Chow Yun-fat, born on May 18, 1955 in Lamma Island, Hong Kong, native place: Kaiping, Guangdong. Chinese film and television actor, photographer, national first-class actor.
Graduated from the TVB artist training class in 1974 and starred in more than 20 TV series such as "The Man on the Internet", "Frenzy" and "Shanghai Beach". He first entered the film industry in 1976. In the 1980s, with films such as "A Better Tomorrow" and "God of Gamblers", he pioneered gunfight films, gambling films and other types of films during the heyday of Hong Kong films, and became a representative of Hong Kong's "violent aesthetics" style films. In the 1990s, he was known as the "Double Monday Success" along with Jackie Chan and Stephen Chow. In 1995, he went to Hollywood to develop. She has starred in many films of different styles such as "Anna and the King" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and has served as a guest at the Oscars twice. In 1999, he left his fingerprints in the "Central Plaza" of Chinatown in Los Angeles. In 2000, he won the Special Achievement Award at the Deauville Asian Film Festival in France. In 2004, he became the most popular DVD collector in the United States for his image of a gunman in films such as "The Last Day". Top three male actors. In 2005, he was rated as the first among the "Classic TV Drama Niches" by Hong Kong netizens; in 2007, he won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the "Asia Excellence Awards Ceremony" of the American AZN TV station.
In addition, Chow Yun-fat is also keen on public welfare undertakings. In 2000, he was selected as one of the seven "Celebrity Heroes of the Earth" by Time magazine in the United States. In 2003, he was awarded the Silver Bauhinia Star by the SAR Government. In the same year, he The struggle process was written into the first-grade Chinese textbook published by Hong Kong Qisi Publishing House. Became the first entertainer to be included in middle school textbooks.
Early life experience
Chow Yun-fat was born in a rural family. He helped his mother do odd jobs to supplement the family income since he was a child. He lived a poor life, but he also enjoyed it. In 1989, he participated in "Undefended Tonight" hosted by Huang Zhan, Ni Kuang and Chua Lam, and happily compared Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien's masterpiece "Once Upon a Time in Childhood" with his own childhood. Born on May 18, 1955 in Lamma Island, Hong Kong, he is a national first-class actor, the top Chinese superstar in the world, and an international superstar. He is the first Chinese actor whose personal struggle experience has been written into middle school textbooks. He is known as the "God of Acting" and "the coordinate of an era."
In 1965, when Chow Yun-fat was 10 years old, his family moved to Kowloon. During the three years of middle school, Chow Yun-fat worked in an electronics factory every summer vacation, which resulted in poor eyesight. After graduating from middle school, his father was seriously ill. Chow Yun-fat did not choose to further his education and started working part-time to earn money to support his family. The hard work and experience in the lower class society enriched Chow Yun-fat's life experience and also benefited his future acting career.
In 1973, 18-year-old Chow Yun-fat saw a recruitment advertisement for the Wireless Television Actor Training Class (TVB) in the newspaper, so he applied for the job with his friends. However, he was almost given up by the judges and was lucky enough to be one of the examiners. Zhong Jinghui appreciated him and persuaded others to admit Chow Yun-fat with one vote.
Acting experience
Chow Yun-fat In 1974, Chow Yun-fat successfully graduated from the training class. After a short career as a bit player, Chow Yun-fat got the opportunity to perform.
In 1975, Chow Yun-fat played a supporting role in the film "The Kid", followed by "The River". In these two dramas, he stood out.
In 1976, the 128 TV series "Frenzy" was filmed and became a hit. After that, Chow Yun-fat starred in many TV series such as "Struggle", "Strong Man", "Man on the Internet", "Family Love", etc. Among them, they collaborated with Zheng Yuling in "The Internet", "Family", "Fire Phoenix" and "Crocodile Pool", making the two one of Hong Kong's classic screen couples.
Stills from Chow Yun-fat's "Shanghai on the Bund". In 1980, TVB broadcast 25 episodes of the TV series "Shanghai on the Bund". The film achieved extremely high ratings. In this drama, Chow Yun-fat played a contradictory, hesitant, and cold character. Xu Wenqiang.
In 1981, he participated in the film "The Story of Hu Yue" directed by Hong Kong New Wave director Ann Hui, which was nominated for Best Picture and won the Best Screenplay Award at the first Academy Awards. Chow Yun-fat It also began to attract the attention of the film industry.
In 1984, Chow Yun-fat played the role of Ye Jianfei in the "Waiting for Dawn" directed by academic director Liang Bochi. He won the double Best Actor Award at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival and the Taiwan Golden Horse Award. Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.
In 1986, he played Brother Mark in the movie "A Better Tomorrow" directed by John Woo. The film broke the box office record of Hong Kong movies and created a trend of gangster hero movies. Became an idol among movie fans. Chow Yun-fat also won the first Hong Kong Film Awards Best Actor Award.
In 1987, he won the Taiwan Golden Horse Award for Best Actor for his role in the film "Autumn Fairy Tale". The film won the Best Film Award at the Academy Awards and ranked fifth at the annual box office. In the same year, he collaborated with director Lin Lingdong on "The Legend of Dragon and Tiger". Lam Ling-tung won the Academy Award for Best Director for his film; another collaboration with director Lam Ling-tung, "Prison" and "Prison 2: The Fugitive", in which Chow Yun-fat plays Chung Tin-Ching, with Tony Leung Ka-fai, Cheung Yiu-yang, Ho Ka-kui, and Wong Guang-liang Cooperation, it was also nominated for best film and ranked second among the year's top-grossing films.
At the 1988 Hong Kong Film Awards, Chow Yun-fat was nominated for Best Actor at the same time for three films: "Autumn Fairy Tale", "Dragon Tiger" and "Prison", for three different roles After competing with each other, he finally won the role of Gao Qiu in "The Legend of the Dragon"; the American Film Institute also awarded him the Asian Outstanding Actor Award for this film, and his total box office score this year reached HK$130 million. In the same year, "Eight Star Announcement", co-produced with Johnnie To, won the box office championship of the year. Chow Yun-fat played the image of a sissy who shakes his head and tail. Together with "Diary of a Real Man" and "Lucky Star Gongzhao", he became a favorite classic comedy of Chow Yun-fat among movie fans.
In 1989, "God of Gamblers" was released. "God of Gamblers" is another screen character created by Chow Yun-fat. The role of God of Gambling Gao Jin, together with A Lang in "A Lang's Story", became the two characters nominated by Chow Yun-fat for Best Actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards in 1990. He won the Best Actor for the third time at the Hong Kong Film Awards.
In 1989, Chow Yun-fat and John Woo filmed the classic movie "The Bloody Heroes" that is most recognized by the West. This film is not only the pinnacle of Wu's violent aesthetics, but also spreads Chow Yun-fat's image of a screen gunman to Europe and the United States.
The release of "God of Gamblers 2" in 1994 brought a successful end to the Hong Kong and Taiwan gambling film craze in the 1990s. Among them, "Dirty Detective", a collaboration with John Woo, was rated as "the 9th most influential action movie" and "the 18th best cult movie" by the American "Entertainment Weekly". Chow Yun-fat's role in the film was also rated as "the 33rd greatest movie character".
At the end of 1995, at a meeting with many famous Hollywood directors and stars in Los Angeles, Chow Yun-fat said in his speech: "As a movie actor, the greatest pleasure is of course to be on a larger scale. Work together with other filmmakers. When I came to the United States, I first wanted to learn more and continue to make films." Before going to the United States this time, Chow Yun-fat donated all 16 bottles of awards he had received in the past to the Hong Kong Film Archive. This move showed his determination to start everything from scratch; he understood that past achievements cannot represent future success, so he spent three years learning English and worked hard to understand and accept Hollywood's way of making movies.
In 1998, Chow Yun-fat's Hollywood debut "The Replacement" was released. The film continued his screen gunman image and used many iconic techniques of Hong Kong films, such as slow motion, etc. However, the film's reputation and box office were not as good as expected. The German version of "CINEMA" magazine said when introducing the film: "Director Antoine Fuqua did not bring out this emotion to the best, but instead used too many unscrupulous and kitsch action scenes. This kind of empty action scenes It’s hard to be impressed by Chow Yun-fat’s first American performance.” In the same year, the mayor of Chicago named January 12th "Chow Yun-fat Day" in recognition of his contribution to the film industry and won the "Cartier Award for Outstanding Achievement".
In 1999, the Malaysian media selected the top 100 Chinese TV series of the 20th century, and Chow Yun-fat's 9 works were selected, among which "Shanghai" topped the list; in the same year, Hong Kong Wireless (TVB) Millennium Taiwan Celebration Among the five most unforgettable TV shows, "Shanghai" ranked second (ranked first was the variety show "Happy Tonight"). At the same time, Xu Wenqiang and Feng Chengcheng were selected as my most unforgettable male protagonist and my most unforgettable female protagonist respectively.
"The Edge" was released in 1999. The famous Hollywood director Oliver Stone served as the producer, but there was no improvement at the box office. The description of the Chinese living community caused controversy among local Chinese. In the same year, she took over 20th Century Fox's A-level literary epic "Anna and the King" and planned to stage a love story of the century with two-time Oscar-winning actress and Hollywood talent Jodie Foster in the context of cultural differences, royal power and special status. . Chow Yun-fat plays the role of King Mong Kong of Thailand.
Chow Yun-fat's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" stills. In 2000, for the film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", he received ten Oscar nominations and won four awards. Chow Yun-fat himself was once again invited to serve as an Oscar presenter for his role as Li Mubai in the hero. He won the second Asian American Film and Television Award for Best Actor and the Special Achievement Award from France's Deauville Film Festival, becoming "People" magazine's sexiest star in the world. , also appeared on the cover of "Time" and "Entertainment Weekly".
In 2003, he was awarded the Silver Bauhinia Star by the Hong Kong SAR government; in the same year, Chow Yun-fat's struggle experience was included in the textbooks of Hong Kong middle schools; he participated in the film "Bulletproof Monk" which was released.
In 2004, the University of Hong Kong poll "2004 Hong Kong Entertainment Circle Poll" ranked him as the most popular actor among Hong Kong people.
In 2005, at the invitation of gold medal producer Jerry Bruckheimer, Chow Yun-fat participated in the filming of Disney's magical masterpiece "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End", playing the role of Shao Feng, the pirate king of Singapore, and Johnny Starring Depp, Orlando Bloom and other international stars. In the same year, at the Hong Kong Film and Television Entertainment Expo, Chow Yun-fat won the "Most Unforgettable Movie Character Award" for his role as Brother Mark, selected by netizens, which shows his impact on Hong Kong society.
In 2006, Chow Yun-fat officially returned to the Chinese film industry. He will participate in the costume masterpiece "Red Cliff" directed by John Woo; Zhang Yimou, who has ushered in a new era of movies in mainland China, has extended an olive branch to him.
In 2007, due to contract, script and other reasons, Chow Yun-fat officially announced his resignation from the movie "Red Cliff". The highly anticipated collaboration between Zhou and Wu failed to materialize in the end; however, four years later, John Woo talked about the matter in an interview in Shanghai, saying that it was the result of the leadership of the agency and did not hurt his personal feelings. In the same year, Chow Yun-fat accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award presented to him at the U.S. Asian Excellence Awards Ceremony; and made guest appearances in the Hollywood movies "Children of Yellowstone" and "The Spy."
In 2008, Chow Yun-fat also participated in the filming of the Hollywood movie "Dragon Ball: Evolution" directed by Chinese director Huang Yiyu as the second male lead.
A still from Chow Yun-fat's "Let the Bullets Fly". In 2009, he even played the role of Confucius, the great thinker in Chinese history, in the movie "Confucius" directed by mainland director Hu Mei. The film was released in the Mainland in 2010 and achieved a box office of over 100 million, and he also won the Huabiao Award. In the same year, he and Ge You came together in the movie "Let the Bullets Fly." The film not only became the mainland box office champion of the year, but also set a new mainland record with a box office of over 660 million.
In June 2012, Chow Yun-fat became the finale guest of the 15th Shanghai International Film Festival and received the Outstanding Contribution to Chinese Film Award trophy from Jackie Chan. In the same year, the movie "Tongque Terrace" was released on National Day.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year in 2014, Chow Yun-fat had two films released at the same time, "Journey to the West: Havoc in Heaven" and "Macau". Chow Yun-fat successfully played the role of "Magic Hand" Shi Yijian and the Jade Emperor, the Supreme Being of the Three Realms. a different role. The two films grossed 1.5 billion yuan at the box office during the Spring Festival, and the two films also achieved impressive box office results overseas.
In "Macau", Chow Yun-fat abandoned his previous calm and imperial demeanor and played the role of Shi Yijian, a "magic hand" with rich facial expressions, gags and special skills. He is a complete old naughty boy.
"Macau 2" was released on New Year's Day in 2015. The film followed the style of the first film. There are many tributes to past Hong Kong films, including Andy Lau, David Chiang, and Chen Baixiang. Waiting for guest appearance. The film's box office in the Mainland was 980 million, making it the box office champion during the Spring Festival. It also topped the box office in Hong Kong and Malaysia during the same period. At the end of August, the movie "Chill 2" started shooting in Hong Kong, and Chow Yun-fat confirmed his guest appearance. In the same year, the romantic comedy movie "Gorgeous Office Worker" starring Tang Wei and Eason Chan will be released on September 2.
Personal life
Family members
Chow Yun-fat’s ancestral home is Kaiping, Guangdong. His father is Zhou Rongyun, his mother is Chen Lifang, and his grandmother is from Dongguan, Guangdong. There are four brothers and sisters, Chow Yun-fat is the third in the family. Chow Yun-fat's mother, often called Fat Mom by Hong Kong media, Chow Yun-fat was filial to his mother. He once took his mother to swim every morning and treated her asthma. She had a good relationship with her mother and her mother would never miss any of her son's dramas. At the 2008 World Outstanding Chinese Award and the Honorary Doctorate Award Ceremony of the University of Newcastle in the United States, Fama was awarded the "Outstanding Chinese Mother" award. [7]
Marriage life
Chow Yun-fat and Chen Yulin In 1976, Chow Yun-fat admitted that he fell in love with his rival Miao Qianren while filming "Frenzy", but it didn't work out. In 1979, Chow Yun-fat fell in love with another female artist from TVB, Chen Yulian, but they finally broke up in 1983.
Chow Yun-fat has had two marriages, one with his ex-wife Yu Anan. On February 8, 1983, Chow Yun-fat, who had recently broken up with Chen Yulian, reported a lightning marriage with the female artist Yu Anan, but this marriage only lasted. 9 months. The following year, the relationship between Chow Yun-fat and his wife Chen Huilian (then known as Chen Huilian) was exposed, and the two were married on June 5, 1987.
Photography Hobbies
From an actor to a photographer, Chow Yun-fat once held a joint exhibition of photography works called "Black and White Feelings" with nine photography enthusiasts in 2004. At that time, he provided 6 A series of photos, including the statue of Guandi and the fishing village.
Chow Yun-fat
In 2009, he co-organized a black and white photography exhibition called "Impressions of Hong Kong" with his friend Huang Guiquan, which displayed 41 photos of Hong Kong citizens' daily life taken after 2004.
On December 13, 2014, two mainland netizens met Chow Yun-fat in Central. He always responds to fans' requests for photos, and even takes selfies with them on his mobile phone.
Legacy Donation
Chow Yun-fat said he would donate 99% of his inheritance. Chow Yun-fat and Chen Huilin have been married for 27 years and have no heirs. They will follow the example of Bill Gates and Buffett and donate their inheritance after their death. 99% of the property is donated to charity.