Not to be confused with film director Andrew Lau.
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Andy Lau Tak-Wah
MH, JP (born September 27, 1961) is a Hong Kong Cantopop singer, film actor, and producer. He has been one of Hong Kong's most commercially successful film actors since the 1990s. Andy Lau has since appeared in more than 100 films and 300 mini series with Hong Kong's TVB channel, and has a huge fan base throughout Asia with the success of both his onscreen performances and his musical career.
He has been married to Malaysian Carol Chu since June 23, 2008, but the marriage and relationship, though rumored, have only only been confirmed by Lau in August 2009. [1]
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ANDY LAU TICKETS
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Film career
Shortly after graduating from
Ho Lap College, Andy Lau signed up for the artist training program offered by
TVB, which is where his acting career began. The first lead role that made his initial popularity was the
TVB series
The Emissary
in 1982. In the same year, Andy acted in his first movie
Once Upon a Rainbow
. He was also given a role in
Ann Hui's 1982 film,
Boat People.
Later in 1983, his role as
Yang Guo in the popular
wuxia TV serial
The Return of the Condor Heroes
landed him his first leading role in a
Shaw Brothers' film called
On the Wrong Track
[2].
From the early 80s to the mid 80s, Andy Lau had been the
leading actor in many of the
TVB series, therefore, he was named as one of "TVB's Five Tigers" along with
Tony Leung,
Michael Miu,
Felix Wong, and
Kent Tong. However, in the late 80s, Andy Lau had to leave
TVB due to contract problems so he shifted entirely into film acting and he quickly became one of Hong Kong's most
bankable stars.
Andy Lau is best known in movies for his (often) recurring roles as a "Heroic Gangster" such as "Wah" in
Wong Kar Wai's 1988 film,
As Tears Go By
and "Wah Dee" in
Johnnie To's 1990 film,
A Moment Of Romance
. Though a respectable actor, Lau in the early days was known more for his good looks, though he has answered his detractors since the turn of the century with a series of critically acclaimed movies, especially those directed by
Johnnie To. His first major acting prizes came with
A Fighter's Blues
and
Running Out of Time
in 2000. With
Running Out of Time
, he won his very first
Hong Kong Film Award ("aka" Golden Statue Award) for Best Actor. In 2004, he won the prestigious
Golden Horse Award for his performance in
Infernal Affairs 3
, the sequel to the popular
Infernal Affairs
.
Western audiences may also be familiar with his performance in the
House of Flying Daggers
.
In 2005, Andy Lau was awarded "No.1
Box Office Actor 1985-2005" of Hong Kong, yielding a total box office of
HKD 1,733,275,816 for shooting 108 films in the past 20 years. It is compared to the first runner-up
Stephen Chow (HKD 1,317,452,311) and second runner-up
Jackie Chan (HKD 894,090,962). "I've never imagined that would be as much as 1.7 billion!" he told the reporters.
In 2007, Andy Lau was awarded the "Nielsen Box Office Star of Asia" by the
Nielsen Company (ACNielsen) [3].
Back in 1991, Andy Lau has set up his own film production company called
Teamwork Motion Pictures Limited, which in 2002 was renamed to
Focus Group Holdings Limited. His contributions in the film industry as well as his involvement in nurturing new talents in the Asian film industry led him to being awarded the "Asian Filmaker of the Year" in the
Pusan International Film Festival in 2006
.
Musical career
Besides acting, Andy Lau also sings. He was trained in singing under
???(Tai Sze Chong) since 1982. His first music contract came in 1985 and his first album, which was released in
Hong Kong that year, was called "???????" (Only Know that at this Moment I Love You). However, his first album was not a big hit.
Despite having a voice not traditionally associated with popular music, Andy Lau's hard work and perseverance resulted in him being one of the most successful
Chinese music celebrities, with an extensive list of
Cantonese and
Mandarin hits to his credit. His singing career reached stellar status in 1990 with the release of the
album entitled ???? "Would It Be Possible?", and his subsequent releases only solidified his status as a marketable singer. Many of his songs quickly topped the music charts, not only in Hong Kong, but also in
Taiwan,
Mainland China, and in many different parts of
Asia.
Some of the most notable hits by Andy Lau include ??????? (The Days We Spent Together), ??? (Everlasting Love), ???????? (If You Are My Legend), ?? (The Tide), ??? (Forget Love Potion), ??? (True Forever), ??? (Chinese People), ??? (Stupid Child), ????? (Love You Forever
(lit. Love You For 10,000 Years)
), ?????? (You Are My Woman), ???? (Secret Admiration).
Besides singing in
Cantonese and
Mandarin, Andy Lau had sung in other languages as well, such as
English,
Japanese,
Malay, and
Taiwanese. His Taiwanese song was called ?????.
Since the early 1990s, Andy Lau, along with
Jacky Cheung,
Aaron Kwok and
Leon Lai have been referred by the Chinese media as the
Cantopop Four Heavenly Kings
(????,
Cantonese: sêi daài tïn wong).
Since 1992, Lau has appeared in concert more than 180 times.
Andy Lau also entered into
Guinness World Records for "Most Awards Won By A Canto-Pop Male Artist". By April 2000, Andy Lau had won an unprecedented 292 awards, for a singing career that began in 1988. From
TVB’s Jade Solid Gold Award Ceremony since 1990, he has won the “Most Popular Hong Kong Male Artist” award 6 times and he has won the “Asia Pacific Most Popular Hong Kong Male Artist” award 10 times. In fact, in 2004, Andy Lau became the first ever singer in the history of
TVB’s Jade Solid Gold Award Ceremony to win both the “Most Popular Hong Kong Male Artist” award and the “Asia Pacific Most Popular Hong Kong Male Artist” award.
As well as being a versatile singer, Andy Lau also writes lyrics and composes music for others and for himself.
He also participated and sung in the theme song of the 10th Anniversary of the Establishment of the
HKSAR with the other three Heavenly Kings and other famous Hong Kong singers.
Andy Lau sang alongside of
Jackie Chan during a part of the
2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony on August 24, 2008. In addition, Andy Lau, whom has been supporting the disabled athletes in Hong Kong for more than a decade, was appointed as the Goodwill ambassador for the
2008 Summer Paralympic Games [4]. He led other performers in singing and performing the song "Everyone is No.1" in the Beijing National Stadium just a few hours before the
2008 Paralympics opening ceremony began to show his support for the disabled athletes
[5]. In fact, Andy Lau's music video "Everyone is no.1" was especially made to support athletes with disabilities
[6]. He also sang the 2008 Paralympic theme song, "Flying with the Dream," with
Han Hong during the
2008 Paralympics opening ceremony on September 6, 2008
.
Andy is about to embark on a tour of Australia - visiting Sydney in early October 2008 on his Wonderful World tour.
Appearance in other media
Andy Lau is alleged to have been featured as a
non-player character (
NPC) as a random pedestrian in a
sandbox-style action video game called
PROTOTYPE
. The game was released on
Microsoft Windows,
Playstation 3 and
Xbox 360 in early June 2009. The striking resemblance of Lau is well recognized
[7] [8] especially by gamers in Asia where Lau is tremendously well received. This was further publicized when a Hong Kong fan made comedy called
?????????
[9] along with an english subtitled version of the same film
[10] were released and both well received on
Youtube in late June 2009. On 6th July, the Hong Kong local newspapers
Hong Kong Headline????
and
Sing Tao Daily????
also reported on Lau's cameo
[11].
Trivia
- Madame Tussauds Hong Kong unveiled the wax figure of Lau on June 1, 2005.
- Lau has demonstrated a proficient command of Chinese calligraphy during onstage performances. Some film titles have been written by his hand (Jiang Hu, A Battle of Wits, etc) and used in their respective promotional materials.
- In 2003, he started his own media company called Focus Group Holdings Limited.
- In the mid-nineties, Lau had his own brand of sunglasses called ALD, pronounced "old", (Andy Lau Design).
- Over the years, like a number of other celebrities, Lau has voiced and appeared in a number of public service announcements. One of his public service announcements for customer service was spoofed in the 2003 film, Golden Chicken, in which Lau appeared in a cameo role. His most recent (as of April 2008) public service announcement is to encourage businesses to join the Quality Tourism Services Scheme. The advertisement uses excerpts from Infernal Affair, whilst recreating a scene from the movie. [12]
- Andy Lau experienced unexpected notoriety with the encounter of 29 year old fan Yang Lijuan (traditional Chinese: ???), who idolized him for 16 years. After her parents sold the family house to pay the trip to Hong Kong, she finally met him on March 25, 2007. One day later, Yang's father committed suicide by throwing himself into the Salisbury Sea (Hong Kong), possible reasons being bankruptcy, shame and pressure from the media. This was the second trip to Hong Kong for this Sichuanese family, and a third trip was even considered but the late father Yang would have had to sell his kidney, which stirred up an outcry from the public.
- Andy Lau was selected as one of the torchbearers in the HK Torch Relay for the 2008 Beijing Olympics [13].
Duets
- With Anita Mui
- *Dance of a Dream
- *Don't Say Love Hurts
- *Moon Represents My Heart
- With Rosamund Kwan
- *????? - Seung Yeuk Do Wing Yuen
- With Jacky Cheung
- *Miao Xiang Tian Kai
- With Kelly Chen
- *????? - I Don't Love You Enough
- With Sammi Cheng
- *Happily Ever After
- With Sharon Cuneta
- *In Your Eyes
- With Kenny G
- *?????? - You Are My Woman
(1998)
- With Sandra Ng
- *Love Is Like A Dream
- With Tony Leung
- *??? (???) - Infernal Affairs (Cantonese Version)
(2002)
- *??? (???) - Infernal Affairs (Mandarin Version)
(2002)
- With Dicky Cheung
- *???? - Journey to the West III
(2002)
- With Eason Chan
- *?? - Brothers
(2007)
- With Shu Qi
- *I do - Look for a Star
(2009)
Awards and Nominations
Hong Kong Film Awards
- Best New Performer Nomination for Boat People
- Best Actor Nomination for As Tears Go By
- Best Actor Nomination for Lee Rock
- Best Original Film Song Nomination for Casino Raiders II
(Singer)
- Best Original Film Song Nomination for Heaven and Earth
(Singer)
- Best Actor Nomination for Full Throttle
- Best Original Film Song Nomination for Full Throttle
(Singer/Lyricist)
- Best Film for
Made in Hong Kong
(Producer)
- Best Original Film Song Nomination for Island of Greed
(Singer)
- Best Film Nomination for The Longest Summer
(Producer)
- Best Original Film Song Nomiantion for The Longest Summer
(Singer)
- Best Original Film Song Nomination for A True Mob Story
(Singer/Lyricist)
- Best Actor for
Running Out of Time
- Best Actor Nomination for A Fighter's Blues
- Best Actor Nomination for Love on a Diet
- Best Original Film Song Nomination for Shaolin Soccer
(Singer/Lyricist)
- Best Actor Nomination for Infernal Affairs
- Best Original Film Song for
Infernal Affairs (Singer with Tony Leung)
- Best Actor for
Running on Karma
- Best Actor Nomination for Wait 'Til You're Older
- Best Original Film Song Nomination for Wait 'Til You're Older
(Singer/Lyricist)
- Best Best Asian Film Nomination for Crazy Stone
(Producer)
- Best Actor Nomination for The Warlords
- Best Supporting Actor for
Protégé
- Best Original Film Song Nomination for Brothers
(Singer with Eason Chan/Lyricist)
(10 Best Actor Nominations, 10 Best Original Film Song Nominations, 2 Best Film Nominations, 1 Best Supporting Actor Nomination, 1 Best New Performer Nomination, 1 Best Asia Film Nomination)
See also
- Cinema of Hong Kong
- Cantopop
References
- "Straits Times" news article confirming Lau and Chu's marriage in Clark County, Nevada.
- lovehkfilm
- Focus Films
- sina English
- peopledaily.com.cn
- Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games Official Website
- http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/prototype/show_msgs.php?topic_id=m-1-50202561&pid=942351
- http://www.popularasians.com/forum/showthread.php?t=47803
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-vhTkH5Olk
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es0D33vPdmQ
- http://www.hkheadline.com/digital/digital_content.asp?contid=58389&srctype=g&catid=878
- DiscoverHongKong - Interactive Gallery - Video Clips - Index
- GovHK