Mr Michael Hui
1942-
Actor & Director
Director, screenwriter and actor Michael Hui is fondly known as “the Deadpan Comedian” in Hong Kong. Born in Guangzhou, he came to Hong Kong with his family in 1950, growing up in the city and studying sociology at the Chinese University. Hui began working at a television station while still at university, assuming various duties on-screen and behind the scenes. He became a successful TV host with his brother Sam in The Hui Brothers’ Show in 1971. In 1972, director Li Han Hsiang offered him the leading role in The Warlord (1972), The Happiest Moment (1973) and other titles, which paved the way to phenomenal success. In 1974, he founded Hui’s Film Production, a satellite company of Golden Harvest, with which the studio collaborated on a number of satirical comedies that turned out to be mega-hits. They include Games Gamblers Play (1974), The Last Message (1975), The Private Eyes (1976) and The Contract (1978). In 1982, Hui won Best Actor at the 1st Hong Kong Film Awards for his outstanding performance in Security Unlimited (1981). In 1993, he was appointed chairman of the newly founded Hong Kong Performing Artistes Guild, and he is now its permanent honorary president. More recently, Hui appeared in movies including Fantasia (2004), The Bounty (2012) and Delete My Love (2014), and tours the world as a stand-up comedian. In 2016, he was nominated as Best Supporting Actor at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards for his role in the Taiwanese production Godspeed.
