Tony Leung Chiu-wai

At 61 years old, Tony Leung Chiu-wai has this physical status:

Tony Leung Chiu-wai (born 27 June 1962) is a Hong Kong actor.

He is one of Asia's most popular and internationally recognized actors, and was named "Small Tiger" by five Tiger Generals of televisionB.

He has received many international acting awards, including the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor for his role in Wong Kar-wai's film In the Mood for Love.

Leung is widely respected as the best native Hong Kong actor of his generation.

He has been rated one of "Asia's Best Actors of All Time" by CNN, with whom he has appeared in seven films including Chungking Express (1994), Happy Together (1998), In the Mood for Love (2000), and Grandmaster (2013).

He appeared in three Venice Film Festival Golden Lion-winning films, including A City of Sadness (1989), Cyclo (1995) and Lust, Caution (2007), directed by Ang Lee.

Leung also stars in the Academy Award-nominated film Hero, and the box office celebrates Hard Boiled (1992) and Infernal Affairs (2002).

Leung was the Mandarin in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and will appear in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021). Leung received the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for his film In the Mood for Love.

He is also a seven-time winner at the Hong Kong Film Awards and three-time winner at the Golden Horse Film Awards, his highest honor in the Best Actor category.

Leung is regarded as "undoubtedly one of the most successful and well-known Hong Kong actors of his time," the 2002 book "East Asian Film Stars" says of him.

Early life

Leung was born in Hong Kong to a line of Taishan, Guangdong ancestry. Leung's childhood was punctuated by parents' quarrels and money arguments. Leung's character changed as his father, a prolific gambler, left the family when he was eight years old; he and his younger sister were taken up by their mother.

Leung was a small, quiet child. He has stated that his childhood experiences paved the way for his acting career, enabling him to freely express his emotions:

Leung went to private school, but he had to leave at the age of 15 due to financial difficulties. He was a well-behaved adolescent who was very close to his mother. In an interview about Hero's origins, he says his mother is his definition of a hero for raising two children alone.

Personal life

Leung dated Margie Tsang, a fellow TVB actress, in an on-again, off-again relationship from 1982-1988. Leung briefly dated Kitty Lai, his co-star in New Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre, before returning to Tsang for a brief period. Leung and Tsang married in 1988 and have been in a close friendship with Carina Lau since 1989.

Leung and Carina Lau are two of Hong Kong's most popular couples. They started dating in 1989 after working together on a Hong Kong run For Your Wife and dated for 19 years before marrying in Bhutan in 2008. They had known each other since The Clones in 1984, 1985, 1988), Days of Being Wild (1991), and 2046 (2005).

Lau was kidnapped for several hours during Days of Being Wild's filming in 1990. Leung departed from the film to spend more time with her. "Originally, there were plans for Days of Being Wild I and II, and the scene starring Leung was supposed to be the opening scene of the second film," Wong Kar-wai said. But two things happened, one of which was that Days of Being Wild didn't do well in Hong Kong, so the designers said, 'No Part 2'.' Lau's kidnapping was the other reason.

The couple married in Bhutan on July 21, 2008, in royal style. Wong Kar-wai curated the wedding reception, which was attended by many celebrities including Faye Wong, Li Yapeng, Bridgitte Lin, Cecilia Yip, Ti Lung, and Chang Chen. Its media mania in Hong Kong, with companies investing hundreds of thousands of dollars to attend the wedding party.

Faye Wong and Li Yapeng took the couple to India in 2007 to visit the 17th Karmapa, according to Ming Pao Daily News. The Karmapa's counsel helped them resolve a personal crisis, and he also suggested Bhutan as a wedding venue.

Leung is a Buddhist. He has contributed to the construction of Buddhist monasteries, performed his marriage in a Buddhist ceremony, attends Buddhist meetings, and has been seen doing Buddhist palm greetings. While I Wait (2016), he appeared pro bono in Bhutanese Buddhist film Hema Hema: Sing Me a Song While I Wait (2016). In 2016, he was seen attending a function in India that was also attended by members of the Tibetan government-in-exile, which prompted Chinese officials' consternation.

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Television career

Leung continued to work in a variety of capacities, first as a grocer's runner in his uncle's shop and then as a home appliance salesman in a Hong Kong shopping center. Stephen Chow, a young actor and comedian, inspired his decision to be an actor and remains a good friend at the age of 16.

He graduated from television channel TVB's acting class in 1982. TVB initially portrayed him as the host of a children's show 430 Space Shuttle, but then switched to drama roles, beginning with Soldier of Fortune (1982). He was quickly promoted to leading man in a slew of primetime films, including The Duke of Mount Deer (1984) and New Heavenly Sword (1986). Leung loved comedies during his television days; it was for these that he became well known. He was named as one of "TVB's Five Tigers" (their five up-and-coming male TV stars) in the 1980s, as well as Andy Lau, Felix Wong, Michael Miu, and Kent Tong.

In 1984 (later titled Police Cadet 84 to distinguish it from its two subsequent sequels), Leung starred in the immensely popular Police Cadet TV series (today it was shortened to Police Cadet 84). During its initial run, the series had an average viewership rating of 50% per episode. Leung played an outgoing young man who wants to be a police officer; Maggie Cheung, who began her career at the same time, was Leung's upstairs neighbor and love interest. Since then, they have worked together on The Yang's Saga (1991), Days of Being Wild (1991), Ashes of Time (1994), In the Mood for Love (1992), Hero (2002), and 2046 (2005). Leung, when interviewed by Wong Kar-wai, said that he considers Cheung to be his alter ego. "Maggie is a tenacious partner – one to waltz with." We don't spend a lot of time together because we like to keep some mystery between us. Whenever I see her, I learn something new about her."

With his last television drama, Ode to Gallantry, he left the network to concentrate on his film career after eight years with TVB.

Film career

Leung is considered by many to be the most well-known contemporary actor in Greater China. He first caught international notice in Hou Hsiao-hsien's 1989 film A City of Sadness, which took home the Venice Golden Lion. In the mid 1980s in Hong Kong, he was already famous for his television shows and films.

Leung's initial switch from television to film in the late 1980s and early 1990s is considered a low point in his career. He had won two HKFA Best Supporting Actor awards in quick succession, but he was struggling to establish himself as a leading man on the big screen. Leung refused to be nominated for a third time in the Support Actor category for Hard Boiled in 1992 because he had a leading role in the film. Director John Woo and co-star Chow Yun-fat all supported his movement. Later, the Hong Kong Film Awards decided to change its nomination guidelines to include multiple leading roles from the same film. Leung also stated that before Days of Being Wild (1990), he had lost interest in acting and even considered quitting, but that working with Wong Kar-wai and seeing his role in the final film changed his mind. With two Best Actor Awards at the Golden Horse Awards and Hong Kong Film Awards for Chungking Express (1994), the second actor to do so after Danny Lee in 1984. In 2003, he repeated the feat with Infernal Affairs. Leung, who started with Chungking Express and was among the eight best actor awards at the two most coveted Chinese language film awards, as well as a coveted Best Actor award at Cannes, earned eight Best Actor awards.

Leung often collaborates with director Wong Kar-wai and appears in several of his films. He was featured in Chungking Express (1994), a gay Chinese expatriate living in Argentina in Happy Together (1997), and a self-controlled adulter of adultery in In the Mood for Love (2000), for which he received the Best Actor award at Cannes. He revived his role in In the Mood for Love as a new Chow Mo-wan in 2046 (2004) and spent five years in Wing Chun to prepare for his role as Ip Man in Wong's The Grandmaster. Jet Tone Film Production in Wong was also Leung's senior production company for many years until 2018.

Leung has appeared in three Venice Golden Lion award winning films, A City of Sadness (1989), Cyclo (1995), and Lust, Caution (2007), extending his reputation in the arthouse cinema world. He was a member of the jury of the 64th Berlin International Film Festival in 2014, and in 2017, Leung was invited to become a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. At the 27th Busan International Film Festival in 2022, he was named Best Asian Filmmaker of the Year. Robert De Niro and Brad Pitt are admirers of his work, and Leung has been dubbed Asia's equivalent to Clark Gable due to their romantic leading roles. His place in Asian cinema has also been compared to Cary Grant, or a combination of many A-list Hollywood celebrities.

Leung is widely believed to be a method actor. In interviews, he has said that separating the characters from himself often, starting with his early TV appearances. He usually takes long breaks after filming to recover from a mentally demanding role, and the characters' remnants remain years later. Carina Lau's voice, he has said, would bring him right back to life.

Leung admits that he has a tendency to stick in his comfort zone and work with trusted teams and filmmakers. He has worked with Wong Kar-wai eight times (including See You Tomorrow (2016), which Wong wrote about), three times with John Woo, three times with Derek Yee, and twice with Hou Hsien. He has also worked with the Infernal Affairs (Andrew Lau, Alan Mak, Felix Chong) on three other films: Confession of Pain (2006), The Silent War (2012), and Hong Kong's forthcoming Once Upon a Time. Leung has become more adventurous and eager to try new things in recent years; this includes working with new writers and acting in his first Hollywood role.

Leung said he had no plans to make a Hollywood debut in an interview with Senses of Cinema in 2001, but that he would consider it for the right cause. "I have a few more choices on the character I can play (in Hong Kong). In Hollywood films, the role for Asian actors and actresses is very restricted. Chow Yun-fat and Jet Li were among the first performers to make their own debuts in the 1990s. In 2005, he signed with an American agent with the intention of appearing in a Hollywood film. Leung will appear in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings as the villain in this film, according to producer Kevin Feige, who made his Hollywood debut at the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con. Wenwu, Leung's character, is a mix of Fu Manchu and the Mandarin. His role was widely praised at the premiere on September 3, 2021.

Leung had a fruitful Cantopop and Mandarin pop singing career in the 1990s, but he shifted to acting. He still sings for his films; Infernal Affairs, which he performed with Andy Lau, is one of the Top 10 Songs of 2003 and has received the 22nd Hong Kong Film Awards' Best Original Film Song award.

Several Hong Kong commentators argued that Leung's explanation of the Tianmen Square crackdown was vital to maintain stability. Leung made a single observation in response that he may have been misquoted and his assertion taken out of context.

Leung is a Cantonese, English, and Mandarin speaker. Lust, Caution (2007) is the first film where he used his own voice in a Mandarin-speaking role, and Shang-chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) is his first English-speaking role, despite being fluent in the language.

In 2021, Leung and Andy Lau finished filming Once Upon a Time in Hong Kong, inspired by the Carrier Group's demise in the 1980s. This will be the pair's first interaction after Infernal Affairs III in 2003. Felix Chong, who had previously co-written the Infernal Affairs trilogy, is the author and director. Leung will appear in the World War II spy drama Anonymous, directed by Cheng Er and produced by Bona Film Group in 2022.

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