Mok Ai-fang—Gifted Actor and Chef

Cathy Teng　/　photos Jimmy Lin　/　tr. by Geoff Hegarty and Sophia Chen

August 2016

中文 IN

With her style and confidence, Mok Ai-fang’s life is like the metamorphosis of a chrysalis into a butterfly: from immigrant worker, to marriage with a Taiwanese man, to finally becoming a well-known entertainer.

Nyonya’s Taste of Life was a drama presented as part of the “Life Story” series on Taiwan Public Television. Mok Ai-fang plays the gentle and considerate female protagonist Cindy, who is taking care of an elderly man with dementia. Her true-to-life performance won her a Best Actress in Taiwan’s Golden Bell Awards, despite the fact that it was her acting debut. Later, Mok played Rosemary in the feature film Zone Pro Site, then hosted a TV program called Far and Away interviewing expatriates in Taiwan, men and women from cross-cultural marriages, many of whose stories are very touching. Mok herself is originally from Indonesia and is married to a Taiwanese man. She has achieved a great deal in Taiwan.

Born in Pontianak City, Kalimantan, Borneo, Mok Ai-fang has lived in Taiwan for over a decade now. Her parents were Hakka ethnic Chinese living in Indonesia. After high school, she decided to try working abroad to reduce the financial burden on her family, and in 2000, Mok first came to Taiwan. When she arrived, she worked as a carer for the sick, then moved on to work in an electronics plant. But only six months before her contract expired, her life changed dramatically.

Nyonya’s Taste of Life was the first television drama to portray the lives of Taiwan’s new immigrants. Mok (right) shows off her natural talent for acting. (courtesy of Public Television Service)

A good match

Mok’s path to marriage was initiated by her future mother-in-law. Mok had accompanied an acquaintance to visit a male friend’s home. This man’s mother bombarded Mok with questions: “Are you married? When were you born?” Although she was a little confused about the reason for the questions, Mok answered them all honestly. The woman looked up a Chinese farmer’s almanac to check on Mok’s birthday, month and year, and concluded that she would be a good match for her third child. Mok and her future husband kept company for only two weeks before she had to return to Indonesia as her employment contract had expired. However, her future husband subsequently traveled to Indonesia to visit her, and eventually they were married.

It’s so easy to fall in love, but often more difficult to forge a life together without conflict. After the wedding, Mok realized how big her husband’s family was: 11 people. It’s always difficult to share out the housework equally in a big family, and unfortunately all of the work taking care of the house and the family fell to Mok.

Later, after her mother-in-law became seriously ill, Mok looked after her, even sleeping and eating in her mother-in-law’s bedroom in the six months before she finally passed away. During this trying time, the mother-in-law realized Mok’s true character and finally accepted her into the family. The enmity that had existed between them was finally resolved.

Though Mok’s cooking skills were learned from her mother in telephone calls to Indonesia, she came in first in creative cooking at the New Immigrants Multicultural Cuisine Competition.

A key person

Although Mok had lived in Taiwan for many years, her Mandarin wasn’t the best, so her father-in-law encouraged her to study the language formally. With some Indonesian friends, Mok joined the Immigrant Center for Learning in Taoyuan, and there met Huang Mu-yin, then executive secretary for the center. Huang encouraged the students to show off their native culture, sharing their hometown cuisines for example. But Mok had had little experience of cooking in her Indonesian home, so she called her mother for advice. As her mother was a chef, she was able to provide lots of help through many phone calls, so Mok eventually learned the skills of cooking Indonesian cuisine long-distance. So well, in fact, that she won first prize in creative cooking at the New Immigrants Multicultural Cuisine Competition organized by the National Immigration Agency.

Huang became impressed by Mok’s speaking ability, as well as her cheerful and generous personality, so she offered her the opportunity to train in public speaking, to become a voice for immigrants to tell their stories.

Nyonya’s Taste of Life was Mok’s debut performance, for which she won a Best Actress at the Golden Bell Awards, becoming the first new immigrant to gain this honor in the history of Taiwan film and television. (courtesy of Public Television Service)

An emerging talent

Nyonya’s Taste of Life was the first TV drama to portray the lives of Taiwan’s new immigrants. They needed an Indonesian woman to play the protagonist, so when director Wen Chih-yi visited the Immigrant Center for Learning as part of her search, Huang recommended Mok. They gave her the script to try out. “I think you’ll be a great actor,” Huang told her, which bolstered her confidence somewhat. In the audition, the director wanted a display of strong emotion, so Mok thought about the recent loss of her mother-in-law, bursting into tears on the spot. She won the role.

Mok received her first real script in August 2006, and then followed six months of theatrical training. Shooting began in March 2007 and the show premiered on television in May. That November, Mok took out Best Leading Actress in a TV Mini-series at the Golden Bell Awards, despite the fact that she wasn’t a professional actor and it had been her first acting experience. On 14 December the same year she gave birth to a baby daughter. 2007 was a big year for Mok.
After a decade of acting, Mok has appeared in over a hundred TV dramas and films, playing a diverse range of roles. But her favorite has always been the role of Rosemary in the film Zone Pro Site. She feels there are similarities between Rosemary’s personality and her own. In the Taiwan‡US joint film Baby Steps, Mok plays the role of a surrogate mother, expressing the whole gamut of mental conflicts and contradictions. The scene where she is in labor preparing to give birth was a special experience.

Mok’s late father-in-law once said to her: “You have a great talent. It’s your responsibility to continue to share it with your audience.” Throughout her acting career, she has received encouragement and support from her family. But her friend Huang has taken on a special role in her life, encouraging Mok to make the most of opportunities that are offered, inspiring her to take life step by step, to be always ready to create new possibilities for herself.

Mok says that while acting isn’t difficult, getting along with the people is not always easy. She has had to learn how to work and cooperate with many different lineups. But as she developed her acting skills and was offered new and exciting acting opportunities, she has been able to enjoy the freedom of economic independence. Now she can say that everything she possesses came from her own hard work, but the social prejudice against spouses from Southeast Asia or mainland China still occasionally hits a nerve. As a foreign spouse and a public figure under the spotlight, Mok needs to be cautious of what she says when confronted by malicious attacks. Huang often reminds her of the need to accept her own identity and be confident of who she is and what she’s done. That’s the best way to respond to criticism.

Huang Mu-yin (left) is perhaps the most influential person in Mok’s life. She is always there with support and encouragement.

Television hosting

From acting in films, to hosting TV programs like Far and Away, a show in which the host visits foreign spouses across Taiwan to share their stories, Mok faces a range of challenges. Hosting Far and Away requires articulate speaking skills and the ability to respond immediately and naturally, unlike acting where actors memorize what they’re going to say before the camera starts rolling. In her first interview program, she was quietly listening to the interviewee talk, but she couldn’t think of any questions to ask, even though the program director was trying to give her hints off camera. Mok’s Mandarin is quite good these days, but when she met an interviewee from mainland China with an authentic Beijing accent, they both became lost, creating a lot of fun.

As Mok has a similar background and experience to other immigrants, she well understands their hardships living in Taiwan. Each new personality is different, so Mok tries to tune in to their feelings, giving them permission to open up their hearts and tell their real-life stories in front of the camera. Mok has also traveled with some interviewees to revisit their hometowns abroad. This is often a very moving experience, and tears are not uncommon when they meet parents whom they may not have seen for many years.

Nyonya’s Taste of Life made Mok a well-known and well-loved face among Taiwan’s new immigrant community, but her role as Rosemary in Zone Pro Site let everyone know that Mok, a foreign spouse from Indonesia, is not only capable of acting, but also cooking. Director Chen Yu-hsun hints in the film that experts are hidden in every community. Mok is a prime example. Anyone can become an expert; all it takes is hard work and dedication, whatever your ethnic or other status. As Mok says: “If you work hard, there is an audience waiting for you.”

Mok and her daughter have the same birthday and share the same fresh personality. It seems too that the daughter has inherited her mother’s acting talent.