Holding Her Own

With the release last month of her latest big-budget filmHello, MrsMoneyCelina Jade is continuing to make waves. Marianna Cerini meets the rising star to find out what shes doing to shake things up.

- Marianna Cerini

Celina Jade is a rare breed. To begin with, the 33-year-old has been racking up successes in the entertainment industry for half her life. Second, she’s a legitimate multihyphenate: she sings, she acts and she’s a pro at martial arts. In a sector increasingly dominated by reality TV stars and social media personalities, she has real talent—and she’s level-headed about it.

“Throughout my career, I’ve always worked to the best of my abilities,” says the star, who as a 2018 Generation T lister appeared on the cover of the June edition of Hong Kong Tatler with fellow Gen.T members. “I started so young and what I’ve constantly asked myself is, ‘Am I becoming someone I admire?’ I have applied that question to every project I have approached and honed my skills to make sure I could answer yes.”

Born in Hong Kong in 1985 to American actor and martial artist Roy Horan and Hongkonger Christina Hui, Celina entered the limelight when she won an Asia-wide singing competition at the age of 14, after which Sony Japan signed her. Within a few months her EP Good News Bad News was released and she became a huge success in Hong Kong. That’s when she started thinking about the question of whether she would be admired and respected for her choices.