Hong Kong actress Cecilia Cheung Pak-chi has been sued by her former agent for HK$12.76 million (US$1.65 million) and accused of breaching two contracts.
The Hong Kong-Australian artist, 40, was said to have skipped work on three movies arranged by AEG Entertainment Group Limited and its president Yu Yuk-hing, according to a High Court filing.
Cheung first gained fame in a television commercial for lemon tea in 1998, when she caught the attention of filmmaker and actor Stephen Chow Sing-chi.
She became a household name after being cast as a young nightclub hostess in Chow’s hit film King of Comedy, in 1999. She married singer Nicholas Tse Ting-fung in 2006 but the couple divorced in 2011. They have two sons.
Court documents stated Cheung signed two performance contracts with AEG and Yu in 2011 and 2012 respectively.
Lawyers for the claimants said Cheung was given more than HK$42 million in advance payment on condition she agreed to appear in six movies during her eight-year partnership with the company, but she had broken her contractual promises since mid-2015.
Lawyers are demanding restitution of HK$10 million to AEG and HK$2.76 million to Yu, together with details on Cheung’s earnings in connection with her entertainment career from May 2015 to the end of the contracts on July 9 last year.
Terms of the contracts and details of Cheung’s alleged breach were not disclosed in the court documents filed on Thursday. A hearing date is yet to be fixed.
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