Huang Yu-chun was born on November 16 1939 in Shantou, Republic of China, known by her final stage name Ivy Ling Po, is a retired Hong Kong actress and Chinese opera singer. She is best known for a number of mega-hit Huangmei opera films in the 1960s, especially The Love Eterne (1963) which made her an Asian superstar overnight. She played an important role in the entertainment industry for preserving the Huangmei opera art form. She has used many names in her past. When she was a young child, she was sold to a family in Xiamen (Amoy), where she took on the name Jun Haitang and worked as a domestic maid. After reaching preadolescence, her foster mother forced her to enter the Hong Kong movie industry to exploit her. She first acted in Amoy Hokkien films under the stage name Xiaojuan, later in Cantonese films under the stage name Shen Yan, before finally entering the Shaw Brothers Studio to act in Mandarin films as (Ivy) Ling Po and rising to superstardom. Ivy Ling Po was born in Shantou, China and resided at Xiamen for a time before moving to Hong Kong. Her first screen appearance was in the Ha-Yuen movie Love of Young People (1951) at the age of twelve under the name of Xiao Juan with the Amoy movie company. Besides appearing in more than 50 Hokkien movies, she also dubbed for other movie companies and particularly Huangmei Operas for Shaw Brothers. She was discovered by Li Han-hsiang while dubbing for the Shaw Brothers' opera Dream of the Red Chamber and cast as Liang Shanbo in The Love Eterne in 1962 with Betty Loh Ti. The judges at the 2nd Golden Horse Awards were so impressed by her performance that they created a special award for her citing "Outstanding Performance". One year later, Ivy Ling Po took home the coveted title of Asian Movie Queen when she won the "Best Actress" award at the 11th Asian Film Festival for her superlative performance in Lady General Hua Mu-lan. She would add the "Most Versatile Talent" award to her collection when she won it at the 12th Asian Film Festival a year later for her role as a young prince in The Grand Substitution and a scholar in The Mermaid. She became the leading figure in the Huangmei Opera genre and was usually cast in male roles. Every year without fail, Ivy Ling Po would make the list of the Top Ten stars in Hong Kong in polls conducted by magazines and newspapers. Indeed, she was at no. 1 for many years in annual polls conducted by Cinemart magazine.

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