Her role in founding the Union Film Enterprise made her part of a 1950s drive to raise production standards in Cantonese cinema.
Achievements
- 1936 · Entered films as a teenager, making her screen debut in her first film
- 1950 · Backed her own Ling Fung company and invited director Chun Kim to direct for it
- 1952 · Co-founded the Union Film Enterprise to raise the quality of Cantonese cinema