May 18, 1955 (Lamma Island, Hong Kong)

Background:

"I'm unlucky. Nobody understands me. But I can wait. I hope someone who understands me will come along. Foreigners look me up because of John Woo's movies, only because they see that my gun scenes are good." Chow Yun-Fat.

Chinese action film star Chow Yun-Fat first gained attention while playing the ultra-cool gangster Hui Man-Keung in the TVB series “Shanghai Beach” (a.k.a. Shanghai Grand, a.k.a. The Bund). He later starred in several John Woo action films, including A Better Tomorrow (1987), The Killer (1989) and Hard Boiled (1992), before hitting Hollywood scene with a starring role as legendary martial artist Li Mu Bai in Ang Lee's blockbuster, Oscar-winning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). He will star in the upcoming films, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, The Aunt's Postmodern Life, and Autumn Remembrance.

The 6' tall charismatic, athletically built and energetic Asian born film star was voted as one of People Magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People” in 2002. He speaks three languages, Cantonese, Mandarin and English.

Fat Tsai

Childhood and Family:

In Lamma Island, Hong Kong, China, Chow Yun Fat (Jau Yun Faat; Zhou Run Fa) was born on May 18, 1955 to an oil rigger father (died in 1974) and a housewife mother. Fat was born of the Haka (a.k.a. Ha Ka) race, an ethnic group from China that has moved from one region to another without taking up permanent residence since the ancient times. Raised in a poor family without electricity, Fat arose at 4 a.m. each morning to sell dim sum on the streets where customers called him Gao Tsai (Little Dog). At age ten, Chow Yun Fat, nicknamed Fat Tsai or Fatt "Kor" (as in "Big Brother"), moved with family to Kowloon, a part of Hong Kong connected by land to China. There, he attended a leftist school that promoted the teachings of Mao Tse-tung. After participating in riots as the Cultural Revolution spread to Hong Kong, Fat’s worry mother transferred him to a boarding school established by the Nationalist Party Kuomintang.

In 1983, Chow Yun Fat married Candice Yu, but their marriage only lasted for six months. The next year, Fat met Jasmine Chow, a business manager born in Singapore in 1959. They exchanged wedding vows in 1986 and remains husband and wife up to present. The couple lives mainly in Kowloon.

A Better Tomorrow

Career:

"An actor is only merchandise." Chow Yun-Fat.

16-year-old Chow Yun Fat worked in a factory, packing radios to ship overseas for $1.40 per day. He quit school at age 17 years old and found various works as a bellboy, postman and camera salesman. After reading a newspaper ad about free acting lessons at TVB, a leading Hong Kong TV operation which produced broadcasting at home and handled video distribution throughout Asia owned by the Shaw Brothers, Fat soon applied. He completed the yearlong training program and scored a three-year deal with the studio for a modest sum of less than HK $500 per month. Subsequently he acted in over 1,000 episodes of various soap operas.

Chow Yun Fat made his feature debut in director Sum Cheung's Tou tai ren (a.k.a. The Reincarnation) and got his first leading role in the director's romantic film Chi nu (a.k.a. Massage Girls, both in 1976), as a young police officer goes undercover in a brothel. That same year, he began his 128-episode stint as the young hunk on the HK primetime soap "Hotel." After his increasing popularity while portraying a white-suited Shanghai 1920s crime boss in the TV series "Shanghai Bund," Fat made a breakthrough feature performance for starring as Wu Yuet, a Vietnamese refugee who flees to the Philippines, in Ann Hui's Woo yuet dik goo si (1981, a.k.a. God of Killers; The Story of Woo Viet).

In January of 1983, the episodes of the hit show "Shanghai Bund" were re-edited into two features, The Bund and The Bund, Part II. He was awarded Taiwanese Golden Horse Award for Best Actor for portraying Yip Kim Fay, a refugee from the war-torn North arrives penniless in Hong Kong, in Po-Chih Leong's period dramatic feature Hong Kong 1941 (1984).

"After I saw A Better Tomorrow, I went out and bought a long coat, and I got sunglasses, and I walked around for a week dressing like Chow Yun-Fat. And to me, that's the ULTIMATE compliment for an action hero--when you want to dress like the guy." Quentin Tarantino (on Chow Yun Fat in the film A Better Tomorrow (1986)).

Fat eventually achieved international superstar status, thanks to the portrayal of Mark Gor/Mark Lee, a courier for a Hong Kong crime syndicate with a large counterfeiting operation, in his first collaboration with writer-director John Woo, the crime action Ying hung boon sik (1986, a.k.a. A Better Tomorrow, costarring Ti Lung and Leslie Cheung; Fat won Hong Kong Film’s Best Actor). Fat later reappeared in Woo’s A Better Tomorrow II (1987) and Tsui Hark's A Better Tomorrow III (1990). He also reprised his role in its 1994 sequel, Return of the God of Gamblers. Being asked about the casting of Chow Yun Fat, director John Woo recalled, "I was looking for a man who was a modern knight. The kind of man with real guts, who can stand up for justice."

In the rest of the 1980s, Fat starred in 1987 films, Chia-Liang Liu's Xiao sheng meng jing hun (a.k.a. Scared Stiff), in which he played a dirty cop, and Ringo Lam's popular, influential and Hong Kong Academy Award-winning crime film Lung fu fong wan (a.k.a. City on Fire), playing undercover cop Ko Chow who infiltrates a gang of robbers. He also won Golden Horse Award for Best Actor for starring opposite Cherie Chung in Mabel Cheung's romantic drama Chou tin dik tong wah (1987, a.k.a. An Autumn's Tale) and teamed with Andy Lau, playing amnesiac gang lord Ko Chun, in Jing Wong's drama comedy action film Du shen (1989, a.k.a. God of Gamblers). Another Hong Kong Film’s Best Actor arrived after Fat portrayed the title role in Johnny To's sentimental family saga You jian A Lang (1989, a.k.a. All About Ah-Long; Fat also co-wrote the story).

In 1992, Fat made his last collaboration with director John Woo in Lashou shentan (a.k.a. Hard-Boiled), playing hard-boiled Hong Kong detective Yuen (Tequila), and with filmmaker Ringo Lam in his 1993 film, Xia dao Gao Fei (a.k.a. Full Contact), starring as Jeff, a betrayed and vengeful bouncer. After starring in Ka-Fai Wai's Western movie Woh ping faan dim (1995, a.k.a. The Peace Hotel, Fat also wrote the story), as a reformed assassin operates a safe house for criminal fugitives, Fat debuted in Hollywood with Antoine Fuqua's feature executive-produced by John Woo, The Replacement Killers (1998). In the film, Fat teamed with Mira Sorvino, playing the best hit man John Lee who must pay a debt to an Asian crime lord. He then acted opposite Oscar winner actress Jodie Foster in Andy Tennant's epic tale set in Thailand in the late 19th century, Anna and the King (1999), portraying the strong-willed Siamese ruler King Mongkut. Also in that year, Fat teamed with Mark Wahlberg in James Foley's crime action movie The Corruptor, playing Nick Chen, one of NYPD's most martial officers and the first Chinese-born immigrant on the force.

Entering the new century, Fat hit Hollywood scene with the lead role of legendary martial artist Li Mu Bai who is tracking the murderer of his master, in Ang Lee's adaptation of Du Lu Wang's book, the Oscar-winning Wo hu cang long (2000, a.k.a. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, also starring Michelle Yeoh and Ziyi Zhang). Three years later, Fat became a Tibetan monk who becomes a mentor to a young street kid (played by Seann William Scott), in Paul Hunter's action comedy film based on the very underground comic book, Bulletproof Monk (2003). He is currently filming his upcoming film projects: Ann Hui's romantic comedy The Aunt's Postmodern Life, Gore Verbinski's Pirates of the Caribbean 3 (Fat will play the oriental pirate Sao-Feng; costarring with Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley) and writer-director Yimou Zhang's romantic action film Autumn Remembrance (alongside Gong Li).

"In the West audiences think I am a stereotyped action star, or that I always play hit men or killers. But in Hong Kong, I did a lot of comedy, many dramatic films, and most of all, romantic roles, lots of love stories. I was like a romance novel hero." Chow Yun-Fat.

Source: http://www.celebritybazar.com

Films:

1. Battle of Red Cliff, The  (2008)
2. Children of Huang Shi, The (2007)
3. Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End (2007)
4. Man cheng jin dai huang jin jia (2006)
5. Yi ma de hou xian dai sheng huo (2006) 
6. Du zi deng dai (2004)
7. Bulletproof Monk (2003) 
8. Wo hu cang long  (2000)
9. Anna and the King (1999)
10. Corruptor, The (1999)
11. Replacement Killers, The (1998) 

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