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Vera Chok

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Vera Chok
Born
Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
EducationQueens College Oxford, The Poor School
OccupationActor / Writer
Years active2000–present
Websitewww.verachok.org

Vera Chok is a London-based actor and writer, who has featured in stage, screen and radio roles.

Early life and education

Chok was born in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, of Chinese ancestry. After attending Assunta Primary and Secondary schools in Malaysia and Abbots Bromley School in Staffordshire, she graduated from Queens College, Oxford, before training as an actor at the Poor School[1] in London and with Philippe Gaulier in Paris.

Career

Chok's main theatre roles have included parts in the award-winning Lucy Kirkwood play Chimerica (2013), as part of the original cast at the Almeida and Harold Pinter theatres[2] and in The World of Extreme Happiness (The Shed at the National Theatre, 2013), in which she co-starred with Katie Leung. Chok played the part of Ming Ming, a female migrant worker, in a production about the world of migrant workers in rapidly emerging modern China.[3] Vera Chok also appeared in the TV miniseries version of Chimerica on Channel 4 in 2019, alongside Katie Leung.

In 2015, Chok appeared in Nicholas Hytner's final production as artistic director for the National Theatre, Tom Stoppard's The Hard Problem.[4] The play was Stoppard's first for the theatre since 2006 and a special screening was broadcast live to cinemas. She subsequently had roles in the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company production of The Winter's Tale at the Garrick Theatre in late 2015 [5][6] and an associated work, Terence Rattigan's Harlequinade, also at the Garrick, which humorously depicts a postwar CEMA-sponsored theatrical troop at a provincial theatre in Brackley making a hash of Romeo and Juliet and "the intrigues and dalliances of the company members".[7]

Chok was nominated in the 2015 BBC Audio Drama Awards (Best Debut Performance In An Audio Drama)[8] for her performance in the BBC Radio 3 production of British Chinese novelist Xiaolu Guo's first play, Dostoevsky And The Chickens (2014), in which she co-starred.[9] In Liao Yimei's comedy drama Rhinoceros in Love, also for Radio 3, she plays the beautiful Mingming, the object of a zookeeper's longing, in a performance described by the Sunday Times as 'bewitching'.[10]

She appeared in Jingo (2008, Finborough Theatre, London) and played the lead role of Lila in the stage adaptation of Philip Pullman's The Firework-Maker's Daughter (2011, Theatre by the Lake) - described by The Stage as a 'poignant performance'.[11]

In addition, Chok has appeared in a number of independent and main release films, in the long-running ITV series Coronation Street and in TV dramas for the BBC, Netflix and Sky.

Whatsonstage.com named her one of "15 theatre faces to look out for in 2015".[12] Asked by the magazine to give her advice on International Women's Day, Chok said "Play the long game: stay open, generous, and keep developing your craft."[13]

In 2016, she contributed a chapter to the widely publicised anthology of the personal accounts of members of immigrant and ethnic minorities in the UK, 'The Good Immigrant'.[14] Writing about her experiences as a Malaysian immigrant in Britain in the Guardian during Black History Month, Chok commented on the invisibility of 'East Asian' groups in Britain: "In the UK media, we don’t see south Asians portrayed in a way that reflects their position as the largest racial minority group in the UK (3 million to 1.9 million black British). East Asians, the third-largest and fastest-growing racial group at 1.2 million, people bear the damning “model minority” label which isolates them from other people of colour, and condemns them to an invisibility where violence against them is ignored."[15] Writing in British Chinese journal Neehao in 2017, she urged British Chinese and East Asian actors not to take on parts that reinforce anti-China sentiment at a time when " ...asians in America, in LIBERAL states, are being beaten up because of anti-China rhetoric from D(onald) T(rump)."[16]

Producing

In 2010, Chok founded saltpeter, an independent theatre company. She produced and starred in their opera production Tonseisha - The Man Who Abandoned the World (2014 - Studio, Central Saint Martins), which is adapted from the play by Erik Patterson.[17] In the work, which features opera, dance and theatre, Chok played Yukiko, a Japanese woman haunted by the losses of her father and Beat writer Richard Brautigan. In 2011, she founded the Brautigan Book Club, which stimulates creative explorations based on Brautigan's work.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2007 Heartless Lily London Film School, Sasha Collington
2007 The Games Athlete Audience Award, East End Film Festival (2008), Optimistic Productions, Hilary Powell
2008 Son Dancer Sister Films, Daniel Mulloy
2010 The Heights Mrs Watson BBC/Shorthouse, Sue Dunderdale
2011 Random 11 Candace VertigoHeights, TS Ukpo
2012 Alice 3 Alice VertigoHeights, TS Ukpo
2012 After the World Ended Anna VertigoHeights, TS Ukpo
2012 Panic Ling White Night Films, Sean Spencer
2013 The Riot Club (released September 2014) Banker Blueprint, Lone Scherfig
2014 Alice in the City (working title) Alice TS Ukpo
2014 Lucky 13 Mallory TS Ukpo
2015 Miss You Already Chang Zhe Tzung New Sparta/S Films, Catherine Hardwicke
2016 Simana VertigoHeights, TS Ukpo
2017 The Mummy Prodigium Tech Universal Pictures, Alex Kurtzman
2018 Christopher Robin Margaret King (Train Passenger 1) Walt Disney Pictures, Marc Forster
2018 London Unplugged Laura

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1990 Selamat Pagi Malaysia (Good Morning Malaysia) Presenter
2009 Future Perfect (pilot) Sarah Vertigo Heights, TS Ukpo
2010 Hacket Hill (pilot) Spittlelick Drowning Bee Productions, Dominic St Clair
2012 Coronation Street Moira Bayley ITV Granada, David Kester. Episode 8029.
2017 Chewing Gum Penelope E4, Michaela Coel. Series 2, Episode 2: 'I need some company'.[18]
2018 Collateral Jill Leong BBC2 / Netflix, George S. J. Faber and The Forge. Episode 3.
2018 Fortitude Shen Sky Atlantic / Amazon, Tiger Aspect Productions / Fifty Fathoms. Season 3.
2019 Chimerica Shen Channel 4, Playground Entertainment, written by Lucy Kirkwood, produced by Colin Callender, Sophie Gardiner, Adrian Sturges.
2020 Cobra Air traffic controller (episodes 1.1 and 1.6) Sky One, written by Ben Richards, directed by Hans Herbots.

Radio

Year Title Role Notes
2014 Dostoevsky and the Chickens Nieu BBC Radio 3, Emma Harding
2014 Brief Lives (Season 7, Episode 1)[19] Anh BBC Radio 4, Tom Fry / Sharon Kelly
2014 Rhinoceros in Love [20] Mingming BBC Radio 3, Emma Harding
2017 Inspector Chen [21] Detective Hong BBC Radio 4, Joy Wilkinson

Theatre

Year Title Role Notes
2000 The Winter's Tale (by William Shakespeare) Time Toured Japan with OUDS
2007 When the Lights Went Out Samina Tara Arts UK Tour, Vik Sivalingam
2008 Jingo by Charles Wood Shirley Finborough Theatre, Primavera Productions
2009 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, adapted from the translation by Simon Armitage Guinevere / The Green Lady New Perspectives (UK tour), Daniel Buckroyd
2010 Mansfield Park and Ride Fanny Fitztightly/Lucy Bonnet Eastern Angles, Ivan Cutting
2010 Uncle Vanya (by Anton Chekhov) Yelena Sturdy Beggars, Vik Sivalingam
2010 The Death of Tintagel Ygraine saltpeter, Vik Sivalingam
2011 Talking in Bed Nadia Theatre503, Cecily Boys
2011 The Fever Brighton Fringe, saltpeter, Gary Merry
2011 The Firework-Maker's Daughter (theatre adaptation) Lila Theatre by the Lake, Stefan Escreet
2012 Upstairs (rehearsed reading) Noi Finborough Theatre, Steve Keyworth
2013 Chimerica (by Lucy Kirkwood) Mary Chang/Michelle Almeida Theatre, Harold Pinter Theatre, Sonia Friedman Productions, Lyndsey Turner
2013 The World of Extreme Happiness Xiao Li / Ming - Ming / Qing Shu Min National Theatre, Michael Longhurst
2014 Twelfth Night (by William Shakespeare) Maria Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park, Max Webster
2015 The Hard Problem (by Tom Stoppard) Bo National Theatre, Nicholas Hytner
2015 The Winter's Tale (by William Shakespeare) Dorcas Garrick Theatre, Kenneth Branagh
2015 Harlequinade (by Terence Rattigan) Miss Fishlock Garrick Theatre, Kenneth Branagh
2018 The Outsider (L’Étranger) (adapted by Ben Okri) Marie Print Room at the Coronet, Abbey Wright
2019 The Paper Man, Improbable (artistic director Lee Simpson), directed by Tanuja Amarasuriya. Co-creator and actor Soho Theatre

References

  1. ^ "WHO'S THIS MALAYSIAN ACTRESS WHO'S ACTING WITH JAMES BONDS' BOSS?". Cil!sos.my. 2015. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  2. ^ "Spotlight Actresses 2013/2014". Spotlight. 2014. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
  3. ^ "The World of Extreme Happiness: A Story of China's Urban Migrants". The Culture Trip - China. 2014. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
  4. ^ "Casting, Plot and Dates Announced for National Theatre Production of Tom Stoppard's The Hard Problem". Playbill.com. 2014. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
  5. ^ "The Winter's Tale". Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company. 2015. Archived from the original on 20 February 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  6. ^ "The Winter's Tale/Harlequinade (Garrick Theatre)". WhatsOnStage.com. 2015. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  7. ^ "Harlequinade". Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company. 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  8. ^ "Doctor Who and Ian McKellen among BBC Audio Drama Award nominations". Digital Spy. 18 November 2014. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  9. ^ "The Wire - Dostoevsky and the Chickens". BBC. 2014. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
  10. ^ "Radio Reviews "Pick of the day"". The Sunday Times. London. 19 October 2014.
  11. ^ "The Firework-Maker's Daughter". The Stage. 5 December 2011. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
  12. ^ "15 theatre faces to look out for in 2015". Whatsonstage.com. 2015. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  13. ^ "26 leading ladies offer their advice on International Women's Day". Whatsonstage.com. 2015. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  14. ^ "Sitting comfortably? The Good Immigrant will change that". The Spectator. 2016. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  15. ^ "Is political blackness still relevant today?". The Guardian. 2016. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  16. ^ "British Chinese/East Asian actors: Don't take on jobs that reinforce anti-China sentiment". Neehao.co.uk. 2017. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  17. ^ "Malaysia has Talents - Abroad". New Straits Times. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
  18. ^ "IMDB, 'Chewing Gum - I just need some company'". IMDB. 2017. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  19. ^ "Radio Times - Brief Lives, Season 7, Episode 1". Radio Times. 2014. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  20. ^ "Drama on 3: Rhinoceros In Love". BBC Media Centre. 2014. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
  21. ^ "BBC Radio 4 Drama: Inspector Chen, 'Red Mandarin Dress'". 2017. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
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