Charmaine Sheh’s journey to TVB royalty: how the Hong Kong star went from 90s beauty pageant contestant to best actress award winner for TV drama The Queen of News

The pageant also produced several well-known actresses in the 1990s. Along with Anita Yuen, winner of the 1993 Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Newcomer, Charmaine Sheh, runner-up at Miss Hong Kong 1997, stands out as one of the most prolific actresses of her generation.

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Charmaine Sheh Sze-man stars in the hit TV show “The Queen of the News”. Photo: Apple TV+

After spending the last decade in mainland China and landing iconic roles in some of the most-watched television dramas of recent years, Sheh found herself once again at the center of the Hong Kong entertainment scene with the recent TV hit “The Queen of News.” Her role as a passionate television news anchor earned her the Best Actress award at the recent TVB Anniversary Awards on January 14. She is the first to win this award three times per 8 Days.

Louis Koo and Charmaine Sheh play a married couple in the 2017 film Always Be With You. Photo: Handout

Sheh has come a long way since she won her second runner-up position at the Miss Hong Kong pageant. Although she was a graduate of the International Hotel Management Institute Switzerland, Sheh signed a contract with TVB shortly after competing in Miss International 1997.

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She received many opportunities to appear alongside leading actors, including Julian Cheung in the 2000 drama The Return of the Cuckoo, in which she played a young, optimistic woman in a coming-of-age story. The role confirmed her natural talent for acting and she went on to take on a variety of different roles.

But what really made her famous were her portrayals of various characters in several palace dramas.

Charmaine Sheh Sze Man, who plays the Qinglong Emperor's wife Xian in Story of Yanxi Palace. Photo: Handout

In the 2009 drama Beyond the Realm of Conscience, Sheh portrayed a kind-hearted palace servant. The role skyrocketed her popularity not only in Hong Kong but throughout Asia and laid the foundation for her later success as she portrayed various palace characters in Chinese-produced dramas.

At the height of her popularity, Sheh Hoifa-Nara played Shushen, Xian's wife of the Qinglong Emperor, in The Story of Yanxi Palace. With 530 million views in one day, the show set the record for the most-watched television show in China in 2018, and the 70 episodes received a total of 13 billion views. Netflix subsequently picked up a short-lived six-episode sequel, although Sheh was not part of that production.

Actress Charmaine Sheh wears Harry Winston and Louboutin at the 2023 TVB Anniversary Awards in January. Photo: @charmaine_sheh/Instagram

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At 48, Sheh is at the peak of her popularity and regularly appears in magazines and at events, modeling the season's hottest fashion and jewelry designs. At the recent TVB Anniversary Awards, Sheh wore a black strapless dress and Louboutins, accenting her look with jewels from Harry Winston's Cluster collection and the jeweler's Ultimate Emerald signature watch.

Actress Charmaine Sheh wears pieces from the Tiffany & Co. Hardwear collection. Photo: @charmaine_sheh/InstagramIn another recent Instagram post, she wears earrings and a necklace from the Tiffany & Co. Hardwear collection as well the golden bone cuff by iconic jewelry designer Elsa Peretti.