Reaching For The Stars

"Reaching For The Stars" (traditional Chinese: 真命天女; pinyin: zhēn míng tiān nǚ) is a Taiwanese drama broadcasted by CTS. This drama casts Taiwanese girl-group S.H.E, Anthony Guo, Chen Zhi Kai, and many others. The soundtrack was released in late 2005, the female leads S.H.E also contributed to the soundtrack. "Reaching For The Stars" aired its pilot episode during the final episode of the famous "The Prince Turned Into A Frog" (王子變青蛙) series. The average rating of the pilot episode in "Reaching For The Stars" was about 1.17, while the final episode of "The Prince Turned Into A Frog" set a 2005 record for the highest average episode rating (6.93) and the highest episode rating (11.35). "Reaching For The Stars" only received mediocre television ratings. However, the lead actress Ella was nominated for Best Actress at the 41st Golden Bell Awards in 2006.

Cast

Ella Chen as Ren Jie 任潔

Hebe Tian as Shen Xiao Rou 沈孝柔

Selina Ren as Zhou Xin Lei/Lei Lei 周心蕾/蕾蕾

Anthony Guo as Lian Zheng Hao 梁正浩

Chen Zhi Kai as Xiao Ya Wei 蕭亞為

Yu Jin as Ren Ying Zhi

Xu Gui Ying as Mrs. Zhou

Lin Wei as Liu Shi Qiang

Di Zhi Jie as Chen Kai 陳凱

Chen Yu Mei as Mrs. Xiao

Zhang Fu Jian as Head Policeman

ynopsis

Ren Jie, Zhou Xinlei and Shen Xiaorou are three girls who were born on the same day (February 14th) but led very different lives. On their 22nd birthday, they were brought together.

Xinlei is the stepdaughter of Mr. Zhou, whom has always been there to fix all of her mistakes. However, her stepfather suffered a heart attack and died. Mr. Zhou secretly left behind a will, his mansion and money would be given to his wife and stepdaughter, and all of his company stocks would be given to his missing birth daughter. Upon hearing this, the executive vice chairman, Zheng Hao, hired Ren Jie to pretend to be the missing daughter. If Ren Jie agreed, he would be able to control the entire company. Of course, Jie agreed because she needed the money to help her ill brother.

Meanwhile, policewoman Xiaorou was upset because the pervert she had previous arrested was released on bail. She went to look for him and beat him to a pulp. This resulted in a confrontation by her superior, she got so angry that she quit the job. After, she applied to be a security guard at Zhou Group because she needed to take care of her ailing grandmother, and was eventually hired as Ren Jie's bodyguard.

Xinlei is in love with Zheng Hao, but so is Ren Jie. In order to protect Xinlei from getting hurt, she keeps a distance from Zheng Hao. Unfortunately for Xinlei, Zheng Hao finds himself falling for Ren Jie. Xinlei eventually finds out that Ren Jie is an imposter, however, she is still thankful towards her. As a result, Xinlei destroys the evidence that could potentially put Ren Jie in jail.

The three girls eventually meet again at Xiaorou's wedding.

Trivia

*Many thought that this drama would cause rumours because Selina was involved with 3 actors - but her rumours with Luo Zhi Xiang made news instead.

*Hebe attracted the two actors. Zhi Kai said that he became giddy by her singing voice while Zhi Jie praised her about her inner depth and knowledge.

*Ella is popular with the guys. Yan Yun was a newcomer so she especially took care of him. They kept chatting off screen and on screen they had kissing scenes. But both denied being in love.

*S.H.E said that they were not used to wearing high heels. It was worse for Ella when coming to the dancing scene due to her tomboyish image. They also complained that the three actors were too tall for them.

*Hebe was teased as the 'NG Queen'.

*The drama was shown after "The Prince Who Turns Into A Frog".

*The ratings "Reaching For The Stars" never reached more than 3%.

*Ella burnt her ears and hair on a candle while filming. As a result, she did not film for two days. She also had to cut off about two centimetres of burnt hair from each side of her head.