Gregory Charles Rivers

Gregory Charles Rivers (Chinese: 河國榮; Cantonese Yale: Hòh Gwok-wìhng; 30 April 1965 – 2 February 2024) was an Australian–Hong Kong actor. Rivers hailed from Gympie, Queensland, and attended medical school at University of New South Wales, where he was friends with students from Hong Kong who introduced him to Cantopop. After discontinuing his medical degree, he moved to Hong Kong.Two weeks after he landed, he ran into some band members of Alan Tam, whose driver he had been during a Sydney visit, and was invited to sing with him.As a debutant with a modicum of Cantonese, Rivers auditioned and was chosen for a Caucasian role at Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB). Rivers adopted the Chinese name Ho Kwok-wing, the surname meaning River and the given name being that of his idol Leslie Cheung. He went on to become TVB's staple stereotypical 'gweilo' (white person) for two decades.In 2005, Rivers appeared on stage in an opera production playing the role of Teresa Teng's boyfriend.In October 2007, Rivers was one of the four non-Chinese TV actors featured in an in-depth interview and feature story 'Hello Neighbour' in Muse, discussing his sense of cultural identity and how he saw his work.Rivers' stint with TVB ended in 2008.In a television interview aired on 19 March 2007 on TVB, Rivers mentioned his reason for learning Cantonese was his association with Hong Kong Cantonese-speaking friends during his time at the University of New South Wales. It was this close friendship and the songs of Leslie Cheung that sparked his interest in learning the language.

Rivers quipped that he was "TVB's token Caucasian for 20 years straight", having played many different stereotyped roles in more than 200 dramas for TVB. He was also a frequent YouTube poster, having his own prolific number of video clips of himself and his many colleagues within the Hong Kong media industry.His performance of the song "Forever ATV", which made fun of the apparent government support for Asia Television (the doomed Hong Kong No. 2 broadcast television station that was then on the brink of collapse and finally to be stripped of its broadcasting licence and close its doors) was awarded "Hong Kong's most popular male singer 2015" at the satirical "TVMost 1st Guy Ten Big Ging Cook Gum Cook Awards Distribution" (TVMost's First Top Ten Wonderful Songs, Golden Songs Awards Ceremony) in January 2016. His rendition of his own Cantonese rap song 香港地 (This Hong Kong) was welcomed as a defence of localism during difficult political times.In 2017, Gregory was diagnosed with skin cancer after finding a swelling on the right side of his ear. He underwent surgery and remained cancer-free thereafter. In 2018, he was diagnosed with arrhythmia. His heart condition was so serious that he had to undergo two rounds of surgery, accumulating a debt of HK$800,000.His body was discovered after he committed charcoal-burning suicide at Tai Au Mun village, on 2 February 2024. He was 58.