Charmaine Sheh Has TVB's Biggest Pay Packet

It's an annual event in the Hong Kong TV world, the release of figures revealing who are the biggest earners at TVB, Hong Kong's premier TV channel. 2009's highest earner - according to this Singapore news report - was Charmaine Sheh (佘诗曼, pinyin: Shé Shīmàn) who appeared in two hit series during the year - Beyond the Realm of Conscience and You're Hired. The former Miss Hong Kong runner-up earned a reported HK$15.9 million, which may provide some consolation after she missed out on most of the major acting awards last year.

In second place was Raymond Lam (林峯, pinyin: Lín Fēng), earning an estimated HK$12 million in 2009. Despite taking a break from TVB appearances last year, the money continued to roll in however, thanks to a blossoming singing career, not to mention the income from his numerous endorsements. In third place was Michael Tse (谢天华, pinyin: Xiè Tiánhuá) whose career took off last year with his performance as gangster Laughing Gor in the TVB series E.U. He also appeared in You're Hired as well as the E.U spin-off movie Turning Point.

The Hong Kong media used to provide a top ten list of highest earners but so far I haven't been able to find it. The best I can do is a link to a Chinese-language news item on which the Singapore report seems to be based.