Tony Leung Chiu-Wai

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Tony Leung Chiu-Wai

Chinese name 梁朝偉 (Traditional)
Chinese name 梁朝伟 (Simplified)
Born June 27, 1962 (1962-06-27) (age 45)
Hong Kong
Years active 1982 - present
This is a Chinese name; the family name is Leung (梁).

Tony Leung Chiu-Wai (Chinese: 梁朝偉; pinyin: Liáng Cháowěi; Cantonese Yale: Lèuhng Chìuh Wáih; born June 27, 1962) is a award winning Hong Kong movie and TV actor. He has been a major film star since the 1990s.

To distinguish him from fellow actor Tony Leung Ka-Fai, he is known colloquially in Hong Kong as "Little Tony", while Ka-fai is known as "Big Tony", nicknames which correspond to the actors' respective physical statures.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Leung was born in Hong Kong, though his family came from Taishan, Guangdong, China. Leung's early childhood was punctuated with parents' quarrels and arguments about money. A mischievous boy in his early years, Leung's personality changed when his father, a chronic gambler, left the family when he was eight; he and his younger sister were brought up single-handedly by their mother.[1][2]

Leung became a reticient, quiet child; his childhood experiences made it difficult for him to trust in marriage and paved the way for his acting career, which allow him "to express my emotions without me getting embarrassed. I can cry or smash things on the set, but no one knows that's just acting or that's how I am really feeling." "After my father left me when I was eight, I became afraid to talk to other people. In school, when other children talked about their parents, I would get very embarrassed. I didn't want to mention my father, so I seldom talked to others".[3]

His childhood has had a lasting effect on Leung's personality. "I am very restrained, very suppressed, very quiet. I don't like to talk too much because I don't know what to do in front of an audience. Actually, I don't know how to communicate with others because of my background and I am scared".[4]

Leung's mother worked hard to keep him attending a private school, but even so, Tony had to quit school at the age of 15 due to financial difficulties. As an adolescent he behaved himself and remained very close to his mother. During a DVD interview on the making of Hero, he says that he sees his mother as his definition of a "hero[ine]" for having brought up two children alone.

[edit] Television career

After quitting his studies, Leung worked in a variety of jobs, first as a grocer's runner at his uncle's shop, then a showroom salesman in a Hong Kong shopping centre. He met actor and comedian Stephen Chow who influenced his decision to become an actor and remains a good friend.

In 1982 he passed the training courses of television channel TVB. Due to his boyish looks, TVB cast him as host of a children's programme, 430 Space Shuttle. Leung enjoyed comedies during his television years; it was for these he became well known.

[edit] Film career

Many consider Tony Leung's role in director John Woo's 1992 action film Hard Boiled in which he co-starred with Chow Yun-Fat, as his breakthrough role in film. However, Leung first gained international exposure through Hou Hsiao-Hsien's 1989 film A City of Sadness, which won the Venice Golden Lion.

Leung often collaborates with director Wong Kar-wai and has appeared in many of his films. His most notable roles in Wong Kar-wai's films include the lonely policeman in Chungking Express (1994), a gay Chinese expatriate living in Argentina in Happy Together (1997), and a self-controlled victim of adultery in In the Mood for Love (2000), for which he won the Best Actor award at Cannes.

He is considered by many to be the finest actor of his generation in Hong Kong. Robert De Niro is an admirer of his work,[5] and Leung has been called Asia's answer to Clark Gable.

Carina Lau, a fellow actress, has been in a steady relationship with him since 1989. Despite this, the couple is reported to have no intention of marrying.

Leung also has an on-and-off Cantopop and Mandarin pop singing career and sang the theme song of Infernal Affairs with Andy Lau.

Leung speaks decent English and is well read and well versed on historical issues. During the late 1990s, some predicted that it would be difficult for him to break into Hollywood since he would not take on degrading roles because of his pride and character. To date, he has not done a Hollywood movie, but is primed to appear in one after signing on with an American film agent.[6][7]

In addition to Cantonese and English, Leung is also able to speak Mandarin and Japanese (as heard in Tokyo Raiders).

During the promotion of the movie Hero, some politicians and commentators in Hong Kong attacked Leung for expressing the view that the Tiananmen Square demonstration crack down was necessary to maintain stability. Under constant political pressure and boycott threats, Leung made a single statement that he may have been quoted out of context but refused to retract his statement in the magazine.[8] However, the movie magazine editor maintained that the original statement was not out of context and challenged people to read the complete interview.

[edit] Relationship with Carina Lau

Leung has dated Carina Lau since the end of 1989. He had known her since The Replica in 1984 as she had been good friends with Margie Tsang, his previous girlfriend. He worked on-screen with Lau in Replica (1984), Duke of Mount Deer (1984), Police Cadet (1984, 1985, 1988), The Yangs' Saga (1985), Days of Being Wild (1991), He ain't heavy, he's my father (1993), Ashes of Time (1994), and 2046 (2005).

In 1990, during the filming of Days of Being Wild, Lau was abducted for several hours, and topless photos of her were snapped (years later, Hong Kong tabloids published photos of a nude and frightened Lau). It is now believed that the man behind the kidnapping is a show business entrepreneur with whom Lau was having a financial dispute.

Wong Kar-wai said, "Originally, there were plans for Days of Being Wild I and II, and the sequence featuring Tony Leung was meant to be the opening scene of the second movie. But two things happened, one of which was that Days of Being Wild didn't do well in Hong Kong, so the producers said, "No Part 2." The other reason was the incident of Carina Lau's kidnapping".[citation needed]

Leung has said that Lau never wanted to talk about what happened in those missing hours with anyone, including him. "I told her that was fine, I had no right to ask," he said. "I was just glad to have her home safe"[9] He then told Wong Kar Wai that he did not want to go back to work anytime soon. "A human being is more important than a movie," he said.[9]

[edit] Friendship with Maggie Cheung

Their first TV serial together was the highly successful Police Cadet in 1984 (later named Police Cadet 84 to distinguish it from subsequent sequels). Leung played an outgoing young man who decides to become a police officer in order to earn a living for his family; Maggie Cheung played a shy bookworm, Tony's upstairs neighbour and love interest. Since then they have worked together on The Yangs' Saga (1985), Days of Being Wild (1991), Ashes of Time (1994), In the Mood for Love (2000), Hero (2002), and 2046 (2005).

In an interview by renowned director Wong Kar-wai, Leung had this to say about Cheung:

"She is like my alter ego. We started our careers at almost the same time and acted opposite each other in our first television series and on some other occasions - like on the Days of Being Wild sequel, which was never released, and on Ashes of Time. But we did not work opposite each other again until In the Mood for Love. Maggie is a truly formidable partner - one to waltz with. We do not spend a lot of time with each other, as we like to keep some mystery between us. Whenever I see her, I discover something new about her".[10]

[edit] Awards and nominations

  • Asian Film Awards
  • Cannes Film Festival
  • Golden Horse Film Festival
    • 2007 Best Actor (Lust, Caution)
    • 2003 Best Actor (Infernal Affairs)
    • 2000 Nominated Best Actor (In the Mood for Love)
    • 1994 Best Actor (Chungking Express)
  • Hong Kong Film Awards Best Actor awards. Nominated nine times, won five times:
    • 2005 Won Best Actor (2046)
    • 2003 Won Best Actor, for his role as the undercover cop Yan (Infernal Affairs)
    • 2001 Won Best Actor (In the Mood for Love)
    • 1999 Nominated Best Actor (Longest Nite)
    • 1998 Won Best Actor (Happy Together)
    • 1995 Won Best Actor (Chungking Express)
    • 1993 Nominated Best Supporting Actor (Hard-Boiled)
    • 1990 Won Best Supporting Actor (My Heart Is That Eternal Rose)
    • 1988 Won Best Supporting Actor (People's Hero)
    • 1987 Nominated Best Actor (Love Unto Waste)
  • Golden Bauhinia Awards
    • 2003 Won Best Actor (Infernal Affairs)
  • Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards
    • 2005 Best Actor (2046) [11]

[edit] Filmography

[edit] 1980s

  • Mad Mad 83 (1983)
  • Fascinating Affairs (1985)
  • Young Cops (1985)
  • Love Unto Waste (1986)
  • The Lunatics (1986)
  • You Will I Will (1986)
  • Happy Go Lucky (1987)
  • People's Hero (film) (1987)
  • I Love Maria (1988)
  • A City of Sadness (1989), Lin Wen-Ch'ing
  • My Heart is that Eternal Rose (1989)
  • Seven Warriors (1989)

[edit] 1990s

[edit] 2000s

[edit] Discography

  • Hard to Forget You (1993)
  • Cannot Forget Collection (?)
  • The Past and the Future (Cantonese version) (?)
  • The Past and the Future (Mandarin version) (March 2000)
  • Tony Leung Greatest Hits (June 2000)
  • In the Mood for Love (November 2000)
  • Feng Sha (2004) (reissued January 2006)

[edit] References

  1. ^ HK Mr Charming Tony Leung born to be an actor
  2. ^ Why Tony Leung is in the mood for lust - Times Online
  3. ^ YouTube - Broadcast Yourself
  4. ^ YouTube - Broadcast Yourself
  5. ^ Tony Leung in the mood for acting. China View, 21 April 2005. Retrieved 26 December 2006.
  6. ^ Tony Leung to appear in Hollywood film. ChinaDaily.com, 10 August 2005. Retrieved 23 December 2006.
  7. ^ Tony Leung Heads for Hollywood. CRI English.com, 18 August 2005. Retrieved 23 December 2006.
  8. ^ Tony Leung Chiu-Wai claims he was misquoted. HK Entertainment Review, 19 December 2002. Retrieved 23 December 2006.
  9. ^ a b Still in the Mood for a Collaboration - New York Times
  10. ^ "Interview" magazine. September 2005. Retrieved 23 December 2006.
  11. ^ Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards 2005 at the Internet Movie Database

[edit] External links

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