Hong Kong 90s star Kathy Chow's tragic and sudden passing at 57

Channel News Asia broke the news that Hong Kong 80s star Kathy Chow had suddenly passed away in her Beijing home at 57 on December 11, 2023. What caused her untimely death? Here’s the story of her life prior to her passing.

Kathy Chow was also known as Chou Hoi Mei and was born on December 6, 1966, in British Hong Kong.

Image: Weibo

According to TVB, Kathy Chow first entered the showbiz industry when she was signed up for TVB’s ‘Miss Hong Kong Contest’ by her father in 1985.

Image: TVB

Although she did not come out as a winner from that pageant, Kathy Chow was invited exclusively by TVB to join their acting training classes as a trainee actress. Some actors who have undergone the same trainee program include the famed Chow Yun-fat!

Image: TVB

In that same year, Kathy Chow graduated from acting class and starred in her first drama, ‘The Yang’s Saga’, where she starred alongside fellow future big names like Carina Lau and Maggie Cheung!

Image: TVB

One interesting fact about Kathy Chow was that she had Manchurian ancestry and was descended from Manchu royalty!

Image: Weibo

According to 8days, Kathy Chow is descended from the Manchurian aristocracy of the 'Gwalgiya clan,' who not only held military power during China's aristocratic rule but also had Manchurian princesses in their lineage.

Image: TVB

According to Variety, many of Kathy Chow’s early works were iconic and greatly beneficial to her career, as she starred in big TVB productions alongside many big names in Hong Kong television.

Image: Weibo

Some of the shows that propelled her to Hong Kong stardom include ‘Time Before Time’ and ‘Breaking Point’.

Image: TVB

However, Kathy Chow’s true career breakthrough role came in 1994 when she starred in the Taiwanese production of ‘Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre’, a drama adaptation of the martial arts classic by famed Chinese martial arts fantasy author Louis Cha.

Image: TTV

Kathy Chow played the main female lead and villain, Zhou Ziruo, in the 1994 adaptation of ‘Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre’. Her acting was so iconic that it propelled her to household name status that same year!

Image: TTV

According to the South China Morning Post, her acting prowess in handling the difficult role of Zhou Ziruo cemented Kathy Chow’s status as one of C-entertainment's best actors from that point forward, especially as the “most beautiful and memorable version of Zhou Ziruo”.

Image: TTV

Did you know? Kathy Chow was also popular in Japan back in the 90s. The China Times reports that she was featured in many Japanese publications as a model back then, despite the time being a rather unpleasant memory for her.

Image: TVB

Kathy Chow was also a singer, despite being more known for her acting roles. To date, she has released several albums in the 90s and sung two theme songs for a TV series.

Image: Youku

Despite being considered an old-timer in the industry, Kathy Chow managed to score a second wave of fame in her later years!

Image: Tencent

Kathy Chow’s role in 2014’s ‘The Empress of China’ as Pure Consort Yang gathered her nationwide attention not only due to the popularity of the drama but also for the netizens admiration of how great she looks at the age of 48 at the time of the role, reports Yahoo.

Image: Hunan TV

Unfortunately, Kathy Chow hid her poor health behind her radiant face and countenance until her untimely death on December 11. According to 8days, the star was discovered dead at home by a colleague on December 11 and rushed to the hospital, where she was sadly pronounced dead.

Image: Weibo

Throughout her life, Kathy Chow had never revealed that was not in the best of health until it was vaguely announced by her agency posthumously on December 12, that she had been suffering from “an undisclosed illness”, reported Channel News Asia.

Image: Weibo

8days reports that an anonymous source on Weibo allegedly revealed Kathy Chow’s health records that assert she had been suffering from “systemic lupus erythematosus as well as high blood pressure”.

Image: Weibo

Rumours of Kathy Chow's lupus diagnosis first circulated on the internet in 2006, when actress Kristy Yang leaked the information on her blog and then removed it, according to Sina Entertainment. Kathy Chow, on the other hand, denied this until her death.

Image: Weibo

Despite Kathy Chow’s personal denial of having lupus, HK01 reports that Hong Kong director and a personal friend of Kathy Chow, Tenky Tin, came forward on December 12 to confirm that Kathy Chow had indeed been suffering from and died as a result of lupus.