Christopher "Chris" Lee Meng Soon (born 23 July 1971) is a Malaysian actor, host and businessman, known for starring in many Chinese-language television dramas and films in Singapore, Taiwan and mainland China. At the age of 26, Lee rose to prominence after winning the

Star Awards for Best Actor The Star Awards for Best Actor is an award presented annually at the Star Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1994. The category was introduced in 1995, at the 2nd Star Awards ceremony; Li Nanxing received the award for his role in ''Wo ...

for his role in ''

The Price of Peace ''The Price of Peace'' () is a Singaporean period drama television series set in Japanese-occupied Singapore during World War II. It starred Rayson Tan, Xiang Yun, Chen Shucheng, Jacintha Abisheganaden, James Lye, Lina Ng, Christopher Lee, Iv ...

'', becoming the youngest ever recipient of the award. Lee is widely regarded as an "Ah-Ge" (阿哥, "big brother") of Caldecott Hill for being one of the most successful actors in Singapore's Chinese-language entertainment industry. He is the only Singapore-based actor to have won multiple Best Actor accolades at both Singapore's

Star Awards Star Awards (Chinese: 红星大奖) are awards for artistic and technical merit where Mediacorp recognises entertainers under their employment for outstanding performances of the year. The awards are given annually in a ceremony. The various ca ...

and Taiwan's

Golden Bell Awards The Golden Bell Awards () is an annual Taiwanese television and radio production award presented in October or November each year by the Bureau of Audiovisual and Music Industry Development, a division of Taiwan's Ministry of Culture (Taiwan), M ...

Early life

Lee has an older sister and two younger brothers, the youngest being Frederick Lee Meng Chong, who is also an actor and model in Malaysia.

Career

Lee joined TCS on a contract in 1995 after emerging as 1st runner-up in the male category of the

Star Search ''Star Search'' (later known as ''Ed McMahon's Star Search'') is an American television show that was produced by T.P.E./ Rysher Entertainment from 1983 to 1995, hosted by Ed McMahon, and created by Al Masini. A relaunch was produced by 29 ...

programme in 1995. He worked as a factory worker, salesman and part-time model before joining star search in 1995. Lee first started acting in Chinese-language television dramas produced by Channel 8.

Rise to prominence

Lee rose to prominence after winning the Best Actor award at the

1997 for his role as a ''

hanjian In China, the word ''hanjian'' () is a pejorative term for those seen as traitors to the Chinese state and, to a lesser extent, Han Chinese ethnicity. The word ''hanjian'' is distinct from the general word for traitor, which could be used for a ...

'' in the television drama ''

'', set in Japanese-occupied Singapore during World War II. He was voted in as one of the Top 10 Most Popular Male Artistes that same year. In 1998, he starred as

Yang Guo Yang Guo, courtesy name Gaizhi, is the fictional protagonist of the wuxia novel '' The Return of the Condor Heroes'' by Jin Yong. Birth and heritage Yang Guo traces his lineage to Yang Zaixing, a Song general who participated in the Jin–So ...

in ''

The Return of the Condor Heroes ''The Return of the Condor Heroes'', also called ''The Giant Eagle and Its Companion'', is a wuxia novel by Jin Yong (Louis Cha). It is the second part of the '' Condor Trilogy'' and was preceded by '' The Legend of the Condor Heroes'' and foll ...

'', an adaptation of

Louis Cha Louis Cha Leung-yung (; 10 March 1924 – 30 October 2018), better known by his pen name Jin Yong (), was a Hong Kong wuxia novelist and co-founder of ''Ming Pao.'' Cha authored 15 novels between 1955 and 1972 and became one of the most popul ...

's novel of the same title. The drama achieved high ratings in Taiwan, and Lee was voted in as Taiwan's Most Popular MediaCorp Male Artiste at the Star Awards 1998 for his performance. Since then, Lee has acted in many television series jointly produced by Singapore and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, co-starring with actors from Hong Kong and Taiwan, such as

Nadia Chan Adia Chan (; born 21 January 1971) is a Hong Kong actress, singer and model. Life and career Chan was born to Chinese Ethnic Indonesian parents. Chan's parents are Indonesian Chinese and her family moved to Hong Kong when she was three year ...

Vincent Chiao Chiao En-chun (born 7 November 1967), also known as Vincent Chiao, is a Taiwanese actor and Mandopop Mandopop or Mandapop refers to Mandarin popular music. The genre has its origin in the jazz-influenced popular music of 1930s Shanghai k ...

Jimmy Lin Jimmy Lin Chih-ying ( zh, c=林志穎, poj=Lîm Chì-éng, born 15 October 1974) is a Taiwanese singer, actor, and race car driver. Early life Lin was born in Taipei on 15 October 1974. He was the second child in a family of five children. Lin ...

and

Jordan Chan Jordan Chan Siu-Chun (born 8 July 1967) is a Hong Kong actor, singer and dancer, known for starring in the ''Young and Dangerous'' film series and for his role in the 1998 TV adaptation of Louis Cha's novel, '' The Duke of Mount Deer''. In ...

. Apart from acting, Lee also recorded the theme songs of MediaCorp's television dramas. He released his first solo album in 1999 and another one in 2002. Apart from acting, Lee has also ventured into hosting and has hosted several travel and food programmes. He was nominated for the Best Info-Ed Show Host award at the

Star Awards 2012 Star Awards 2012 (Simplified Chinese, Chinese: 红星大奖 2012) was a double television award ceremony held in Singapore. It is part of the annual Star Awards organised by Mediacorp, MediaCorp for the two free-to-air channels, Channel 8 (Singap ...

. At the

Star Awards 2013 Star Awards 2013 ( Chinese: 红星大奖 2013) was a double television award ceremony held in Singapore. It is part of the annual Star Awards organised by Mediacorp for the two free-to-air channels, Mediacorp Channel 8 and Mediacorp Channel U. S ...

, Lee won his second

for his role in ''Show Hand''.

Regional acclaim

For his role as a depressed workaholic in ''A Good Wife'', Lee won his first Golden Bell Award for Best Leading Actor in a Television Series at the 2014

, Taiwan's equivalent of the Emmy Awards. Lee would go on to win the

Golden Bell Award for Best Leading Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film This is a list of winners and nominees of the Golden Bell Award for Best Leading Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film (). Winners and nominees 2010s 2020s References Leading Actor in a Mini-series, Best Television awards for Best ...

at the 2021

for his role as a construction worker obsessed with money in the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

comedy ''Workers''. In 2022, Lee won the

Golden Bell Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Television Series The Golden Bell Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Television Series () is one of the categories of the competition for the Taiwanese television production, Golden Bell Awards. It is presented annually by the Government Information Office, Taiw ...

in the

iQiyi iQIYI (, pronounced in English as ), formerly Qiyi (), is a Chinese subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Baidu. Headquartered in Beijing, iQIYI primarily produces and distributes films and television series. i ...

crime thriller ''Danger Zone''. In 2023, Lee ended veteran host

Quan Yi Fong Quan Yi Fong (born 1 March 1974) is a Taiwan-born Singaporean host and actress, who has since taken up Singaporean citizenship and given up her Taiwanese citizenship. Career Quan joined the SBC in 1992. In 1996, she was fired by TCS over a ...

's five-year winning streak when he won the Star Awards for Best Programme Host at the 2023 Star Awards.

Ventures

On 9 November 2021, Lee launched a

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

clothing brand, eponymously named LMS, the initials of his Chinese name in

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

Personal life

Lee is married to

Fann Wong Fann Woon Fong (born 27 January 1971), known professionally as Fann Wong, is a Singaporean actress, singer, businesswoman and model. She has been referred to as one of MediaCorp's ''Ah Jie'' for being one of the most successful actresses from Sing ...

, his co-star in several television series, on 16 May 2009. They have a son who was born in 2014.

Legal issues

On 8 October 2006, Lee was involved in a hit-and-run road accident. He had allegedly knocked down a motorcyclist due to suspected drunk driving, causing the motorcyclist and his pillion rider to suffer superficial injuries on their faces and legs. He failed the breathalyser test and was more than twice the legal limit. He was arrested and released later on bail. Despite the incident, Lee managed to win a position among the Top 10 Male Artistes in the

Star Awards 2006 Star Awards 2006 is a television awards ceremony telecast in 2006 as part of the annual Star Awards organised by MediaCorp for MediaCorp TV Channel 8. The ceremony, alongside the Walk-of-fame and the Post-show party, were held on 10 December 2 ...

. In his acceptance speech, Lee said in Mandarin that he had been feeling terrible over the incident during the previous two months, and that he would be responsible for what he did. Speaking to reporters later, he mentioned that he had been unable to sleep at times, adding that he was very grateful to his fans for their support. On 10 May 2007, Lee was fined S$4,500 and disqualified from driving for three years on charges of drunk driving and other traffic offences, as well as being sentenced to a prison term of four weeks after he admitted to drink driving, inconsiderate driving, failing to render aid to the injured motorcyclist and his injured pillion rider and removing his car from the scene without police permission. Lee appealed against his jail sentence but withdrew his appeal later on 28 May. He began serving his sentence at Queenstown Remand Prison on the same day.Ansley Ng, "Christopher Lee begins jail term", ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * The current day and calendar date ** Today is between and , subject to the local time zone * Now, the time that is perceived directly, present * The current, present era Arts, entertainment and m ...

'', 29 May 2007 On 15 June, the prosecution succeeded in appealing against Lee's four-week jail sentence and the court decided to overturn an earlier sentence of a S$3,000 fine for his drunk driving offence. Lee was sentenced to an additional two weeks in prison, making his total prison term six weeks long. On 21 June, the prosecution dropped the last of five charges against Lee for failing to stop after an accident, letting him off with a stern warning instead.Carolyn Quek, "Last of five charges against actor dropped", ''

The Straits Times ''The Straits Times'' (also known informally by its abbreviation ''ST'') is a Singaporean daily English-language newspaper owned by the SPH Media Trust. Established on 15 July 1845, it is the most-widely circulated newspaper in the country and ...

'', 22 June 2007 Lee was released on 25 June, after receiving a reduction in his prison sentence due to good behavior. Due to his conviction, Lee was dropped from playing the lead role in the 2007 Channel 8 television series ''

Metamorphosis Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops including birth transformation or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and different ...

''. He was replaced by actor Thomas Ong. On 12 July 2007, the

Immigration and Checkpoints Authority The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA, zh, 移民與關卡局；) is a law enforcement agency within the Ministry of Home Affairs (Singapore), Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the border control agency responsible for frontline border c ...

(ICA) completed its review on Lee's case and decided to allow him to retain his Singapore Permanent Resident status. However, Lee will be under close observation and the ICA would revoke its decision if Lee violates the law again. After the conviction, he made his comeback in the 2008 television drama '' Rhythm of Life''.

Filmography

Television series

Film

Variety show hosting

Music video appearances

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Christopher Lee Story'' (1999) * ''Love, No Boundaries'' (2002)

Singles

Compilation albums

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*
Mediacorp SingaporeChristopher Lee at hkmdb.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Christopher 1971 births Living people Singaporean Buddhists Malaysian people of Chinese descent Malaysian male models People from Malacca Singaporean male television actors Singaporean male film actors 20th-century Singaporean male singers 20th-century Singaporean male actors 21st-century Singaporean male actors Malaysian people of Teochew descent 21st-century Singaporean male singers Malaysian expatriates in Taiwan Malaysian emigrants to Singapore 20th-century Malaysian male actors 21st-century Malaysian male actors Malaysian Buddhists Singaporean male models Malaysian male film actors Malaysian male television actors Malaysian television presenters Singaporean television presenters 21st-century Malaysian businesspeople 21st-century Singaporean businesspeople