Michelle Reis

Reis was born in Macau on 20 June 1970. She is of mixed ancestry; her father Francis Reis was Portuguese, and her mother Wu Guofang (Chinese: 吴国芳), who is Chinese, moved to Hong Kong from Shanghai.[1] Reis has an older sister named Yuet Chi (named Joanna Francisca Reis or Li Jiaming; 李嘉明).[2] Her father was born in Hong Kong. He was captured by the Japanese in Hong Kong during World War II. He was sent to work in Japanese mines until Japan's surrender. After his liberation, he returned to Hong Kong and married Michelle's mother.

Reis's parents divorced in 1987. She was rarely in contact with her father afterwards, who died in 1995.[3] Reis recalls her childhood as an unhappy one, and was largely raised by her mother even before the divorce. Many years after having abandoned his family, she received a call from her father. By this time, she was famous, and he had called to ask for money.[4]

Reis had excellent results when attended Maryknoll Convent School result to 2A (English, Bible) and ranked 7B five-year secondary education graduation exam. She participated in the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination shortly after she won the 1988 Miss Hong Kong Pageant.

In 1973, at the age of 3, Reis began her career by starring in a baby advertisement. In 1982, when she was 12, she filmed a second advertisement. During her study, many scouts had stopped her on the road, and offered her casting and shooting commercial film but Reis refused because she wanted to be a flight attendant. She began modelling part-time at the age of 14.[5]

She first came to fame when she won the 1988 Miss Hong Kong Pageant at the age of 18. Reis was also the first Miss Chinese International in the same year. Following her Miss Chinese International crowning, she went on to participate in the Miss World 1988 pageant, where she promoted the image of Hong Kong. She was then supposed to compete in the Miss Universe 1989 pageant but withdrew due to health problems.

Reis started to build a career within the entertainment industry in the 1990s. She starred in commercials eventually leading to movies. She has also appeared in music videos and TVB television episodes. She has worked extensively alongside directors such as Wong Kar-wai in Fallen Angels, and famous celebrities including Stephen Chow and Leon Lai.

Around the 21st century, Reis began to withdraw from acting to focus on family and charity businesses whilst making occasional public appearances. Her last role to date was 2009's Bodyguards and Assassins.

On 25 December 2021, Reis made an appearance as a guest/main judge on HK Television Entertainment's fourth season of the talent variety show King Maker (Chinese: 全民造星IV), sparking internet discussion and hype.

On 23 November 2008, following a public two-year courtship, Reis married business tycoon Julian Hui, son of real-estate billionaire Hui Sai Fun (1921–2018).[6][7][8] Hui was formerly married to Pansy Ho, daughter of Macau casino businessman Stanley Ho.[9] Their son Jayden Max Hui was born on 8 February 2011. His initials are derived from the first initials, "J" and "M", of his parents' names.[10]

In 2007, a viral audio of Reis and business tycoon Joseph Lau leaked onto the internet caused controversy, in which Reis and Lau had a heated argument regarding female actresses he had signed, including Ada Choi and Catherine Hung. Reis' use of profanity directed at Lau were implied by netizens to be in a relationship and being able to swear profusely behind his wife's back during that time, although the quality and time has indicated it originated from the 90s [11] Reis' famous line "I'm really gonna congratulate you/I give my congratulations!" (Chinese: 「我真係恭喜你呀！」) is often used by people nowadays as a sarcastic manner online or in real life.

On 15 January 2022, Reis was rushed to ICU after a near death experience due to breathing complications.[12]

Sources:[13][14]

In China, several Chinese white-collar workers displayed images of Michele Reis at the office to subtly ask for a raise in salary because her Chinese name Jiāxīn (嘉欣) is an exact homophone of 加薪 ("pay raise") in Mandarin Chinese,[15] and is a near-homophone in Cantonese language (ga1yan1/ga1san1).

• Cinema of Hong Kong
• Macanese people
• Macanese language

• Michelle Reis at IMDb
• hkcinemagic entry