TVB Celebrity News

Former Mr. HK Matthew Ko was heavily promoted by TVB when he first debuted, but later he didn't get as many opportunities. It appeared TVB wanted him to change his image and eventually gave him villain roles, but he frankly expressed he's not afraid the villain roles would have a negative influence on his image, he just hopes for good development. He did not hesitate to say that if he makes no accomplishments in this industry, he'll just retire and go back to Canada.

Since Matthew participated in Mr. HK, he had always had a gentleman image, but recently producers have been giving him room for development in villain roles. Matthew said: "Earlier in Friendly Fire, I was suppose to be Samantha Ko's rapist, but unfortunately I had a leg injury and had to undergo surgery, so couldn't participate. Then for A Great Way to Care II, producer Marco Law asked me if I could handle the Cult Leader role because there are a lot of action scenes. Although at the time, I had just recovered, I didn't want to lose the opportunity." In the series, Matthew and actress Davily Leung have a 2 minute long passionate kiss scene. He laughed and said that was his first passionate kiss scene. Fortunately he and Davily were already familiar, so they didn't NG.

When asked if he's afraid the villain roles would negatively influence his image? As the founder and principal of a children arts school, Matthew expressed he has no fear on whether the audience can accept or not, he is more worried about his young students, if they could accept it. He said: "I told the parents to just allow their children to watch the 8:30PM series Sergeant Tabloid. My role in that series is more sunshine and childish."

When speaking of Sergeant Tabloid, Matthew frankly expressed this series made him very emotional. He did not hesitate to say, not even a year after he became Mr. HK, he was already given the second male lead role in Man In Charge, but he failed that time. At one point, he felt obstructed: "That time after I completed Man in Charge, it was my first time after all and I was just 22 years old, I wasn't mature in so many ways. When the series aired, people said my acting was bad and then producers didn't give me as many opportunities. I just got minor roles, but then Sergeant Tabloid came along, I saw this series as my last chance. I thought about it, if this series doesn't get good response, I'm just going to pack my bags and fly back to Canada."

On the night of Stefan Huyuh's wedding, former Mr. HK Matthew Ko served as the MC and sat at the same table as the 'goddess' Christine Kuo. The two were chatting nonstop. Every time Matthew had to go on stage to speak, the two appeared as if they were reluctant to separate. However, shortly after Matthew went over to 'rub' Christine's head, which pleased her so much she let out a cute expression. Later, Matthew took the newly weds to joke with and got Christine laughing so hard she returned his gift with an electrical discharge in her eyes. Also, Matthew posted an intimate photo of him and Christine on Weibo.

Recently, there has been more and more artists starting businesses in education. Following Winnie Young and Kayi Cheung opening schools, 2005 Mr. Hong Kong winner Matthew Ko invested over HK$500,000 to establish a children interests training school and becomes a principal. He expressed he had the idea 5 years ago, but he didn't have the determination to actually implement the idea. Coincidentally he is now resting from his leg injury and has to put his on-screen work on hiatus, thus he has the time to establish the new school. "I love kids and hope to use different methods to help them advance in their education. Also, there are more and more parents willing to contribute money to let their children learn different things. So, I decided to start this school. It is estimated to start operations in September."

However, Matthew stressed he will not be teaching the children, "I will be designing the school uniforms, curriculum, the renovation and interior design of the school, but I won't be an instructor because I will still continue my on-screen work. As for the teachers/instructors, the professionals will be responsible for that. In fact, the most memorable in the progress of setting up this school was that I hired good teachers. Not only do they have a loving heart, they are also good at conveying. I interviewed about 10 applicants and hired 4 of them. They will be teaching courses in music, stage play and dance."

Lately there has been a shortage of TVB Siu Sang and FaDans, so many of the second line actors have the opportunity to move up. Amongst them is Matthew Ko, following his earlier appearance as Kent Cheng's son in The Greatness of a Hero, he has accepted three other series, advancing in his journey to become a front line Siu Sang.

However on Sunday (May 6th), Matthew had an accident while playing basketball and broke his right hamstring. He was rushed immediately rushed to the hospital and a cast was put on his leg. The injury looks quite serious as he had to undergo surgery too. On Monday (May 7th), [Sudden Weekly] followed Matthew as he transferred to a different hospital. He said: "I'm so unhappy, can't walk now. I'm really afraid I'll turn into a crippled man and I'm dragging the entire filming progression...I feel really sorry."

27 year old former Mr. HK winner, Matthew Ko, had several opportunities to be in series after the contest. However, the majority of his roles were just cameo roles. When Ricky Wong stomped into the television industry and started 'stealing' artists, there has been a shortage of TVB Siu Sangs. Since last year, Matthew had been shooting series nonstop. Earlier this year, he first collaborated with Myolie Wu in House of Harmony and Vengeance and then with Niki Chow and Michael Tse in Sergeant Tabloid. Just recently, he accepted three other series. A TVB staff reveals: "Many producers like to use Matthew because he's got the looks, he's obedient and on time. He's been working for 7 years and his acting has been maturing quite a bit."


'Girlfriend' really worried

It was understood after Matthew's accident, the first person he notified was rumored girlfriend Tracy Ip. On Tuesday, Tracy told [Sudden]: "I know he's in the hospital, and I already sent my regards to him. I told him to rest up. (Will you go visit him?) These things, it's enough that we both know. Hope he recovers soon." [Oriental Daily] Earlier Matthew was spotted having a girl sit on his lap at a bar, Tracy was asked if she's jealous? She said: "I'm not going to be jealous, he had always been popular. I am one of his fans too. We are friends, at most we are just a rumored couple."

Matthew participated in a basketball competition on Sunday night after he finished filming for new series Love Exceeds the Coastline and broke his hamstring. Reporters called Matthew on Monday morning and he explained the accident: "I was running when I suddenly had severe pain on my right leg. Then I couldn't run anymore. It was about 11pm then, so I could only go to the public hospital's emergency room for treatment. The doctor said I broke my hamstring and will have to undergo surgery to put it back in place. I am feeling very unhappy because I can't walk now, I'm afraid I'll turn into a crippled man! Aiya! I started working part-time since I was 15, and have never been out of work for this long!"

It was understood after Matthew's surgery, he will have to be in a cast for 3 months before he can get back on his feet. This means, he must stop working completely for these 3 months. Currently, he has three series on hand including Love Exceeds the Coastline, Justice Pursuit & Attack and Come Home Love. The series that will have the greatest impact due to Matthew's accident is Love Exceeds the Coastline with Raymond Wong and Aimee Chan. Not being able to work for several months, Matthew is very concerned: "I've already been shooting for some 10 days, this time they probably will get someone else to replace me! I just feel so sorry, I affected the entire filming progression. I hope I can get back to work as soon as possible."

Love Coastline's producer Leung Choi Yuen expressed: "Matthew plays a rich boy in this series, he has a very important storyline. There will be some affect, but we can still handle it. He said [we] will have to wait at least several weeks. This series really can't wait, so we are currently looking for other candidates to replace him and re-shoot his scenes."

Niki Chow and Michael Tse were shooting for new series Policewoman's Love Battlefield last night near the dumpsters for a search for evidence scene. Although the crew already cleaned the location, the smell of trash was still left behind.

When speaking of having to dig through the trash during the new year, Niki and Michael both expressed they're treating it as a treasure hunt. Before they started shooting, Niki took the rubber glove that was used to pick trash and threw it at Michael, frightening him so much went to hide. It was a very funny moment. Michael just came back from doing stage work in Singapore, and looked quite tired. He said: "With this type of work schedule, it's hard to get fat. However, Niki looks like she gotten rounder!" As for Niki, she immediately expressed that it's impossible!

Yesterday, the other two cast members Mandy Wong and Matthew Ko were shooting a dating scene. The two were at the bowling alley and were constantly flirting to convey the passionate love period of the relationship. The athletic Matthew also taught Mandy the techniques of bowling. However, later the ball slipped off his hand and fell on the floor.

As for Mandy's first collaboration with Matthew, she praised that he's a healthy athletic, she said: "In the series, I'm actually in decathlon, but in reality I'm totally the opposite. So, I have to use a stunts double, but Matthew knows all of it. He took on the scenes himself, pretty miserable!"

Mr. Hong Kong Matthew Ko, Otto Chan, Jack Hui along with artists Vincent Wong and Eddie Li, singers Alex Hung, Carlos Chan, Steven Cheung, Jonathan Wong, Bro5, Chrisse Chow's boyfriend Avis, DJ Ricky Fan and BEN participated the Panasonic Basketball Invitation Tournament 2011 as the 'Stars Invite Team'. They were against the 'Nam Chung Celebrity Invite Team' .

The group of youngsters faced the group of skilled basketball players on the 'Nam Chung' Team, at first they were helpless as they lost the opportunity to score 4 points. Fortunately the 'Star Team' got better and better as the game went on. Matthew opened the road and started a strong pursuit and got took the lead. His performance was outstanding from start to end, he personally scored 14 points and was the highest scoring player on the team. He also brought the 'Stars Team' score up to 44 points, putting pressure on the opponent team of 35 points.

Matthew's dream is to become an athlete

Scoring 14 points, Matthew expressed that the victory all resulted from team work, he said: "Becoming an athlete is my dream, unfortunately my family opposed to this dream. In the future, if my son is 6 feet, 6inches tall, I will let him become an athlete. Otto Chan, Jack Hui, Vincent Wong, Eddie Li and I do play basketball in our personal lives, so we have chemistry."

Vincent expressed that because of his job, he often misses out on playing ball and jokes that he will soon be 'foul' out of the basketball team. As for Otto Chan who contributed 0 points, expressed he will practice more. Jack reveals he participated in Strictly Come Dancing 3 and will need to start practicing his dance. In the future, he will set aside some time for basketball and feels that the most important in competitions is friendship, that comes first.

A few days ago, Matthew Ko shaved his head to guest star in a new TVB series. First time going bald, he joked: "so frightened I forgot who my mom was." As to sacrificing his 'appearance', Matthew expressed that he'll be wearing a hat to the TVB Anniversary! When asked for what reason he shaved his head just for a 5 episode guest appearance in a new series? He said: "It's HD now, wearing headgear can easily break! But, for the mean time I can't do modern series!"

Although he frightened his mother, he attentively waited until his sister got married before taking action on his hair: "It's unlucky to attend a wedding bald, so I waited until she got married first before I shaved my head!" Also, Matthew reveals that later he'll be going to rehearse for a water table dance performance for the TVB Anniversary Gala.