Yun-fat Chow

Chow Yun Fat grew up on Lamma Island, a small fishing village off of Hong Kong. His family moved to the city on the big island when he was ten. At the age of seventeen he quit school to pursue a career in acting, and at the suggestion of a friend, he applied and was accepted into a local Hong Kong television station’s actor trainee program. After the yearlong program, he was quickly signed to the station as a contract player, which lasted fourteen years.

Having done over one hundred and twenty eight episodes of the popular television series Hotel, Chow was considered a sex symbol and popular leading man in Hong Kong. The immense popularity of his next television series, The Bund, made him a household name in all of South-East Asia.

His first big break in films came when new age director Ann Hui approached him to star in The Story of Woo Viet, which gained him critical acclaim for a role in a serious and commercially successful film when Hong Kong was still mass producing Kung Fu action films. From there, his career skyrocketed. He received a number of Best Actor awards for his roles, and even made twelve films in 1986 a record for a Hong Kong actor.

John Woo then cast him in the role of Mark for the internationally acclaimed film A Better Tomorrow. Chow reached megastar status in Asia with his now trademarked trench coat, sunglasses and blazing Berettas. After a series of romantic comedies and dramas, the determined Chow would later collaborate with John on The Killer and Hard-boiled—two movies that perked the interests of a growing international fan base.

A new genre of films was produced in Hong Kong with Chow at the forefront. These stories were reminiscent of the gangster films staring Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney, now with Chow playing the tragic hero. Hong Kong director Ringo Lam’s City on Fire was the inspiration for Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, which won Chow another Best Actor award for his role.

Having conquered Asia with over 68 movies, Chow set out to Hollywood in 1996 for his first English-speaking role in The Replacement Killers directed by Antoine Fuqua. He then starred in the police drama The Corrupter helmed by director James Foley. Fox’s studio epic Anna and the King with Jodie Foster was said to have rivaled Gone With The Wind in production size, with Chow starring as the King. It wasn’t until Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon that Chow became a recognizable face in the United States, after its box office and Oscar successes. After making Bulletproof Monk, Chow worked on Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End and united again with Ann Hui on The Postmodern Life of my Aunt. After Curse of the Golden Flower, he returned to work with John Woo twice in a row, in the upcoming video game Stranglehold and Chinese epic film The Battle of Red Cliff.

The man the Los Angeles Times declared “The Coolest Actor in the World,” and whom People magazine voted one of “50 Most Beautiful People,” continues to live in Hong Kong where he is known to his fans as “Big Brother.” Chow spends his spare time photographing landscapes and plans to sell them to raise money for the number of local and international charities he is involved with.

Film Partner International