They say age is but a number, but is it really? Barbie Hsu instantly became a household name after playing Shan Cai in Meteor Garden almost twenty years ago. After she wed businessman Wang Xiaofei in 2011 and starting having kids, Barbie has not been in the spotlight much with her last drama series being Summer’s Desire in 2010.
The actress currently appears on the Tencent online reality show Friends on the Go 我們是真正的朋友 where she goes on adventures with her sister Dee Hsu and their two friends Aya Liu and Mavis Fan in the country of Myanmar. Amidst the jokes and laughter, Barbie reveals why she hasn’t been able to continue acting.
Although Barbie has expressed her willingness to act, there has not been any role that she has found to be suitable. On one episode of the show, Barbie was enjoying a meal with her friends when Dee said that she has been her crazy self for 41 years already. It would seem that age is a sensitive issue for Barbie since she tells her younger sister to refrain from talking about age.
Even though Dee assures Barbie that age doesn’t matter at all, Barbie admits, “So I don’t get roles anymore.” Barbie expresses her frustrations and says that everyone wants her to play a mother. And the most outrageous for her was when she was asked to play Darren Wang’s mother which she found a bit over the top. Barbie is 42 while Darren is 28.
Dee advises that a real actor shouldn’t think that way because a lot of moms win awards. Although the jokester in her admitted that she couldn’t think of an example at the moment.
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Anonymous
So the conclusion is, she doesn't get roles because she is so picky about which role to play.
Unknown
It probably had to do with timing. We are just now seeing actresses around her age getting lead roles more often which is great because of age discrimination. Charmaine Sheh who is heading towards her 50s is in the peak of her career is is getting many lead role offers. The problem is she has been out of the industry for so long so her fame isn't the same as it used to be.She's expecting to get role that would be offered to actresses who are in the limelight. She pretty much has to start all over again. Since she's no longer seen as profitable. If she took on many 'support' roles even if she didn't like them. She still has many dedicated fans and she would probably be in the limelight again which would get her the roles she wants. To me it seems she's not accepting the reality of the situation she's in. If she can't get the type of roles she wants she will have to work for it again cause its been a long time.