The Immortal Movie King—Ou Wei

 

The youth in pursuit of being a star

 

Letters still went on, one after another

Continually, Ou Wei wrote the letters, most of which repeatedly conveyed his devotion to movies—nothing was worth sentimentally attaching to in life except movies.......

~Ou Wei to Director Ho Chin Ming

Delivering his hope

The 19-year-old found his lifelong goal---being an actor. Whenever he got the chance to know any audition from the film studio, he joined it immediately without any hesitation. Meanwhile, he persevered in writing letters, with his photos attached, recommending himself for the role. Over and over again in the post office, he mailed his expectations and hope, waiting for the good news.

  

Initially, his mom expected her only child to finish school as others did and found a stable job, leading a down-to-earth life. Never would she imagine that he would be so obsessed with it. She nagged all the time, wishing Ou Wei to change his mind. However, he just locked himself in the room and kept on writing his letters, neglecting what his mom said.

Whenever his mom knew that Ou Wei went out to mail the letters, she would wait at the back door of the post station, doing her best to intercept his letters.

Zeal for art

“Without art, I think our life journey would get monotonous and meaningless. Therefore, the paralyzed life needs the decoration of art to become complete and vigorous. And, what I choose is—movies.”

~ Ou Wei to Director Ho Chi Ming

For a whole year, from April of 1956 to February in 1957, Ou Wei wrote over one hundred letters to Hwa Sin Studio, expressing his incessant passionate for movies.
 

Once, he couldn’t wait anymore and went to visit Director Ho Chin Ming, striving for a role in the film. Then, he even resolutely quit his job as a policeman, just to show the director nothing could detain him…..

In his letters, he expressed completely how he desired to become an actor, what his special talent was and his interpretation of film art.

Though there was no specific reply from the director, he never stopped writing, emphasizing again that nothing aroused his excitement in life but film art.

Through this whole year of trying; eventually, he got the chance to act as a fervent aboriginal young man "Ou Wei," in the film .Ever since that, “Ou Wei” became his screen name for the rest of his life—he ultimately materialized his dream.