Andy Lau
- Not to be confused with film director Andrew Lau.
| Andy Lau | ||||||||||||||||||
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 at the preview of the film The Warlords at SF World Cinema, CentralWorld, Bangkok. |
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| Chinese name | 劉德華 (Traditional) | |||||||||||||||||
| Chinese name | 刘德华 (Simplified) | |||||||||||||||||
| Pinyin | Liú déhuá (Mandarin) | |||||||||||||||||
| Jyutping | Lau4 dak1 wa4 (Cantonese) | |||||||||||||||||
| Birth name | (Cantonese Yale: Lau Fuk-Wing) (劉福榮)[1] | |||||||||||||||||
| Ancestry | Xinhui, Guangdong | |||||||||||||||||
| Origin | Hong Kong | |||||||||||||||||
| Born | September 27, 1961 Hong Kong |
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| Other name(s) | Wa Zai (華仔) | |||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Singer, actor, film producer, and presenter | |||||||||||||||||
| Genre(s) | Cantopop, Mandopop | |||||||||||||||||
| Instrument(s) | Vocal | |||||||||||||||||
| Label(s) | Focus Music (2003–2007);East Asia Records (2007-) | |||||||||||||||||
| Years active | 1982–present | |||||||||||||||||
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Andy Lau Tak-Wah MH, JP (born September 27, 1961) is a Chinese Cantopop star, movie actor and producer. He has been one of Hong Kong's most commercially successful film actors since the 1990s.
The first lead role that made his initial popularity was the TVB series Hunting in 1982. In the same year, Andy acted in his first movie Once Upon a Rainbow. Later in 1983, his role as Yang Guo in the popular wuxia TV serial The Return of the Condor Heroes landed him his first leading role in a Shaw Brothers' film called On the Wrong Track.[2]
He is the singer of the Beijing Paralympic Games official theme song 'Everyone is No.1'.[3]
In December 2008, Andy Lau married his long rumoured Malaysian girlfriend, Ms. Carol Chu.[4]
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Film career
- See also: Andy Lau filmography
Andy Lau has since appeared in more than 100 films and 300 mini series with Hong Kong's TVB channel, and has a huge fan base throughout Asia with the success of both his onscreen performance and his musical career. Andy Lau is best known for his (often) recurring roles as a "Heroic Gangster."
Though a respectable actor, Lau in the early days was known more for his good looks, though he has answered his detractors since the turn of the century with a series of critically acclaimed movies, especially those directed by Johnnie To. His first major acting prizes came with A Fighter's Blues and Running Out of Time in 2000. With Running Out of Time, he won his very first Hong Kong Film Award ("aka" Golden Statue Award) for Best Actor. In 2004, he won the prestigious Golden Horse Award for his performance in Infernal Affairs 3, the sequel to the popular Infernal Affairs. Western audiences may also be familiar with his performance in the House of Flying Daggers.
Andy Lau was awarded "No.1 Box Office Actor 1985-2005" of Hong Kong, yielding a total box office of HKD 1,733,275,816 for shooting 108 films in the past 20 years. It is compared to the first runner-up Stephen Chow (HKD 1,317,452,311) and second runner-up Jackie Chan (HKD 894,090,962). "I've never imagined that would be as much as 1.7 billion!" he told the reporters.
Musical career
- See also: Andy Lau discography
In the 90s, despite having a voice not tradionally associated with popular music, Andy Lau's marketing techniques resulted in his being one of the most successful Chinese music celebrities, with an extensive list of Cantonese and Mandarin hits to his credit. He was trained in singing under Teresa Carpio. He has even sang a Taiwanese song entitled 世界第一等. His first music contract came in 1985, but his singing career reached stellar status in 1990 with the release of the album entitled 可不可以 "Would It Be Possible?", and his subsequent releases only solidified his status as a marketable singer. Andy Lau along with Jacky Cheung, Aaron Kwok and Leon Lai also named as the Cantopop Four Heavenly Kings (四大天王 Cantonese: sêi daài tïn wong, Pinyin: sì dà tiān wáng).
Andy Lau also entered into Guinness World Records for "Most Awards Won By A Canto-Pop Male Artist". By April 2000, Andy Lau had won an unprecedented 292 awards, for a singing career that began in 1988. Since 1992, Lau has appeared in concert 179+ times.
The most notable hits by Andy Lau include 一起走過的日子 (The Days We Spent Together), 愛不完 (Everlasting Love), 潮水 (The Tide), 忘情水 (Forget Love Potion), 中國人 (Chinese People), 笨小孩 (Stupid Child), 愛你一萬年 (Love You Forever (lit. Love You For 10,000 Years)), 你是我的女人 (You Are My Woman), 暗裡著迷 (Secret Admiration).
As well as being a versatile singer, Andy Lau also writes lyrics and composes music for many of his songs.
He also participated and sung in the theme song of the 10th Anniversary of the Establishment of the HKSAR with the other three Heavenly Kings and other famous Hong Kong Famous singers.
He sang along side of Jackie Chan during a part of the 2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony on August 24th, 2008, as well as the 2008 Paralympics opening ceremony on September 6, 2008.
Andy is about to embark on a tour of Australia - visiting Sydney in early October 2008 on his Wonderful World tour.
Trivia
- Madame Tussauds Hong Kong unveiled the wax figure of Lau on June 1, 2005.
- Lau has demonstrated a proficient command of Chinese calligraphy during onstage performances. Some film titles has been written by his hand (Jiang Hu, A Battle of Wits, etc).
- In 2003, he started his own media company called Focus Group Holdings Limited.
- In the mid-nineties, Lau had his own brand of sunglasses called ALD, pronounced "old", (Andy Lau Design).
- Over the years, Like a number of celebrities, Lau voiced and appeared in a number of public service announcements. One of his PSA for customer service have been referenced for his appearance in the 2003 film, Golden Chicken. His most recent (as of April 2008) is to encourage business to join the Quality Tourism Services Scheme uses excerpts of Infernal Affair, plus it recreated the Hi-Fi shop scene.[5]
Duets
- With Anita Mui
- Dance of a Dream
- Don't Say Love Hurts
- Moon Represents My Heart
- With Rosamund Kwan
- 相约到永远 - Xiang Yue Dao Yong Yuan
- With Jacky Cheung
- Miao Xiang Tian Kai
- With Kelly Chen
- 我不夠愛你 - I Don't Love You Enough
- With Sammi Cheng
- Happily Ever After
- With Sharon Cuneta
- In Your Eyes
- With Kenny G
- 你是我的女人 - You Are My Woman (1998)
- With Sandra Ng
- Love Is Like A Dream
- With Tony Leung
- 無間道 (廣東版) - Infernal Affairs (Cantonese Version) (2002)
- 無間道 (國語版) - Infernal Affairs (Mandarin Version) (2002)
- With Dicky Cheung
- 高高在下 - Journey to the West III (2002)
- With Eason Chan
- 兄弟 - Brothers (2007)
See also
References
- ↑ (Chinese) Li, Liangshan. Epoch Times 組圖：藝人原名大公開 劉德華原名劉福榮. August 11, 2007.
- ↑ lovehkfilm
- ↑ YouTube - Everyone is NO.1
- ↑ thestar.com.my
- ↑ DiscoverHongKong - Interactive Gallery - Video Clips - Index
External links
- Andy Lau's Official Website (Chinese)
- Andy World Club - Andy Lau's Official Fan Club (Chinese/Japanese/English)
- Focus Group Holdings Limited
- Focus Films Limited
- Focus Music
- Andy Lau Forum - Andy Lau Forum (English)
- Andy Lau Forum - Andy Lau Forum (Chinese)
- Andy Lau at the Internet Movie Database
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