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Tony Leung Chiu-Wai
Actor : Born June 27, 1962 - Hong Kong
From All Movie Guide: One of the most sought-after actors in East Asia, Tony Leung Chiu-wai made his mark on world cinema for his work with high profile directors like John Woo, Wong Kar-wai, and Hou Hsiao-hsien. He got his start as a television actor and children's show host, and quickly made the jump into Hong Kong's thriving mid-'80s film industry, where he proved his versatility in a string of movies by Hong Kong heavyweights like Stanley Kwan (Love Unto Waste), Patrick Tam (My Heart Is That Eternal Rose) and Sammo Hung (Seven Warriors). But it wasn't until his first foray outside of Hong Kong's movie industry -- a moving portrayal of a hearing-impaired photographer in Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien's historical epic A City of Sadness -- that the full range of his talent became apparent.
International recognition began to come Leung's way in the 1990s, thanks to roles in Woo's operatic action thrillers Bullet in the Head and Hard-Boiled, and to a fruitful long-term collaboration with the acclaimed Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar-wai, with whom he has made five films. His gently humorous performance as a lovesick policeman in Wong's international cult hit Chungking Express won him a Best Actor Award at the Hong Kong Film Awards, as did his turn as a depressed homosexual exile going through a stormy breakup in Happy Together. He and Maggie Cheung both won top honors at the Hong Kong Film Awards for their performances as neighbors who suspect their spouses of having an affair in the sumptuous chamber romance In the Mood for Love, for which Leung also won the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival.
Leung's relaxed charm and matinee-idol looks make it easy to overlook the complexity of his performances. His most memorable ones are the result of working with directors attuned to his talent for suggesting the conflicted inner lives of his characters through introspective silences and subtle gestures. In Hou's Flowers of Shanghai and Anh Hung Tran's Cyclo, entire scenes seem to revolve around his melancholy, nearly wordless performances. While he is known worldwide for his high-profile work with Hou, Wong, and Woo, he is an even bigger star in Hong Kong, where he continues to star in everything from B-movies to glossy, big studio productions.
source:
~ Tom Vick, All Movie Guide
movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movi...aphy.html
Actor : Born June 27, 1962 - Hong Kong
From All Movie Guide: One of the most sought-after actors in East Asia, Tony Leung Chiu-wai made his mark on world cinema for his work with high profile directors like John Woo, Wong Kar-wai, and Hou Hsiao-hsien. He got his start as a television actor and children's show host, and quickly made the jump into Hong Kong's thriving mid-'80s film industry, where he proved his versatility in a string of movies by Hong Kong heavyweights like Stanley Kwan (Love Unto Waste), Patrick Tam (My Heart Is That Eternal Rose) and Sammo Hung (Seven Warriors). But it wasn't until his first foray outside of Hong Kong's movie industry -- a moving portrayal of a hearing-impaired photographer in Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien's historical epic A City of Sadness -- that the full range of his talent became apparent.
International recognition began to come Leung's way in the 1990s, thanks to roles in Woo's operatic action thrillers Bullet in the Head and Hard-Boiled, and to a fruitful long-term collaboration with the acclaimed Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar-wai, with whom he has made five films. His gently humorous performance as a lovesick policeman in Wong's international cult hit Chungking Express won him a Best Actor Award at the Hong Kong Film Awards, as did his turn as a depressed homosexual exile going through a stormy breakup in Happy Together. He and Maggie Cheung both won top honors at the Hong Kong Film Awards for their performances as neighbors who suspect their spouses of having an affair in the sumptuous chamber romance In the Mood for Love, for which Leung also won the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival.
Leung's relaxed charm and matinee-idol looks make it easy to overlook the complexity of his performances. His most memorable ones are the result of working with directors attuned to his talent for suggesting the conflicted inner lives of his characters through introspective silences and subtle gestures. In Hou's Flowers of Shanghai and Anh Hung Tran's Cyclo, entire scenes seem to revolve around his melancholy, nearly wordless performances. While he is known worldwide for his high-profile work with Hou, Wong, and Woo, he is an even bigger star in Hong Kong, where he continues to star in everything from B-movies to glossy, big studio productions.
source:
~ Tom Vick, All Movie Guide
movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movi...aphy.html
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Tony Leung Chiu-Wai links
Sun, November 21, 2004 - 12:17 AMUnofficial Site:
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Re: Tony Leung Chiu-Wai links
Mon, November 22, 2004 - 12:28 PMTony Leung Chiu-wai - Not to be confused with Tony Leung Kar-fai (the actor who starred in Jean-Jacques Annaud's The Lover), Tony Leung Chiu-wai was born in Hong Kong on June 27, 1962. He has become the most sought-after actor in East Asia.
After completing his studies, Tony Leung worked under contract to the television channel TVB. He began by hosting a children's program, then attained popularity by appearing on several television series.
Following these career beginnings (comparable to those of other major Hong Kong stars), Tony appeared in a series of "auteur" films which soon earned him a reputation as an extremely versatile actor. Working for several of East Asia's greatest filmmakers, he has turned in outstanding performances.
It is with Wong Kar-wai that Tony has enjoyed his strongest, most durable collaboration, having appeared in five of the writer/director's seven features. Following a cameo appearance in Days of Being Wild (1991), portrayals for Wong have been a wandering knight gradually going blind (in Ashes of Time [1994], for which he won several awards); a solitary policeman in love (in Chungking Express [1994], for which he received the Best Actor award at the Hong Kong Film Awards); and a homosexual facing exile and a painful separation (in Happy Together [1997], for which he again received the Best Actor award at the Hong Kong Film Awards). For his performance in In the Mood for Love, Tony received the Best Actor award at the Cannes International Film Festival. Tony has begun work on Wong Kar-wai's next film, 2046.
His other notable films include John Woo's classics Bullet in the Head (1990) and Hard-Boiled (1992); Stanley Kwan Kam-pang's Love Unto Waste (1986); Derek Yee Tung-shing's The Lunatics (1986); Ching Siu-tung's A Chinese Ghost Story III (1991); Tran Anh-hung's Cyclo (1995); Patrick Yau Tat-chi's The Longest Nite (1998); and Hou Hsiao-hsien's City of Sadness (1989) and Flowers of Shanghai (1998).
In addition to his acting career, Tony is a very popular recording artist. Although he carefully chooses his more serious roles, he also continues to appear in farces and B-movies, making him the hardest actor in Hong Kong to pigeonhole.
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