Julian Cheung Chi-lam (born 27 August 1971), better known by his stage name Chilam, is a

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

singer and actor. Cheung is known for his role as

Guo Jing Guo Jing is the fictional protagonist of the wuxia novel ''The Legend of the Condor Heroes'' by Jin Yong. He also appears as a supporting character in the sequel, ''The Return of the Condor Heroes'', and is mentioned by name in ''The Heaven Sw ...

in the 1994 TV series adaptation of the ''

Wuxia ( , literally "martial arts and chivalry") is a genre of Chinese literature, Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists in ancient China. Although is traditionally a form of historical fantasy literature, its popularity ha ...

'' novel, ''

The Legend of the Condor Heroes ''The Legend of the Condor Heroes'' () is a wuxia novel by Chinese writer Jin Yong (Louis Cha). It is the first part of the ''Condor Trilogy'' and is followed by ''The Return of the Condor Heroes'' and ''The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber''. I ...

'', and also as Chi-Kin from the TVB drama '' Cold Blood Warm Heart'' (1996). Cheung hit instant fame in 1991 with the release of his first single, "A Modern Love Story" with Maple Hui and has since been the only artist that has sold the most copies for a debut album under IFPI. In 1992, Cheung received a TVB Jade Solid Gold award as Best Newcoming Singer (Bronze) for his first album. In 2000, Cheung reap 2 notable awards from

TVB Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB; zh, t=電視廣播有限公司) is a television broadcasting company based in Hong Kong. The company operates five free-to-air terrestrial television channels in Hong Kong, with TVB Jade as its main Canton ...

for the drama, '' Return of the Cuckoo.''

Early life

Born in

on 27 August 1971, Cheung spent most of his early years in Hong Kong attending all-male

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

primary school. He later went to a

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

secondary school. He has an elder sister and a younger sister. When he was 13, his parents divorced and he and his father emigrated to Australia when he was 15. He attended

Pendle Hill High School Pendle Hill High School is a comprehensive, co-educational high school with over 300 students located in Pendle Hill, New South Wales, Pendle Hill, a suburb in the west of Sydney, Australia. School profile The school is set in a residential ar ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. In 1986, his parents remarried but later divorced a second time. He was a good actor and singer and his father thought he had a gift and sent him to an acting school.

Career

In 1990 when Cheung was 19, Cheung visited Hong Kong during his summer vacation and was reacquainted with his cousin and childhood friend, Anna Ueyama ( 上山安娜). Anna introduced Cheung to his first manager, Tony. Impressed with Cheung's voice, Tony immediately signed him into IFPI and started to train him. Cheung then recorded his first song, a duet album with Hong Kong singer Maple Hui ( 許秋怡). The debut single, "A Modern Love Story", was released by the record company Fitto in 1991 and was an immense success. This single was on IFPI Album Sales Chart for 11 weeks, and as of today still holds the IFPI record for newcomer singers. That same year, Cheung signed into

and starred in his first television series, ''Peak of Passion'', released in 1992. A year later, he filmed his very first movie, ''A Warrior's Tragedy''. Cheung reached to the peak of his popularity in 1994 when he took part as the role of

from ''

'', which helped him to become one of the most favourite actors at that time. In 1996, he starred in the TVB classic hit drama '' Cold Blood Warm Heart'', which acclaimed him notable praises of his performance, making him a household name and boosted his career in the Hong Kong entertainment industry. After the release of ''Cold Blood Warm Heart'', he transitioned into movies such as ''Perfect Match'' and '' Comic King''. He returned to TVB in 2000 in the series ''Return of the Cuckoo'', which was a tremendous success with Charmaine Sheh, reaching a peak of 40 points. His status and recognition as an actor dramatically increased to countries such as

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. He also reaped 2 awards in the TVB award ceremony (My Favorite Couple-with

Charmaine Sheh Charmaine Sheh Sze-man (; born 28 May 1975) is a Hong Kong actress and beauty pageant titleholder who placed second runner-up at Miss Hong Kong pageant 1997 and represented her country at Miss International 1997. Sheh signed a contract with T ...

and My Favorite Themesong), adding to his string of wins. in 2003, he won My Favorite Leading Character again for his role as Yeung Kwong from '' Take My Word For It''. His performance with Charmaine Sheh in the 2004 drama ''

Point of No Return The point of no return (PNR or PONR) is the point beyond which one must continue on one's current course of action because turning back is no longer possible, being too dangerous, physically difficult, or prohibitively expensive to be undertaken. ...

'' also won the pair the Best Onscreen Couple award at the 2005 Astro Awards in Malaysia. Cheung has also found success in the Mainland entertainment industry with starring roles in the television series ''Ni Shui Han'', ''Lu Xiao Feng'', and ''Red Powder''. In 2012, he returned to TVB to film sequel to TVB's 2003 blockbuster television drama Triumph in the Skies. His role as Captain Koo has boosted his popularity once again and earned him a spot in the peoples' hearts. Cheung has earned 60 million HKD in 2014.

Music

His first concert at

Hong Kong Coliseum Hong Kong Coliseum (), commonly and informally known as the Hung Hom Coliseum (, ) is a multi-purpose indoor arena, in Hung Hom Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong near Hung Hom station. It is in Yau Tsim Mong District. It was built by the Urban Council ...

was held on 27 March 2011 which the title for the concert was ''I Am An Alien''. On 6 July 2014, he had his second concert at Hong Kong Coliseum on four-sided stage, called ''Crazy Hours''. In 2021, he joined the cast of

reality TV show Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

Call Me by Fire ''Call Me by Fire'' () is a 2021 China, Chinese singing reality television show broadcast on Mango TV. It features 33 male celebrities who have been in the entertainment industry for close to ten years or more competing to form a 17-member perform ...

'' as a contestant.

Personal life

Cheung is married to Hong Kong actress

Anita Yuen Anita Yuen Wing Yee (born 4 September 1971) is a Hong Kong actress and beauty pageant titleholder. She is best known for her roles in the films '' C'est la vie, mon chéri'' (1993), '' He's a Woman, She's a Man'' (1994), and '' From Beijing with Lo ...

. They have a son together, born in 2006. Their relationship started back in the 1990s where they met each other in the Hong Kong entertainment business in a music video they did together and during that time, they were at the height of their Hong Kong entertainment careers and eventually by 1994, they publicly announced their relationship. They secretly wedded in 2001 in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. Anita said in 2021 that they tried to have another child, but all efforts failed including

in vitro fertilisation In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation in which an ovum, egg is combined with spermatozoon, sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating the Ovulation cycle, ovulatory process, then removing ...

. Cheung's uncle is

Charlie Cho Charlie Cho Cha-lee (曹查理) is an actor in Hong Kong pornography films, especially during the 1980s. His over-acting approach can be regarded as one of the trademarks of Hong Kong soft porn Softcore pornography or softcore porn is commerc ...

Discography

He has recorded albums in both Cantonese and Mandarin. He has been with various record labels, such as Fitto Entertainment,

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

(Cantonese albums only),

Rock Records The Rock Records Co., Ltd. () commonly known as Rock Records (), is a record label based in Taipei, Taiwan. Founded in the 1980s as the Rock Music Publishing (滾石有聲出版社; ) by Tuan Chung-tan and Tuan Chung-i, It is the largest record ...

(Mandarin albums only),

Cinepoly Records Cinepoly Records (新藝寶) is a Hong Kong–based record label founded in 1985. It was a subsidiary of PolyGram Records and the film company Cinema City. Ownership of Cinepoly Records switched to Universal Music Group after Universal acquired ...

(subsidiary of

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum ...

Hong Kong), Starj & Snazz and Neway Star. * ''Modern Love Story'' () (November 1991) (duet album with Maple Hui) Note: The album was later re-released under the EMI label and later,

Warner Music Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and the third-largest in the gl ...

. * ''Make Me Happy'' () (October 1992) * ''Miss You Much'' () (September 1993) * ''CHILAM'' (October 1994) * ''Love at Creation Times'' ()(November 1994) * ''Love Played A Joke on Us'' () (1995) * ''Thanks For Your Concern'' () (June 1995) * ''Cold Blood Warm Heart Compilation'' () (March 1996) * ''Insincere'' () (1996) * ''Smile With Tears Single'' () (1996) * ''I Love You Too'' () (March 1997) * ''Best of the Best 22 Songs'' () (1997) * ''Black Temptation'' () (November 1997) * ''Yes or No'' () (1998) * ''Monsieur Enfant EP'' () (1999) * ''Chi Lam Love Collection'' () (1999) * ''Tian Di Nan Er'' () (1999) * ''Moonlight / Return of the Cuckoo Original Soundtrack'' () (2000) * ''Ten Fingers Interlocked'' () (2000) * ''Ten Fingers Interlocked Special Edition'' () (2001) * ''California Red 903 Live in Concert (Video)'' (2001) * ''EMI Best Music Collection'' () (2002) * ''Love & Dream'' () (2003) * ''I Am Chilam'' (2009) * ''I AM CHILAM 2nd Version'' (2009) * ''What is Love'' (2011) * ''Like A Song'' (single) () (2013) * ''DEJA VU'' (2014)

Filmography

Television series

Film

Variety and reality show

Awards

* TVB Star Award Malaysia 2013 – My Favourite TVB Actor in a Leading Role – Triumph in the Skies 2 * TVB Star Award Malaysia 2013 – My Favourite Top 15 TVB Drama Characters – Triumph in the Skies 2 *

StarHub TVB Awards The StarHub TVB Awards () is an awards ceremony held every year to recognise the achievements by Hong Kong television dramas and artists in Singapore. The awards are presented by StarHub, VV Drama, and E City, and are given for TVB productions a ...

2013 : My Favourite TVB Male Character – Triumph in the Skies 2 * StarHub TVB Awards 2011: Best Couple on Screen – with Myolie Wu – The Rippling Blossom * StarHub TVB Awards 2011: My Favorite Male Character – The Rippling Blossom * Jade Solid Gold 2009 : Best Duet Award (Silver) with Myolie Wu * Metro Radio Hits Music Awards 2009 － Best Duet with Myolie Wu * Metro Radio Hits Music Awards 2009 – Best Karaoke Song – 你太善良 * 粤港十年·网娱盛典颁奖晚会 2007 – 最具关注度男艺人 * CTV's 7th Lily Awards: Most Popular Actor (2007) * Astro Awards 2005: Best Couple with Charmaine Sheh from Point of No Return * Astro Awards 2005: Best Character Award – Chow Tin Ci / Zhou Tian Ci from Point of No Return * Astro Awards 2005: Best Theme Song – Love Has No Dreams from Point of No Return * 36th TVB Anniversary Awards: "My Top 12 Favorite Television Characters" – Yeung Kwong / Yang Guang from Take My Word For It (2003) * Publication Weekly Television Awards: Most Popular Theme Song – Wishing Kwan Well from Return of the Cuckoo (2001) * Publication Weekly Television Awards: Top 10 Television Artists – #9 (2001) * Jade Solid Gold: Most Popular Adapted Song Performance Grand Prize – Wishing Kwan Well from Return of the Cuckoo (2001) * Singapore's Friday Publication Weekly Student Idol Voting: Most Popular Foreign Film Actor (2000–2001) * New City Station: Karaoke Song Grand Prize for Wishing Kwan Well from Return of the Cuckoo (2000) * 33rd TVB Anniversary Awards: "My Favorite On-screen Couple" with Charmaine Sheh from Return of the Cuckoo (2000) * 33rd TVB Anniversary Awards: "Top 10 My Favourite Television Characters' as Man Chor in Return of the Cuckoo (2000) * One of the Top 10 Most Popular Artists of the Millennium (2000) * 3rd Jade Solid Gold: Top 10 Songs of the Year – Wishing Kwan Well from Return of the Cuckoo (2000) * Singapore Yes93: Top 3 Golden Songs – You Mei You (有没有) Have it or Not (1999) * Singapore's Friday Publication Weekly Student Idol Voting: Voted amongst the Top 10 Most Popular Actors, Top 10 Most Popular * Film Artists, Top 10 Most Popular Foreign Film Actors, and Top 10 Most Popular Foreign Television Actors (1998–1999) * 1st Annual Top 10 Movie Theme Songs Award: Lofty Once in a Lifetime from "To Be No. 1" (1997) * Commercial Radio Chit Chat Pop Chart: Best New Male Singer – Silver Prize (1993) * Hit Radio: Best New Male Singer Award (1993) * TVB's Jade Solid Gold: Best Newcomer Award – Bronze (1992–1993) * Metro Radio: Best Young Talent Award (1992) * CRHK2 New Generation Show: Best Performance Award (1992) * 1991 Jade Solid Gold: Top 10 Songs of the Year (Modern Love Story, a duet with Maple Hui)

References

External links

* * * * *
JayneStars.com – English translated news about Julian Cheung
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheung, Julian 1971 births Living people Alumni of Lingnan University (Hong Kong) Cantonese people Cantopop singers Hong Kong emigrants to Australia Hong Kong Buddhists Hong Kong male film actors 20th-century Hong Kong male singers Hong Kong Mandopop singer-songwriters Hong Kong singer-songwriters Hong Kong male singer-songwriters Hong Kong male television actors Naturalised citizens of Australia TVB veteran actors 20th-century Hong Kong male actors 21st-century Hong Kong male actors 21st-century Hong Kong male singers Australian people of Chinese descent