The Late Kenneth Tsang’s Career Was Launched By His Younger Sister ’50s Screen Goddess Jeanette Lin Tsui

The news of Kenneth Tsang's passing this week has been picked up by media outlets all over the world, from The Guardian to the New York Times, all of them paying tribute to his 50 year career.

But if it's true that there is a woman behind every successful man, then in Kenneth's case, that woman was his younger sister, Jeanette Lin Tsui.

She might not be a household name today, and she might not have her own Wikipedia page like her brother does, but Jeanette Lin Tsui was once one of the most famous and popular actresses of her time.

And boy did she live a life that was full of drama. 

It was 1953, and Jeanette Lin Tsui was only 17 when she joined Liberty Film in Hongkong. This was the start of a prolific acting career in which she quickly shot to fame.

She made all kinds of movies but audiences especially loved her in roles where she played the 'student sweetheart'.

By 23 she was married to Chun Kim, one of the industry's highest-paid directors at the time, and this union boosted her standing within the entertainment circle even more.

When her handsome older brother Kenneth finished his architecture degree in the US and returned to Hongkong in the early '60s, she made some introductions that led to his official debut as an actor.

Unfortunately, alongside Chun Kim's riches he also had a gambling addiction, and it caused the couple's separation after eight years of marriage.

It didn't take long before 31-year-old Jeanette Lin Tsui had a new beau .

Enter Jimmy Wang Yu, the future One-Armed Swordsman, who was a rising action star in Taiwan and also a whopping eight years younger than her.

While filming and her new romance kept her busy, Chun Kim's addiction was worsening, and in 1969, two years into their separation period, he committed suicide. 

Just two days after this earth-shattering tragedy, Jeanette Lin Tsui called a press conference to announce that she and Wang Yu were having a baby.

She also presented evidence that she had paid off many of Chun Kim's debts, saying that her conscience was clear.

That same year she wed Wang Yu, and the couple went on to have three daughters in quick succession.

But this marriage ended in 1975 after six years and there had been allegations that Wang Yu physically abused her. [Ed: Wang Yu passed away on Apr 5 this year at the age of 80]

Jeanette Lin Tsui decided to emigrate to San Francisco in 1977, where made a new life for herself by opening a restaurant, although she did continue acting all the way until 1980.

Tragically, she passed away in 1995 from an asthma attack — coincidentally the same year that Teresa Teng also died from the same cause.

Kenneth was pictured looking sombre at her funeral, together with Jeanette's son former singer-actor Christopher Chan (from her marriage to Chun Kim), and daughter singer Linda Wong (her first child with Wang Yu).

The striking-looking siblings were seldom pictured together in their youth, so this photo (see below), where both are out water-skiing, is particularly poignant.

It shows them in their prime, full of vitality, and not afraid to do whatever they pleased.

That's how they lived their lives, and that's certainly how they will be remembered. 

Photos: Sinchew Daily & Weibo