Chow Yun-fat

Chow Yun-fat (周润发), previously known as Donald Chow, is a Hong Kong actor known in Asia for his collaborations with filmmaker John Woo in the action heroic bloodshed–genre films A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, and Hard Boiled, and in the West for his roles as Li Mu-bai in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Sao Feng in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. He mainly plays in dramatic films and has won three Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Actor and two Golden Horse Awards for Best Actor in Taiwan.

In 2014, Chow was the second-highest earning actor in Hong Kong, earning HK$170 million (US$21.9 million). His reported net worth is HK$5.6 billion (US$714 million).

Intresting Facts:
-Birthplace: Hong Kong
-Height: 180 cm
-Star Sign: Taurus 

 Movies::

    Office (2015)
    From Vegas To Macau | Ao Men Feng Yun(2014)
    The Monkey King | Da Nao Tian Gong (2014) - Jade Emperor
    The Assassins | Tong Que Tai (2012) - Cao Cao
    Let the Bullets Fly (2010)
    The Red Circle (2010)
    Confucius | Kong zi (2010)
    Sahngahi (2010) - Anthony Lan-Ting
    Dragonball (2009) - Master Roshi
    The Children of Huang Shi (2008) - Chen Hansheng
    Stranglehold (2007) (voice) - Inspector 'Tequila' Yuen
    Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) - Captain Sao Feng
    Curse of the Golden Flower | Man cheng jin dai huang jin jia (2006) - Emperor Ping
    The Postmodern Life of My Aunt | Yi ma de hou xian dai sheng huo (2006) - Pan Zhichang
    Waiting Alone | Du zi deng dai (2005) - Fa Ge
    Bulletproof Monk (2003) - Monk With No Name
    Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon | Wo hu cang long (2000) - Master Li Mu Bai
    Anna and the King (1999) - King Mongkut
    The Corruptor (1999) - Nick Chen
    The Replacement Killers (1998) - John Lee
    Peace Hotel | Woh ping faan dim (1995) - The Killer
    God of Gamblers' Return | Du shen 2 (1994) - Ko Chun / 'The God of Gamblers'
    American Shaolin | Hua qi Shao Lin (1994) - Chang Ching
    Run | Xian ren zhang (1994) - Hall
    Full Contact | Xia dao Gao Fei (1993) - Gou Fei
    Hard-Boiled | Lat sau san taam (1992) - Insp. Yuen
    Now You See It, Now You Don't | Wo ai chou wen chai (1992) - Ng Shan-shui
    Prison on Fire II | Jian yu feng yun II: Tao fan (1991) - Chung Tin Ching
    Once a Thief | Zong heng si hai (1991) - Red Bean Pudding (Joe)
    God of Gamblers II | Dou hap (1991) (also archive footage) - Ko Chun / 'The God of Gamblers'
    Black Vengeance (1990)
    God of Gamblers | Du shen (1989) - Ko Chun / 'The God of Gamblers'
    A Better Tomorrow III | Ying hung boon sik III jik yeung ji gor (1989) - Mark Gor
    The Killer | Die xue shuang xiong (1989)
    Wild Search | Ban wo chuang tian ya (1989) - Lau Chung Pong/'Mew-Mew'
    All About Ah-Long | A Lang de gu shi (1989) - Ah-Long Yeung
    The Fun, the Luck & the Tycoon | Ji xing gong zhao (1989) - Lam Bo Sun/Mr. Stink
    Triads: The Inside Story | Wo zai hei she hui de ri zi (1989) - Li Man-Ho
    City War | Sing si jin jaang (1988) (as Chow Yun Fatt) - Officer Dick Lee Chiu
    The Diary of a Big Man | Daai jeung foo yat gei (1988) - Chow Chen-fat
    The Romancing Star II | Jing zhuong zhui nu zi zhi er (1988) - Wong Yat Fat
    The Eighth Happiness | Ba xing bao xi (1988) - 'Handsome' Long
    Fractured Follies | Chang duan jiao zhi lian (1988) - Joe
    The Greatest Lover | Gong zi duo qing (1988) - Locomotive
    Tiger on Beat | Lo foo chut gang (1988) - Sgt. Francis Li
    Cherry Blossoms | Yu Ta-fu chuan ji (1988) - Yu Da Fa as adult
    Goodbye, My Friend | Zai jian ying xiong (1988) - Hung
    A Better Tomorrow II | Ying hung boon sik II (1987) - Ken/Mark Lee/Mark 'Gor'
    Prison on Fire | Gaam yuk fung wan (1987) - 41671/Ching
    An Autumn's Tale | Chou tin dik tong wah (1987) - Boat-head/Figurehead/Figgy/Samuel Pang
    The Romancing Star | Cheng chong chui lui chai (1987) - Wong Yat Fat
    Rich and Famous | Gong woo ching (1987) - Li Ah-Chai
    Scared Stiff | Xiao sheng meng jing hun (1987)
    Tragic Hero | Ying hung ho hon (1987) - Li Ah Chai
    City on Fire | Lung fu fong wan (1987) - Ko Chow
    Spiritual Love | Gui xin niang (1987) - Double Circle Pu
    Flaming Brothers | Jiang hu long hu men (1987) - Chang Ho-Tien
    Brotherhood | Yi ben wu yan (1987) - Hui
    A Better Tomorrow | Ying hung boon sik (1986) - Mark Gor / Mark Lee
    Dream Lovers | Meng zhong ren (1986) - Song Yu
    The Missed Date | Chu yi shi wu (1986) - Peter
    Love Unto Waste | Dei ha ching (1986) - Detective Lan
    The Lunatics | Din lo jing juen (1986) - Chung
    My Will, I Will | Ni qing wo yuan (1986)
    100 Ways to Murder Your Wife | Sha qi er ren zu (1986) - Football Fat
    A Hearty Response | Yi gai yun tian (1986) - Ho Ting-Bon
    The Seventh Curse | Yuan Zhen-Xia yu Wei Si-Li (1986) - Wei
    Why Me? | Hoh bit yau ngoh (1985) - Mr. Chow
    The Story of Rose | Mei gui de gu shi (1985) - Charles Wong/Ga-Ming
    Women | Nu ren xin (1985)
    Witch from Nepal | Qi yuan (1985) - Joe
    Hong Kong 1941 | Dang doi lai ming (1984) - Yip Kim Fay
    Love in a Fallen City | Qing cheng zhi lian (1984) - Fan Liu-Yuan
    The Occupant | Ling qi bi ren (1984) - Valentino Chow
    Bloody Money | Xue han jin qian (1983) - Bullet
    Last Affair | Fa sing (1983) - Kwong-Ping
    Shanghai Beach 2 | Shang Hai tan xu ji (1983)
    The Head Hunter | Lie tou (1982) - Nguyen Dich
    The Story of Woo Viet | Woo Yuet dik goo si (1981) - Wu Yuet
    The Postman Fights Back | Xun cheng ma (1981) - Fu Jun
    Killers Two | Zhi fa zhe (1981)
    Beautify | Ban (1980)
    Hei kek wong (1980) - Jen Lung
    Master Father | Shi ba (1980)
    Modern Heroes | Xi gan xian (1980) - Chu Ka-Wah
    Their Private Lives | Ai yu kuang chao (1978) - Ko Ming-Chung
    Miss O | 'O' nu (1978) - Kuan Yen-Ping
    Bed for Day, Bed for Night | Chuang shang de gu shi (1977)
    Hot Blood | Ren ce (1977)
    Learned Bride Thrice Fools Bridegroom | Xin Su xiao mei san nan xin lang (1976)
    The Reincarnation | Tou tai ren (1976)
    Club Girl Story | Chi nu (1976)
    The Hunter, the Butterfly, and the Crocodile | Lao jia xie pai gu ye zi (1976) 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chow was born in Lamma Island, Hong Kong, to his mother Chan Lai-fong (陳麗芳) who was a cleaning lady and vegetable farmer, and his father Chow Yung-Wan (周容允), who worked on a Shell Oil Company tanker. Chow grew up in a farming community on Lamma Island, in a house with no electricity. He woke up at dawn each morning to help his mother sell herbal jelly and Hakka tea-pudding on the streets; in the afternoons, he went to work in the fields. His family moved to Kowloon when he was ten. At 17, he left school to help support the family by doing odd jobs including bellboy, postman, camera salesman and taxi driver. His life started to change after college when he responded to a newspaper advertisement, and his actor-trainee application was accepted by TVB, the local television station. He signed a three-year contract with the studio and made his acting debut. Chow became a heartthrob and familiar face in soap operas that were exported internationally.
Career

When Chow appeared in the 1980 TV series The Bund on TVB, it did not take long for him to become a household name in Hong Kong. The series, about the rise and fall of a gangster in 1930s Shanghai, was a hit throughout Asia and made Chow a star.

Although Chow continued his TV success, his goal was to become a big-screen actor. However, his occasional ventures into low-budget films were disastrous.[12] Success finally came when he teamed up with director John Woo in the 1986 gangster action-melodrama A Better Tomorrow, which swept the box offices in Asia and established Chow and Woo as megastars. A Better Tomorrow won him his first Best Actor award at the Hong Kong Film Awards. It was the highest-grossing film in Hong Kong history at the time, and set a new standard for Hong Kong gangster films. Taking the opportunity, Chow quit TV entirely. With his new image from A Better Tomorrow, he made many more 'gun fu' or 'heroic bloodshed' films, such as A Better Tomorrow 2 (1987), Prison on Fire, Prison on Fire II, The Killer (1989), A Better Tomorrow 3 (1990), Hard Boiled (1992) and City on Fire, an inspiration for Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs.

Chow may be best known for playing honorable tough guys, whether cops or criminals, but he has also starred in comedies like Diary of a Big Man (1988) and Now You See Love, Now You Don't (1992) and romantic blockbusters such as Love in a Fallen City (1984) and An Autumn's Tale (1987), for which he was named Best Actor at the Golden Horse Awards. He brought together his disparate personae in the 1989 film God of Gamblers, directed by the prolific Wong Jing, in which he was by turns a suave charmer, a broad comedian, and an action hero. The film surprised many, became immensely popular, broke Hong Kong's all-time box office record, and spawned a series of gambling films as well as several comic sequels starring Andy Lau and Stephen Chow. The often tough demeanor and youthful appearance of Chow's characters has earned him the nickname "Babyface Killer".
Chow Yun-fat at the premiere of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End in 2007

The Los Angeles Times proclaimed Chow Yun-Fat "the coolest actor in the world". In the mid '90s, Chow moved to Hollywood in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to duplicate his success in Asia. His first two films, The Replacement Killers (1998) and The Corruptor (1999), were box office disappointments. In his next film Anna and the King (1999), Chow teamed up with Jodie Foster, but the film suffered at the box office. Chow accepted the role of Li Mu-Bai in the (2000) film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It became a winner at both the international box office and the Oscars. In 2003, Chow came back to Hollywood and starred in Bulletproof Monk. In 2006, he teamed up with Gong Li in the film Curse of the Golden Flower, directed by Zhang Yimou.

In 2007, Chow played the pirate captain Sao Feng in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. However, his part was omitted when the movie was shown in mainland China, where government censors felt that Chow's character "vilified and humiliated" Chinese people.

In the poorly received film Dragonball Evolution, Chow Yun-fat played Master Roshi.

In 2014, Chow returned to Hong Kong cinema in From Vegas to Macau. For the part, he lost 13 kg within 10 months.

In October 2014, Chow supported the Umbrella Movement, a civil rights movement for universal suffrage in Hong Kong. His political stance eventually resulted in censorship by the Chinese government.

In February 2015, Chow reprised his role as Ken in the sequel From Vegas to Macau II. He was paid 5 million USD (39 million HKD) for the film.
Book

On 26 June 2008, Chow released his first photo collection in Hong Kong, which includes pictures taken on the sets of his films. Proceeds from the book's sales were donated to Sichuan earthquake victims. Published by Louis Vuitton, the books were sold in Vuitton's Hong Kong and Paris stores.[21][22]
Personal life

Chow has been married twice; first was in 1983 to Candice Yu (actress); the marriage lasted nine months. In 1986, Chow married Singaporean Jasmine Tan. The couple gave birth to a stillborn daughter in 1991. Chow has a goddaughter, Celine Ng, a former child model for Chickeeduck, McDonald's, Toys'R'Us and other companies.