Andy Lau

Andy Lau Tak-wah, born Lau Fook-wing on September 27, 1961, is a Hong Kong actor and singer whose career spans four decades. Recognized as one of the most commercially and critically successful artists in the Chinese-speaking world, he was dubbed one of the Five Tiger Generals of TVB during the 1980s and one of Cantopop's Four Heavenly Kings in the 1990s.

Lau was born in Tai Po, British Hong Kong, to fireman Lau Lai. He was raised as the fourth of six children. Although his grandfather was a wealthy landowner, Lau's family relocated to the slums of Diamond Hill when he was six years old so he could obtain a bilingual education. Living in wooden housing that later burned down when he was eleven, Lau routinely fetched water for his family because their home lacked plumbing. He graduated from Ho Lap College in San Po Kong, practiced hair styling and Chinese calligraphy, and adhered to Buddhist traditions as a follower of Taiwan's Lingyan Mountain Temple.

In 1980, Lau entered TVB's actor training program, signing a contract upon graduation in 1981. He gained widespread popularity through television series such as The Emissary and The Return of the Condor Heroes. After declining an exclusive five-year extension with TVB, he faced a network blacklist and subsequently transitioned to a full-time film career in the late 1980s. His early film projects included Once Upon a Rainbow, Boat People, On the Wrong Track, As Tears Go By, and A Moment of Romance. Over his acting career, he won three Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Actor and two Golden Horse Awards for Best Leading Actor for performances in films such as Running Out of Time, Infernal Affairs III, and Shock Wave.

Lau broadened his film work internationally with major productions including House of Flying Daggers, A World Without Thieves, A Battle of Wits, The Warlords, Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon, and Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame. In 1991, he launched his own production venture, Teamwork Motion Pictures, which was renamed Focus Group Holdings Limited in 2002. As a producer, he backed titles such as Made in Hong Kong, A Simple Life, and Crazy Stone. Named Hong Kong's top box-office actor for the period between 1985 and 2005, he was honored with a wax figure at Madame Tussauds Hong Kong in 2005.

Lau launched his musical career in 1985 with his debut album Just Know I Only Love You, achieving major mainstream popularity with the 1990 release Would It Be Possible and his 1991 hit single The Days We Spent Together. He sang in Cantonese, Mandarin, English, Japanese, and Taiwanese Hokkien, performing across Asia, North America, Western Europe, and Oceania. In 2000, he set a Guinness World Record for the most awards won by a male Cantopop artist.

In addition to his creative works, Lau performed at the closing ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics and served as a Goodwill Ambassador for the 2008 Summer Paralympics. He joined the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2018 and was selected as vice chairman of the 11th China Film Association in 2024. Lau has maintained his artistic activities into the 2020s through major film releases, record-setting online concerts, and a 2024 concert tour across mainland China.