Taiwanese actors win best supporting accolades at Asian Film Awards

Hong Kong, March 17 (CNA) Lee Kang-sheng (李康生) and Yang Kuei-mei (楊貴媚), both from Taiwan, were crowned Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress, respectively, at the 18th Asian Film Awards held in Hong Kong on Sunday.

Lee took home the award for his performance in "Stranger Eyes" (默視錄), a thriller-drama produced by Singapore, Taiwan, France, and the United States, beating out Japan's Ken Mitsuishi and Sosuke Ikematsu, as well as Hong Kong's Chu Pak Hong and Philip Ng for the recognition.

Taking the stage after his win, Lee said he couldn't believe it was his name that was announced as all of the other nominees are so talented.

"This is the first time I've won Best Supporting Actor, even though I've won Best Actor many times," Lee said jokingly.

The 56 year-old Lee was acclaimed as Best Actor at Taiwan's 50th Golden Horse Award in 2013 and went on to win the Best Actor Award at the 56th Asia-Pacific Film Festival the same year.

Meanwhile, Yang won for Taiwanese drama "Yen and Ai-Lee" (小雁與吳愛麗), defeating Maggie Li Lin Lin from Hong Kong, Divya Prabha from India, Lim Ji-yeon from South Korea, and Kumi Takiuchi from Japan.

During her acceptance speech, Yang first thanked everyone at the awards ceremony in English.

Then in Mandarin, she said "Acting is the most passionate job I've had in my entire life."

"In every female role, I've experienced things I've never encountered before. It also enriched the journey that is my life. And such exposures were what enabled me to convey the worth of women through films," the 65-year-old actress said.

Both Lee and Yang are veterans of film awards, having previously won Best Actor and Best Actress titles at different editions of Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards.

They were both nominated at the 61st Golden Horse Awards last year, where Yang won Best Supporting Actress for her role in "Yen and Ai-Lee."

The 18th Asian Film Awards featured 16 awards that were contended by 30 films from 25 countries.

The awards ceremony also gave out five special accolades to actors and filmmakers for their contribution to Asian movies, of which Taiwanese actor Wu Kang-ren (吳慷仁) was honored with the Next Generation Award.