Karen Mok is one of the leading Chinese actresses and pop singers. She has won the Golden Melody Award three times, has released over 20 solo CDs, acted in over 40 movies and has over 15 million followers on Chinese microblogging site Weibo.
Biography
She was born on 2 June 1970 as Karen Joy Morris in Hong Kong and is the sister of Dr. Trevor Morris, and a granddaughter of Alfred Morris, the first principal of King's College, Hong Kong. She speaks English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Italian, German and French. She is of mixed ancestry: her father is half-Chinese and half-Welsh, while her mother is half-Chinese, quarter-Persian, and quarter-German. Mok attended Diocesan Girls' School from primary to secondary grade in Hong Kong. When she was a F.5 student, she received the 1st Hong Kong Outstanding Students Awards. In 1987 she won a scholarship for the United World College of the Adriatic near Trieste from which she graduated in 1989 with the International Baccalaureate. She subsequently studied Italian Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London. In her initial Hollywood productions such as Around the World in 80 Days Mok used her birth name Karen Joy Morris, but went to using her stage name Karen Mok for all subsequent productions such as Man of Tai Chi . She also supplied the voice of Princess Kida for the Cantonese dub of Walt Disney's . Mok played the female lead in the 10th anniversary Asian tour of the hit Broadway musicalRent in the lead role of Mimi in 2005 and 2006. Mok carried the torch at the 2008 Summer Olympics held in Beijing and performed at the opening and closing ceremonies. In October 2008, she launched her own brand of perfume in Hong Kong. Mok conducted a number of international concert tours, the most recent ones being The Original Karen Mok Show, The Age of MOKnificence and the world tour Regardez. She was the first Chinese pop artist to give solo concerts in Madrid and Milan. For her tour Regardez, she also acted as concert director. In June 2018, she started her Ultimate tour in Shanghai, celebrating her 25th anniversary in show business.. In May 2019, she announced that the Ultimate tour would be her last major concert tour as she wants to focus on other artistic activities going forward. As part of this concert tour, she also performed in Lhasa at an altitude of 3650m, which brought her the world record for the concert performed at the highest altitude ever. Mok has completed endorsement agreements with leading brands such as Canon, Kappa, Cadillac, Clear, Chow Tai Fook, Lux, Titus, and Mandarin Oriental. In 2016 and 2017, she starred in the two reality TV productions "Up Idol", of Hunan Television and "The Next", season 1 and season 2, of Dragon Television. In 2018, she signed a music deal with Sony Music, also launching her own music label, Mok-A-Bye Baby Records. Mok married her first boyfriend, German-born Johannes Natterer, at a church near Florence, Italy, on 1 October 2011. Mok has 3 step-children and spends her time between London and her international engagements.
Activism
Mok is a strong advocate for animals and animals rights and has been involved in numerous campaigns for this purpose. Amongst others, she has joined efforts to help bears in China whose bile is used for medicinal purposes and has been on an expedition with Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to demonstrate against culling of baby seals. She has also been involved with the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Asia-Pacific's. In 2007, Mok was involved with MTV EXIT, a campaign against human trafficking in Asia. She presented Traffic: An MTV EXIT Special, a documentary on trafficking. Karen currently serves as ambassador for UNICEF, SPCA, Animals Asia Foundation, Enlighten-Action for Epilepsy, Care for Children, and Roll Back Malaria. In 2016, she was awarded the title of the cultural ambassador of the Italian city of Bergamo, being the first Chinese artist to be awarded this title. In 2017, she announced the creation of the Morris Charity Initiative with the initial goal to raise money to provide scholarships for students at the United World College Changshu.
