Chow Yun-fat (born 18 May 1955), previously known as Donald Chow, is a

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

actor. He is perhaps best known for his collaborations with filmmaker

John Woo John Woo Yu-Sen SBS (; born September 22, 1946) is a Hong Kong filmmaker, known as a highly-influential figure in the action film genre. He was a pioneer of heroic bloodshed films (a crime action film genre involving Chinese triads) and the gun ...

in the five Hong Kong action heroic bloodshed films: '' A Better Tomorrow'', '' A Better Tomorrow II'', '' The Killer'', '' Once a Thief'' and '' Hard Boiled'', and in the West for his roles as Li Mu-bai in ''

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ''Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'' is a 2000 wuxia film directed by Ang Lee and written for the screen by Wang Hui-ling, James Schamus, and Tsai Kuo-jung . The film features a cast of actors of Chinese ethnicity, including Chow Yun-fat, ...

'' and Sao Feng in '' Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End''. He mainly plays in

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super- ...

s and has won three

Hong Kong Film Awards The Hong Kong Film Awards (HKFA; ), founded in 1982, is an annual film awards ceremony in Hong Kong. The ceremonies are typically in April. The awards recognise achievement in various aspects of filmmaking, such as directing, screenwriting, ...

for

Best Actor Best Actor is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actors in a film, television series, television film or play. The term most often refers to the ...

and two

Golden Horse Awards The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards () is a film festival and awards ceremony held annually in Taiwan. It was founded in 1962 by the Government Information Office of the Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan. The awards ceremony is u ...

for

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

. Chow started his career in movies in 1976 with Goldig Films.

Early life and education

Chow was born in

Lamma Island Lamma Island, also known as Y Island or Pok Liu Chau or simply Pok Liu, is the third largest island in Hong Kong. Administratively, it is part of the Islands District. Name Lamma Island was named Lamma only because of a chart reading error by ...

, to Chow Yung-wan (), who worked on a

Shell Oil Company Shell USA, Inc. (formerly Shell Oil Company, Inc.) is the United States-based wholly owned subsidiary of Shell plc, a UK-based transnational corporation " oil major" which is amongst the largest oil companies in the world. Approximately 18,0 ...

tanker, and Chan Lai-fong (), who was a cleaning lady and vegetable farmer. Chow grew up in a farming community on

, in a house with no electricity. He woke up at dawn each morning to help his mother sell herbal jelly and Hakka tea-pudding (客家茶粿) on the streets; in the afternoons, he went to work in the fields. His family moved to

Kowloon Kowloon () is an urban area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. With a population of 2,019,533 and a population density of in 2006, it is the most populous area in Hong Kong, compared with Hong Kong Island and ...

when he was ten. At 17, Chow left school to help support the family by doing odd jobs including a bellboy, postman, camera salesman, and taxi driver. Chow's life started to change after college when he responded to a newspaper advertisement, and his actor-trainee application was accepted by TVB, the local

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the ea ...

. He signed a three-year contract with the studio and made his acting debut. Chow became a heartthrob and familiar face in soap operas that were exported internationally. According to his filmography, Chow made his debut in 1976 in various movies produced by Goldig Films, including ''Hot Blood'' (入冊). Goldig Films was founded by Gouw Hiap Kian and produced or distributed over 100 movies from 1972 to 1982. Goldig also invested in properties, including a cinema, and financial investments with substantial assets since the 1990s.

Career

Chow's first film contract was an exclusive acting contract with Goldig Films (note page 3). Chow appeared in the 1980 TV series ''

The Bund The Bund or Waitan (, Shanghainese romanization: ''Nga3thae1'', , ) is a waterfront area and a protected historical district in central Shanghai. The area centers on a section of Zhongshan Road (East Zhongshan Road No.1) within the former S ...

'' on TVB. The series, about the rise and fall of a gangster in 1930s

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...

, was a hit throughout Asia and made Chow a star. Although Chow continued his TV success, his goal was to become a film actor. However, his occasional ventures into low-budget films in the 1980s after ones by Goldig were disastrous. Most of Chow's movies produced by Goldig Films under exclusive contract in the 1970s achieved high gross revenues of over HK$ 1m per movie. These figures are higher than ones Chow acted in the early 1980s, including ''Modern Heroes'' (江湖檔案), ''Soul Ash'' (灰靈), ''The Bund (''上海灘), ''The Bund Part 2(''上海灘續集) . Note gross revenues under list of movie

Success finally came when he teamed up with film director

in the 1986 gangster action-melodrama '' A Better Tomorrow'', which swept the box offices in Asia and established Chow and Woo as megastars. ''A Better Tomorrow'' won him his first Best Actor award at the Hong Kong Film Awards. It was the highest-grossing film in Hong Kong history at the time, and set a new standard for Hong Kong gangster films. Taking the opportunity, Chow quit TV entirely. With his new image from ''A Better Tomorrow'', he made many more ' gun fu' or ' heroic bloodshed' films, such as '' A Better Tomorrow II'' (1987), ''

Prison on Fire ''Prison on Fire'' is a 1987 Hong Kong prison film directed by Ringo Lam and starring Chow Yun-fat and Tony Leung Ka-fai. Yiu (Tony Leung Ka Fai) is a young advertising executive in Hong Kong. One night, defending his father from attack, he acci ...

'' (1987), '' Prison on Fire II (1991)'', '' The Killer'' (1989), '' A Better Tomorrow 3'' (1990), '' Hard Boiled'' (1992) and '' City on Fire'' (1987), an inspiration for

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, dark humor, non-linear storylines, cameos, ensembl ...

's '' Reservoir Dogs''. Chow may be best known for playing honorable tough guys, whether cops or criminals, but he has also starred in comedies like '' Diary of a Big Man'' (1988) and ''

Now You See Love, Now You Don't ''Now You See Love, Now You Don't'' is a 1992 Hong Kong comedy film written and directed by Mabel Cheung and Alex Law. In this film, the chief character, played by Chow Yun-fat, who himself grew up in Lamma Island, consistently speaks the Wai ...

'' (1992) and romantic blockbusters such as '' Love in a Fallen City'' (1984) and '' An Autumn's Tale'' (1987), for which he was named Best Actor at the

. He brought together his disparate personae in the 1989 film '' God of Gamblers'', directed by the prolific Wong Jing, in which he was by turns a suave charmer, a broad comedian, and an action hero. The film surprised many, became immensely popular, broke Hong Kong's all-time box office record, and spawned a series of gambling films as well as several comic sequels starring

Andy Lau Andy Lau Tak-wah (; born 27 September 1961) is a Hong Kong actor, singer-songwriter and film producer. He has been one of Hong Kong's most commercially successful film actors since the mid-1980s, performing in more than 160 films while maint ...

and

Stephen Chow Stephen Chow Sing-chi (, born 22 June 1962), known professionally as Stephen Chow, is a Hong Kong filmmaker, former actor and comedian, known for '' Shaolin Soccer'' and '' Kung Fu Hustle''. Early life and education Stephen Chow was born in Hong K ...

. The often tough demeanour and youthful appearance of Chow's characters has earned him the nickname "Babyface Killer". Chow Yun Fat 2

The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' proclaimed Chow Yun-Fat "the coolest actor in the world". In the mid '90s, Chow moved to

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to duplicate his success in Asia. His first two films, ''

The Replacement Killers ''The Replacement Killers'' is a 1998 American action film directed by Antoine Fuqua in his feature film directorial debut, and starring Chow Yun-fat (his international film debut), Mira Sorvino, Michael Rooker and Kenneth Tsang. The film was rel ...

'' (1998) and '' The Corruptor'' (1999), were box office failures. In his next film ''

Anna and the King ''Anna and the King'' is a 1999 American biographical period drama film directed by Andy Tennant and written by Steve Meerson and Peter Krikes. Loosely based on the 1944 novel '' Anna and the King of Siam'', which gives a fictionalized accoun ...

'' (1999), Chow teamed up with

Jodie Foster Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster (born November 19, 1962) is an American actress and filmmaker. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, three British Academy Film Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and the hono ...

, but the film underperformed at the box office. Chow accepted the role of Li Mu-bai in the (2000) film ''

.'' It became a winner at both the international box office and the

Oscars The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

. In 2003, Chow came back to Hollywood and starred in '' Bulletproof Monk''. In 2004, Chow made a surprise cameo in director

Dayyan Eng Dayyan Eng, known as Wu Shixian in China (), born in Taiwan in 1975, is a Chinese-American filmmaker of Chinese, English, and Persian ancestry, who grew up in three continents. He studied film arts at the University of Washington and transferred t ...

's Chinese rom-com favourite '' Waiting Alone'', it was the first time he was in a mainland Chinese film. In 2006, he teamed up with

Gong Li Gong Li (Chinese: 巩俐; born 31 December 1965) is a Chinese actress. She starred in three of the four Chinese-language films that were nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. Gong was born in Shenyang, Liaonin ...

in the film '' Curse of the Golden Flower,'' directed by

Zhang Yimou Zhang Yimou (; born 2 April 1950) is a Chinese film director, producer, writer, actor and former cinematographer.Tasker, Yvonne (2002). "Zhang Yimou" i''Fifty Contemporary Filmmakers'' Routledge Publishing, p. 412. . Google Book Search. Retriev ...

. On 24 July 2001, Alex Gouw (Gouw Hiap Kian) published a statement in

South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remained ...

with some clarifications about a TVB interview with Chow Yun-Fat. In 2007, Chow played the pirate captain Sao Feng in '' Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End''. However, his part was omitted when the movie was shown in

mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the China, People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming Island, Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territorie ...

, where, according to Chinese unofficial sources, government censors felt that Chow's character "vilified and humiliated" Chinese people. In the poorly received film '' Dragonball Evolution'', Chow Yun-fat played Master Roshi. In 2014, Chow returned to Hong Kong cinema in ''

From Vegas to Macau ''From Vegas to Macau'' (), also known as ''The Man From Macau'' (), is a Hong Kong-Chinese crime comedy film directed by Wong Jing. The film stars Chow Yun-fat, Nicholas Tse, Chapman To and Jing Tian. The film was released during 2014 Chinese New ...

''. For the part, he lost 13 kg within 10 months. In 2015 and 2016, Chow reprised his role as Ken in the sequels '' From Vegas to Macau II'' and '' From Vegas to Macau III''. In 2018, he co-starred with Aaron Kwok in ''

Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital libr ...

'' which earned him another

nomination at the 38th Hong Kong Film Awards.

Book

On 26 June 2008, Chow released his first photo collection, which includes pictures taken on the sets of his films. Proceeds from the book's sales were donated to

Sichuan earthquake This is a list of earthquakes that occurred in Sichuan province of China. Earthquakes with magnitude of 7.0 or greater Earthquakes registering magnitudes between 6.0 and 6.9 See also * List of earthquakes in Yunnan References {{Earth ...

victims. It is published by

Louis Vuitton Louis Vuitton Malletier, commonly known as Louis Vuitton (, ), is a French high-end Luxury goods, luxury fashion house and company founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton (designer), Louis Vuitton. The label's LV monogram appears on most of its produc ...

Personal life

Chow has been married twice; first was in 1983 to Candice Yu, an actress from

Asia Television Asia Television Limited (, also known as ATV) is a digital media and broadcasting company in Hong Kong. Established as the first television service in Hong Kong as Rediffusion Television () on 29 May 1957, it shifted to terrestrial television ...

; the marriage lasted nine months. In 1986, Chow married

Singaporean Singaporeans, or the Singaporean people, refers to citizens or people who identify with the sovereign island city-state of Singapore. Singapore is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-lingual country. Singaporeans of Chinese, Malay, Ind ...

Jasmine Tan. They had a stillborn daughter in 1991. Chow has a goddaughter, Celine Ng, a former child model for Chickeeduck,

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...

, Toys 'R' Us and other companies. In 2014, Chow was the second-highest earning actor in Hong Kong, earning HK$170 million ( US$21.9 million). In 2018, Chow’s wife Jasmine Tan informed various Hong Kong media the figure HK$ 5.6b of Chow’s net worth, which was not verified by any third party. Chow also said he would donate 99% of his wealth to charity via setting up a foundation to help those in need. There have been no other reports on who controls the foundation and its ultimate beneficiaries. Despite his wealth, Chow lives modestly. He is frequently seen at food stalls and on public transportation. In interviews, he has said he plans to leave his fortune to charity. In October 2014, Chow voiced support for students in the Umbrella Movement, a civil rights movement for universal suffrage in Hong Kong.

Filmography

Chow has appeared in over 95 films and over 25 television series.

Awards and nominations

'' (2019)

University honorary awards

* Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts – Honorary Fellow (1999) *

City University of Hong Kong City University of Hong Kong (CityU) is a world-class public research university located in Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1984 as City Polytechnic of Hong Kong and became a fully accredited university in 1994. Currently, CityU is ...

– Honorary Doctor of Letters (2001) *

Hong Kong Baptist University Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) is a publicly funded tertiary liberal arts institution with a Christian education heritage. It was established as Hong Kong Baptist College with the support of American Baptists, who provided both operati ...

– Doctor of Humanities, honoris causa (2021)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chow, Yun-Fat 1955 births Living people Hong Kong Buddhists Hong Kong male film actors Hong Kong male television actors 20th-century Hong Kong male actors 21st-century Hong Kong male actors Indigenous inhabitants of the New Territories in Hong Kong Recipients of the Silver Bauhinia Star