Candace Chong Mui Ngam

Candace Chong Mui-ngam is a Hong Kong playwright whose plays include French Kiss, Murder in San José (2009) and The Wild Boar (2012). She has won the Hong Kong Drama Award for Best Script seven times.

Early life and education Chong was born in Fujian, China in 1976. The characters “Mui-ngam" (梅岩) in her name were derived from her parents' ancestral origins. She spent her early childhood in Fujian, where her father was a director of Fujian's traditional Liyuan opera and her mother worked as a primary school teacher. Both parents were part of the (文工團), organized by the People's Liberation Army. At the age of three, she moved to Hong Kong with her family.

After settling in Hong Kong, her father worked as a security guard and her mother became a factory worker. There, she studied in the arts stream and performed particularly well in Chinese. She completed her degree in 1999, Alive in the Mortuary (2003), Shall We Go to Mars? (2005), French Kiss (2005), Murder in San José (2009) and The Wild Boar (2012). In 2011 she worked with American composer Huang Ruo to write a libretto for the opera Dr. Sun Yat-sen. The completed work premiered at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing and later was adapted worldwide.

Works Plays Love in the Red Chamber (愛在紅樓; April 2001) Portland Street's Venezia Cafe (砵蘭街的Venezia Cafe; April 2002) Shall We Go to Mars? (找個人和我上火星; March 2004) Murder in San José (聖荷西謀殺案; March 2009) How to be a star (星夢塵緣; March 2012) Tonnochy (杜老誌; July 2014) Sing Out (奮青樂與路; September 2017) - musical My Very Short Marriage (短暫的婚姻; January 2019) Death on a Road Trip (公路死亡事件; March 2019) May 35th (5月35日; May 2019) Madam Sew (車輪婆婆; December 2021) One Last Gift (最後禮物; July 2022) We are gay (我們最快樂; November 2022) Show Me Your Love! (愛我別走; February 2023)

Opera Dr. Sun Yat-sen (中山逸仙; 2011)

Television series Rainbow Interchange EP 1 Tenant's Closet (彩虹交匯處 第一集 租客的衣櫃; 7 August 2017) - LGBT miniseries My Very Short Marriage (短暫的婚姻; October 2017)

Film adaptations Heaven in the Dark (2016), adapted from French Kiss