Canadian MCI Winners

Since the inception of the Miss Chinese International Pageant in 1988, Canada has had strong representation, winning 10 of 23 titles (Go Canada!) Among Canadian cities, Vancouver is the most successful, capturing 6 titles and producing recognizable names such as Bernice Liu, Linda Chung, Leanne Li and Eliza Sum.

Here are the winners (since 2002) hailing from Canada:

2001 – Bernice Liu (1^st) was the first winner from Vancouver and her win would mark the beginning of Vancouver’s dominance of the MCI competition. She was immediately cast in Virtues of Harmony, earning her widespread recognition. She was put on the fast-track to stardom with a lead role in only her third drama (Survivor's Law); however, she left TVB in 2011. She is now filming for Mainland productions and HKTV.

2002 – Vancouver became the first (and so far, only) city to produce consecutive MCI winners with the crowning of Shirley Zhou (1^st). Also from Canada was Christie Bartram (3^rd) from Toronto. Neither went on to a career in the entertainment industry.

2004 – Linda Chung (1^st) hula-hooped her way through the Vancouver and MCI pageants. Following in Bernice’s footsteps, Linda got a role in Virtues of Harmony II and took on lead roles shortly after that. Now, she has established herself as a top fadan at TVB. She has also launched a music career, releasing three major discs and a compilation.

2005 – Leanne Li (1^st) became the fourth Vancouver winner in five years. She beat out favourites Fala Chen from New York and Kate Tsui from Hong Kong to take home the MCI crown. However, she has yet to attain top fadan status like Fala or Kate. She has only been playing secondary characters in dramas and is still awaiting a breakthrough role. She is currently dating fellow TVB actor Wong Cho Lam. 

2008 – Sherry Chen (3^rd) from Toronto had minor roles in a handful of TVB dramas, before she changed careers to become a sales and marketing manager at Hong Kong Airlines. She has returned to TVB to film, quite fittingly, in Triumph in the Skies II. She has an impressive academic background, with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto (same school as me!) and has studied at Oxford and Hong Kong U.

 

2009 – I took particular notice of Christine Kuo (1^st) because she took home an astounding five awards from the Toronto pageant. She easily captured the MCI crown, and is now an up-and-rising star at TVB, with notable roles in Tiger Cubs and Ghetto Justice II. Cici Chen (3^rd) from Vancouver is currently signed with Canada’s Fairchild Television.

 
2010 – Eliza Sam (1^st) from Vancouver has seen her stock rise rapidly ever since her role in Divas in Distress. She scored 3 nominations at the TVB awards in just her first year and is labelled as one of the new generation “goddesses”. Candy Chang (3^rd) from Toronto also garnered recognition with a popular role in The Hippocratic Crush, but faces an uncertain future after being embroiled in a drug-trafficking scandal. Eliza and Candy are currently collaborating in The Hippocratic Crush II.

2013 – Congratulations to Gloria Tang (1^st) from Vancouver. We will see what future awaits her.


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I got a reply from Bernice Liu!