Model-turned-actress-turned-singer Niki Chow has spent most of her brief career struggling against criticisms of her acting and singing skills. But the always-optimistic 29-year-old has just released her third album, and tells Johannes Pong how in the Hong Kong entertainment business, talent doesn’t really matter—just sincerity. And some good marketing.

This is my first record in two years. I took time off to spend more time acting during the past two years. I need to make money, and it’s hard to make money through singing alone.

I was 16 when a talent scout asked me to appear in a commercial on the MTR. The pay was $20,000. I was studying so that was a lot of money. I said yes without asking any other questions.

I thought, “Wow, it’s so easy to make money in show business! What if I make one commercial every day? Then I would make millions in a year.” Of course, now that I’m in the business I realize I can’t even get one commercial a month.

I can’t do hip-hop. I actually tried. Somehow it just doesn’t work for me. 

And I don’t sing well. But I am enthusiastic. I was worried about that when I first started, but then I thought maybe eventually they’d think I have the heart to do it and give me a chance.

How did I get started? One day, I sang a song for a movie I was in. And then a talent scout came by and said, “You’re not totally horrible, why not release a record?”

They said I shouldn’t expect to become a singer with my face and my singing abilities. Of course, maybe I haven’t passed the final test to become a really popular singer yet. I don’t sing well, but at least it’s not that bad.

When we were working on my first two records, I didn’t know much so my manager made all the decisions. She told me what was good for my style. She told me how I could sell. Then she asked me to make a decision between three songs and pick the best one. I didn’t know what to do, so I said, “Whatever. You guys choose it.”

What I do now has nothing to do with my sister [supermodel Kathy Chow]. She started modeling before me, but we didn’t plan on entering the business together.

I still reminisce about those modeling days. There wasn’t much to do but make loads of money. And then they let me act in movies. I didn’t even want to be in a film at the time.

You can’t make that kind of money now. The business, the formula, it’s all changed.

My childhood pursuits only involved studying and dancing. You can say I was a good girl, or just mechanical and formulaic.

I was taking drawing classes recently. I always like to learn new things. As an actor, you have to learn new things because your job is to portray different people with different skills and different jobs.

My mother is democratic. She doesn’t like to make decisions for me and my sister because she doesn’t want us to blame her if she ended up making a wrong decision. She’s smart. So she asked me to make my own decision to drop out of school to pursue modeling.

I do believe in destiny, but you have to take advantage of opportunities. When one comes, you have to grab it. I believe opportunities are only given to those who are ready for them.