Actors - Andy Lau

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	Actors - Andy Lau

Andy Lau Tak-wah (; Jyutping: Lau4 Dak1 Waa4) (born September 27, 1961 in Hong Kong as 劉福榮) is a Hong Kong popstar and a movie actor.

The first lead role that made his initial popularity was the TVB series Hunting in 1982. In the same year, Andy started in his first movie in Boat People. Later in 1983, his role as Yang Guo in wuxia TV serial The Return of the Condor Heroes made him even more popular and landed him his first leading role in a Shaw Brothers' film called .

Andy's most recent role was in All About Love in 2005.

Movie highlights

He has since appeared in more than 100 films, and has a huge fan base throughout Asia with the success of both his onscreen performance and his musical career. Andy Lau is best known for his (often) recurring roles in the King of Gamblers.

Lau is known to some more for his good looks than for his strengths of acting, though he has answered his critics since the turn of the century in a series of critically acclaimed movies, especially those directed by Johnnie To. His first major acting prizes came with A Fighter's Blue and Running Out of Time in 2000. In 2004 he won the prestigious Golden Horse Award for his performance in Infernal Affairs
, a popular film which is to be remade in Hollywood as The Departed
starring Matt Damon as the police mole Lau played. Americans may also be familiar with his performance in House of Flying Daggers
.

Andy Lau was recently awarded "No.1 Box-office Actor 1985-2005" of Hong Kong, yielding a total box office of HKD1,733,275,816 for shooting 108 films in the past 20 years. It is compared to the first runner-up Stephen Chow Sing-Chi (HKD1,317,452,311) and second runner-up Jackie Chan (HKD894,090,962). "I've never imagined that would be as much as 1.7 billion!" He told the reporters.

Musical career highlights

He is also one of the most successful Chinese music celebrities, with an extensive list of Cantonese and Mandarin hits to his credit. His first music contract came in 1985, but 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 highly marketable singer. Andy Lau along with Jacky Cheung, Aaron Kwok and Leon Lai also named as the Cantopop Four Great Heavenly Kings (四大天王 Cantonese: sêi daài tïn wong, Pinyin: sì dà tiān wáng).

Andy Lau also got 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. Since 1992, Lau has appeared in concert 179 times.

The most notable hits by Andy Lau include 一起走過的日子 (Passing Through Each Day), 愛不完 (Unstoppable Love), 潮水 (The Tide), 忘情水 (Potion That Forgets Love), 中國人 (Chinese People), 笨小孩 (Silly Child), 愛你一萬年 (Love You For Ten Thousand Years), 你是我的女人 (You Are My Woman).

Personal Life

Despite being linked with a numbers of female celebrities over the years, there were constant rumors that Andy Lau is gay. He has never denied such claims nor did he ever came out like his fellow Hong Kong star Leslie Cheung.

Rumour also has it that Andy Lau is married with a child. After avoiding the question for many years, in an interview for his new movie he denied the report and stated that he was not married.

Credits

In addition, Andy Lau has demonstrated a proficient command of Chinese calligraphy during onstage performances.

In 2003, he started his own media company called Focus Group Holdings Limited.

Discography

Note: Compilations with no new material are not included on this list.

Filmography (as actor)

In chronological order

Boat People (1982)
Home At Hong Kong (1983)
My Lucky Stars
(1985)
Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars
Lucky Stars Go Places (1986)
The Unwritten Law
Rich And Famous (1987)
Sworn Brothers
As Tears Go By
(1988)
The Crazy Companies
The Dragon Family
Lai Shi, China's Last Eunuch
Three Against The World
Bloody Brotherhood (1989)
Casino Raiders
City Kids
Crocodile Hunter
The First Time Is The Last Time
The Fortune Code
God of Gamblers
Perfect Match
The Romancing Star 3
Stars And Roses
Days of Being Wild
(1991)
Dragon in Jail
God of Gamblers II
Island of Fire
Kawashima Yoshiko
Kung Fu Vs Acrobatic
A Moment Of Romance
No Risk, No Gain: Casino Raiders The Sequel
Return Engagement
Casino Raiders 2 (1991)
Dances With The Dragon
Don't Fool Me
The Last Blood
Lee Rock
Saviour Of The Soul
The Tigers
Tricky Brains
Zodiac Killer
Casino Tycoon (1992)
Gameboy Kids
Gun And Rose
Handsome Siblings
The Moon Warriors
The Prince Of Temple Street
Saviour Of The Soul 2
What A Hero!
Days Of Tomorrow (1993)
Future Cops
The Sting 2
Drunken Master 2 (1994)
Drunken Master 3
A Taste Of Killing And Romance
The Three Swordmen
The Adventurers (1995)
Full Throttle
A Moment Of Romance 3 (1996)
Shanghai Grand
Thanks For Your Love
What A Wonderful World
Armageddon (1997)
Island of Greed
The Conman (1998)
The Longest Summer
A True Mob Story
Century Of The Dragon (1999)
The Conmen In Vegas
Fascination Amour
Prince Charming
Running Out Of Time
The Duel (2000)
A Fighter's Blue
Needing You
Dance Of Dream (2001)
Fulltime Killer
Love On A Diet
Fat Choi Spirit
(2002)
Golden Chicken
Infernal Affairs
The Wesley's Mysterious Story
Magic Kitchen
Cat And Mouse (2003)
Infernal Affairs III
Running on Karma
Jiang Hu (movie) (2004)
House of Flying Daggers
Yesterday Once More
A World Without Thieves
Wait 'Til You're Older
(2005)
All About Love (2005)

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