Mr Stephen Chow
1962-
Actor & Director
A prodigious comedian in the 1990s, Stephen Chow is a director, actor, producer and screenwriter. He enrolled in TVB’s acting course and, upon graduation, hosted the children’s show 430 Space Shuttle (1982) and appeared in TV dramas such as The Justice of Life (1989) and The Final Combat (1989). The film Justice, My Foot! (1992) saw Chow win Best Actor at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival in 1992. Three years later his performance in A Chinese Odyssey Part Two: Cinderella (1995) garnered the Best Actor Award from both the Golden Bauhinia Awards and the Hong Kong Film Critics Society. Chow’s eccentric comedic style is often described as “non-sequitur” or “nonsense”, and his films are said to have started an entire comedic subculture in Hong Kong. All for the Winner (1990), Fight Back to School (1991), The God of Cookery (1996) and King of Comedy (1999) were all box-office champions. In 2001, Shaolin Soccer (2001) smashed Hong Kong box-office records by grossing more than HK$60 million upon release. The film also scooped Outstanding Young Director and Best Actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards. In 2004, Kung Fu Hustle (2004), which Chow helmed and starred in, garnered Best Feature Film and Best Director at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards and a Best Foreign Film nomination at the Golden Globes. After starring in CJ7 (2008), Chow concentrated on behind-the-scenes work. He directed Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons (2013) and, more recently, The Mermaid (2016) and Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back (2017). All for the Winner, Shaolin Soccer and The Mermaid are among the highest-grossing movies in both Hong Kong and Mainland China.