Although Chow continued his TV success, his goal was to become a big-screen actor. His occasional ventures onto the big screens with low-budget films, however, were disastrous. Success finally came when he teamed up with director John Woo in the 1986 gangster action-melodrama A Better Tomorrow, which swept the box offices in Asia and established Chow and Woo as megastars. A Better Tomorrow won him his first Best Actor award at the Hong Kong Film Awards. It was the highest-grossing film in Hong Kong history at the time, and it set the standard for Hong Kong gangster films to come. Taking the opportunity, Chow quit TV entirely. With his new image from A Better Tomorrow, he made many more 'gun fu' or 'heroic bloodshed' films, such as A Better Tomorrow 2 (1987), Prison on Fire, Prison on Fire II, The Killer (1989), A Better Tomorrow 3 (1990), Hard Boiled (1992) and City on Fire an inspiration for Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs.
Chow may be best known for playing honorable tough guys, whether cops or criminals, but he also starred in comedies like Diary of a Big Man (1988) and Now You See Love, Now You Don't (1992) and romantic blockbusters such as Love in a Fallen City (1984) and An Autumn's Tale (1987), for which he was named best actor at the Golden Horse Awards. He brought together his disparate personae in the 1989 film God of Gamblers (Du Shen), directed by the prolific Wong Jing, in which he was by turns suave charmer, broad comedian and action hero. The film surprised many, became immensely popular, broke Hong Kong's all-time box office record, and spawned a series of gambling films, as well as several comic sequels starring Andy Lau and Stephen Chow.
The Los Angeles Times proclaimed Chow Yun-Fat "the coolest actor in the world."[citation needed] Being one of the biggest stars in Hong Kong, Chow moved to Hollywood in the mid-'90s in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to duplicate his success in Asia. His first two films, The Replacement Killers (1998) and The Corruptor (1999) were box office disappointments. In his next film Anna and the King (1999), Chow teamed up with Jodie Foster, but the film suffered at the box office. Unable to play down the Asian stereotype, Chow took advantage of it by accepting the role of Li Mu-Bai in the (2000) film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It became a winner at both the international box office and the Oscars. In 2003, Chow came back to Hollywood and starred in Bulletproof Monk in yet another Asian stereotyped role of a martial art expert. In 2006, he teamed up with Gong Li in the film, Curse of the Golden Flower, directed by Zhang Yimou.
In 2007, Chow was cast as the pirate captain Sao Feng in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. His character, however, was omitted when the movie was shown in mainland China. His character was criticized as demeaning as it "vilifies and humiliates the Chinese." Despite the censorship, the unedited version of the movie was freely sold on the black market without government intervention because viewers wanted to see Chow Yun Fat.
Chow had often wished to be regarded as a serious dramatic actor in Hollywood. Unfortunately, he often landed in roles that stereotyped him as an Asian action hero.
In the live-action version of Dragonball Evolution, which performed poorly in the USA and grossed $57 million worldwide, Chow Yun Fat played Master Roshi.", "image": "https://i.hndrama.com/image/people/2qEYdc.jpg" }, { "@type": "Person", "name": "Simon Yam", "alternateName": "任達華", "birthDate": "March 19, 1955", "nationality": "Hong Konger", "description": "Simon Yam is a Hong Kong actor and photographer. Before joining the TVB Artiste Training Course, Wah worked as a salesperson and model. He made his TV debut in the drama series "CID". Like many other TV superstars, he, after becoming a household name, stepped onto the silver screen and, in 1979, appeared in "Law Don".
Besides starring in a series of gigolo movies in the early 90s, he has found his niche in a poss of triad movies, portraying triad figures of the likes of "Track Fantasy," "Tiger of Wanchai," and "King of Robbery." He has more than 80 movies under his belt.", "image": "https://i.hndrama.com/image/people/RbxX6_5c.jpg" }, { "@type": "Person", "name": "Carol Cheng", "alternateName": "鄭裕玲", "birthDate": "September 9, 1957", "nationality": "Hong Konger", "description": "Carol Cheng, commonly referred to as Do Do, is an actress and host from Hong Kong.
Cheng began her career in 1975, working on several Television Broadcasts Limited series. She also hosted the Hong Kong version of the game show "The Weakest Link" from 2001-2002. In 1980, she made her debut along with Chow Yun Fat. After her film debut, her output became so prolific that at one point, she was working on nine films simultaneously, leading her to have the nickname "Nine films Cheng". During this very prolific time in her career, she became the highest-paid actress in the region, beating out Maggie Cheung, Anita Mui and Michelle Yeoh, who rounded up the top 5.
She began hosting programmes for TVB in 1997, and she returned to acting with a critically acclaimed performance in the TVB sitcom "War of Genders". It immediately became the highest-rated show for the network TVB and garnered Cheng a Best Actress trophy at the annual awards. In addition, she is the highest-paid female employee of TVB.
Cheng still keeps "no marriage and no kids".
In her childhood, her parents frequently quarrelled and even fought. They divorced eventually. Her father ran away and left them nothing, and her mother brought up her and her younger brother. Life was often very tough. So she is terrified of marriage, and she never wants to have kids at all.
So far, she has had two profound love stories. From 1980 to 1990, she was the girlfriend of Kam Kwok Leung. From 1992 to 2008, she was together with David Lui Fong. Now, they remain friends.", "image": "https://i.hndrama.com/image/people/W1wLmc.jpg" }, { "@type": "Person", "name": "Lee Heung Kam", "alternateName": "李香琴", "birthDate": "January 13, 1932", "nationality": "Hong Konger", "description": "Lee Heung Kam was a veteran Cantonese opera and TVB actress from Hong Kong. She joined the entertainment industry when she was 16 years old.
Lee was briefly married to Cantonese opera star, Siu Chung Kwan (d. 2005), with whom she had a daughter. Divorced in 1957, her ex-husband and daughter left for Canada. From 1990 to 2006, Lee worked for TVB rival ATV, but she has since returned to TVB. She has a younger brother, Lee Sue Gai. However, she broke off the relationship with him because he indulged in gambling.
Lee had been forced to retire from acting in 2011 due to Alzheimer's Disease, her condition deteriorated in December 2020. On January 4, 2021, 9 days before her 89th birthday, she fainted while having dinner, and was pronounced dead en route to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Hong Kong.
(Source: Wikipedia)", "image": "https://i.hndrama.com/image/people/Jkw4oc.jpg" }, { "@type": "Person", "name": "Law Koon Lan", "alternateName": "羅冠蘭", "birthDate": "September 28, 1947", "nationality": "Hong Konger", "description": "Law Koon Lan is a Hong Kong actress who works in television and films. She won the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in "I Have a Date with Spring" (1994).", "image": "https://i.hndrama.com/image/people/6Oo2X_5c.jpg" }, { "@type": "Person", "name": "Herman Kwan", "alternateName": "關銘覺", "birthDate": "October 23, 1925", "nationality": "Hong Konger", "description": "Herman Kwan was a Hong Kong actor. He started off as a Cantonese opera actor in street theater before joining New Voice Opera Troupe. He also started singing for early Hong Kong film soundtracks and moved on to act in films, mostly adaption of opera in Cantonese. He became famous and acted in many lead roles. When Hong Kong films started to move towards Mandarin, Kwan's career faltered, and he joined TVB and acted in various roles. Directors and filmmakers rediscovered his talent and cast him in many supporting roles in films.
In 2001, he suffered from an apoplexy attack and was left paralyzed and mute. His condition improved, but relapsed at times. On the morning of 11 September 2006, Kwan's fourth wife noticed that he was not feeling well and sent him to Kwong Wah Hospital. Kwan died shortly later from complications arising from high blood pressure and diabetes.", "image": "https://i.hndrama.com/image/people/1vKYKc.jpg" } ], "director": [ ]
}