Ada Choi

Ada Choi Siu-fan (Chinese and Cantonese; 蔡少芬; born 17 September 1973) is a Hong Kong actress. She gained recognition with films, such as Hail the Judge and A Chinese Odyssey Part Two - Cinderella (1995), and rose to prominence with TVB dramas, such as Healing Hands (1998–2000) and Where the Legend Begins (2002). She shifted her career to mainland China in the 2010s, where she found success with Empresses in the Palace (2012).

Career Choi was born in 1973 in Hong Kong to a Chaoshanese family. Her parents divorced when she was five years old. She speaks Cantonese, Mandarin, Teochew and English. In 1989, at the persuasion of her family, Choi participated in a modeling contest held by TVB at age 15. Two years later, she was a contestant in the 1991 Miss Hong Kong beauty pageant. During the semi-finals she placed first with an overall score of 483. She eventually finished as the second runner-up during the finals. As a result, she signed a contract with TVB and starting taking on acting jobs. She won the TVB Anniversary Award for Best Actress for her performance in Secret of the Heart (1998). Along with Maggie Cheung Ho-yee, Kenix Kwok, Flora Chan and Jessica Hsuan, Choi is known as one of the Top 5 "Fa Dans" (term used for actresses with high popularity) of TVB from the mid-1990s to mid-2000s.

Followed by a stalled career and limited earnings at TVB, Choi shifted her focus to mainland China in the 2010s, where she found success with the costume drama Empresses in the Palace (2012). Since then, she appeared mainly in variety and reality shows, such as Up Idol (2015), Run for Time (2015), My Dearest Ladies (2019) and Viva La Romance (2020).

Personal life On 12 January 2008, Choi married Chinese actor Max Zhang whom she had dated for more than four years. He was her co-star in a number of Zhouyi Media television productions including The Legend of Magic Mirror (2003) and Eight Charts (2005). They have two daughters, Zoe and Chloe, born in 2011 and 2013 respectively. In 2019, they announced on social media that they were expecting their third child. They welcomed their son, Joey Zhang Le'er aka Yudan in November 2019.

Filmography and awards

Television

Film YearTitleRoleNotes 1994 Hail the Judge Yu Yin Fist of Legend Hua's girlfriend 1995 A Chinese Odyssey Part Two - Cinderella Princess Iron Fan The Golden Girls Lulu Shum 1996 Love and Sex Among the Ruins Billie Nominated - Golden Bauhinia Awards for Best Actress Once Upon a Time in Triad Society 2 Deda Nominated - Golden Bauhinia Awards for Best Supporting Actress Bloody Friday Ada Mystery Files Foo Man Dik 1997 Passionate Nights Walk In May Troublesome Night Ken's love interest Made in Heaven Lily Wong Ah Fai, the Dumb Jody 1998 T.H.E. Professionals Casino The Suspect Annie Chung Your Place or Mine! Vivian Ng Nominated - Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards for Best Actress Rape Trap Li Shan-Shan 1999 The Doctor in Spite of Himself Don My Heart Will Go On 2000 Paramount Motel Li Yuk-hing 2004 The Miracle Box Dr. Joanna Tse 2009 Rebellion Cheung Wah Nominated - Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards for Best Actress2010 Just Another Pandora's Box Princess Iron Fan Guest star 2013 My Lucky Star 2014 Just Another Margin One Step Away 2016 S Storm Wong Man-ling 2018 Agent Mr Chan Guest star 2019 Assassins and the Missing Gold 2025 Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants Li Ping