Mr Karl Maka

1944-

Actor & Director

Born Mak Ka Sheung, Karl Maka was an actor, director, producer and scriptwriter, and a co-founder of Cinema City. He was born in Taishan in 1944, moved to Hong Kong in 1958, and emigrated to New York in 1963. Mak studied electrical engineering at the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute and later worked as an engineer. He embarked on film studies when he discovered his real interest was cinema, first in the form of evening courses and subsequently at New York University. In 1973, Maka returned to Hong Kong where he founded several film studios with partners, including the influential Cinema City. Adept at comedy, he helmed blockbusters Chasing Girls (1981) and It Takes Two (1982), and starred as a bald detective in the “Aces Go Places” series and Skinny Tiger and Fatty Dragon (1990). Maka shared the Best Actor honour with Sammo Hung at the 2^nd Hong Kong Film Awards for Aces Go Places (1982). He retired from showbiz in 1991, but made cameo appearances in the film Winner Takes All (2000) and the TV series Zen Master (2001). He co-hosted talk show Three Bald Men with James Wong and Law Kar Ying in 2001.