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This tough lady appeared in a number of primarily Taiwanese “girls with guns” films in the 90’s. She is not one of the better looking actresses in the genre, but she brings a real authenticity to her action roles. Some of her films are Pink Panther, Big Circle Blues, Braveful Police, Caged Beauties, Lady Killer, All Mighty Gambler and Pretty Women at War.

This cross eyed actor appeared in many films from the 1970s through the early 1980s usually in roles that utilized his looks for comic relief. He had roles in many of the kung fu comedies during this period.

Some of his films are Dirty Tiger, Crazy Frog, Odd Couple, His Name is Nobody, The Young Master, The Buddhist Fist, We’re Going to Eat You, From Rags to Riches, Encounter of the Spooky Kind, Aces Go Places, Project A and Crazy Companies.

This fellow was lucky enough to be the recipient of Loletta Lee's affections in two of her Cat. III films, Crazy Love and Spirit of Love. From the early 80s with Coolie Killer to 1999 he has been appearing in films. Some of his others are Evil Cat, Wonder Women (Cecilia Yip’s character’s two-timing hair stylist boyfriend), On the Run, Vengeance is Mine, Pantyhose Hero. After 1993, he seems to have dropped out (perhaps two films with Loletta Lee in that year exhausted him!). But in 1999 he returned with appearances in some Cat. III films such as Jade Stalk, Karma of Sex and Secret Dalliance.

His flat nose and fishy eyes have helped Tommy through a lengthy career in which he has shuttled back and forth between bad guy roles and comedic ones. His career began in the mid-80s and is still continuing into the new century and has consisted of over 60 films.

Making an impressive debut in The Longest Summer as the ex-army sergeant older brother of Sam Lee’s character, he has followed this up with roles in Metade Fumaca, Immortal Spirit, Sexy and Dangerous, Hit Team, Horoscope II (the sorcerer), Cop Shop Babes (the bad guy) and Cop on a Mission. A Fruit Chan favorite, he made a cameo appearance in Little Cheung plus is slated to co-star -- along with The Longest Summer co-star, Jo Kuk, and two currently unknown Mainland actors -- in director Chan’s 2002 production (the strangely tentatively titled Public Toilet).

Born in Guangdong Taishan in 06/27/62

Tony Leung Chiu Wai has become one of the more recognizable faces in international film, as auteur Wong Kar Wai's films have been presented in practically every film festival world wide and led Wai Chai (or Jai -- i.e., the Cantonese word for ‘male kid’) to win consistent praise for every film. I truly believe he is one of the finest actors in the world. Chow Yun Fat may enjoy instant recognition, but it is Little Tony who swept the major best actor awards  - 8 times. Going by Wong Kar Wai's filmography alone, Wai Chai has won the best actor and best supporting actor awards for Chungking Express in Taiwan and Hong Kong, Happy Together in Hong Kong and Taiwan (also nominated in Cannes), and In the Mood for Love in Hong Kong and Cannes, the first Chinese to ever do so. He also won awards for My Heart is the Eternal Rose, People's Hero and Love Unto Waste.

(Written by Anabela Voi You)

Just a few words of my own on Tony. There are few if any actors in the world that can project his combination of drop dead easy charm and thoughtful charisma. Whether he is indulging in silly comedies (like The Eagle Shooting Heroes and Days of Being Dumb), generally light or nostalgic UFO romances (e.g., Tom, Dick and Hairy, and He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Father), serious drama (of the art house or more melodramatic variety) or cutthroat action (in period swordplay as well as contemporary gun plus bullet-filled works), he brings an incredible naturalness to his roles and nearly always becomes the focus of the audience’s attention.  Whenever he wants your attention, he only needs to give you that puppy dog look and you are captivated. No matter what the genre, the role or the period is, Tony is able to look comfortable and meld into his character. In his very lengthy, diverse and transnational -- Tony’s appeared in a couple of Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao Hsien’s films (and a Vietnamese one as well as Hong Kong works -- career there are for me a few film roles that truly stand out – Anabela already has mentioned Happy Together and In the Mood for Love, but here are a few others:

My Heart is that Eternal Rose (1988) – even though Tony had a strong TV career underway at the time that this movie was being made, this was one of his first film roles that really sent him on his way towards being a film star. Though he plays a secondary role to Kenny Bee, he steals the movie as the triad watchdog who falls in love with the boss's mistress, Joey Wong.

Bullet in the Head (1990) – Tony is simply brilliant in this John Woo classic as he and his two friends travel from youthful innocence to hard edged reality.

Chungking Express (1994) – After his girlfriend leaves him, Tony talks earnestly to his soap and to his washcloth but doesn’t even notice the intrusion of Faye Wong into his life until it is almost too late in this wonderfully offbeat romance.

Cyclo (1996) - Tony took some time out from Hong Kong to act in this film from Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung as a totally immoral character in the hard luck streets of Ho Chi Minh City. He is despicable but brilliant.

The Longest Nite (1998) – in the noir drenched streets of Macau, Tony in a rare bad guy role plays a brutally corrupt cop who still manages to gain our sympathies.

Tokyo Raiders (2000) – suave, urbane and utterly charming Tony is an umbrella toting mystery man in this capricious Avengers like action film.

Born in Hong Kong on 02/01/58

With his angular face, slightly odd shaped cranium and close set eyes, it might seem unlikely that Tony Leung Ka-fai would become one of Hong Kong’s most accomplished actors but he has managed to do so. Though it seems that few people really take Tony to heart – those beady eyes I suspect – and in fact his sometimes very nasal plus high pitched voice that he uses for comedy often annoys people – I find his performances to be some of the more interesting in Hong Kong film. He has a stunning range and has willingly taken on roles to display this. Anyone that could take on as diverse roles as he played in Boys are Easy (an effeminate cowardly gigolo), Rose Rose I Love You (in a terrific parody of old time detective shows that was a follow up to 92 Legendary La Rose Noire ), Ghost Lantern (he plays two characters – one suave as silk, the other a low life triad potato), He Ain’t Heavy, He’s my Father (in which he plays the same character as a crotchety old man and as a young idealistic working class hero), Flying Dagger (the crazed out Big Dagger), The Eagle Shooting Heroes (his character goes througha number of changes from man to woman to body-less immortal-to-be to “peach-less” immortal) and Roof with a View (a lonely gentle man who falls in love) is a national treasure. Oh, and these were all in 1993.

James Chang writes about Tony’s formative film years.

Tony Leung was born in 1958 and he entered the TVB actor training class in the early 80s,being the oldest in the class (among his classmates were Andy Lau and Carrie Ng). He graduated in 1981. However,shortly afterwards, he left TVB to become a reporter. During an interview with the legendary director Li Han Hsiang (Lee Hon Cheung, 1926-1997,who also discovered Michael Hui), the director found him to be extremely suitable for the role of the emperor in two of his epic films about the Second Opium War (1856-1860).

Leung faced the same problem. He wanted to work for local companies, however, none of them dared to hire him -his films were all banned in Taiwan and the leftists threatened to sue him. He had to make his living by hawking on the streets! Policemen wouldn't charge him because they thought he was making a movie!

Finally, in 1987 he signed with Cinema City and publicly declared that (as a gesture aimed at the Taiwan government) he would never work in the Mainland anymore. Ironically, 4 years later when both governments became closer, he went back to China to shoot The Dragon Inn and its box office in Taiwan was a tremendous success. The leftists did nothing to stop him and Li Han Hsiang called him the 'most ungrateful traitor' on Earth.

Then in ‘Hong Kong Babylon’, Frederic Dannen reports that:

“Toward the end of 1994, [Tony’s] career was once again in jeopardy.  He had displeased the actress Cheung Man, who had been given a production company by the powerful, and feared, movie producer Jimmy (brother of Charles) Heung, whose father founded the Sun Yee On triad society.  The actress had cast Leung in her film Dream Lover, and, after shooting had wrapped, she demnaded that he postpone his next movie assignment to reshoot some scens.  Leung declined, even after Cheung Man held a tearful press conference accusing him of reneging on his contract.  He was reluctant to talk about the contretemps, although, he says, “What she tell the newspapers is not true...”

He was in a number of films in the 70s and 80s - The Private Eyes,  Righting Wrongs, Games Gamblers Play, Dirty Tiger, Crazy Frog and His Name is Nobody.

Michael Kistner writes in the following:

Credited with this name in Snake in the Monkeys Shadow (not the Chan movie), in Magnificent Butcher, he plays a Gambler in Woo's Heroes Shed no Tears and the spoiled son's servant in Two Wonderous Tigers (1979)..

Andrew writes in the following about this fellow:

Tough punk is written all over his face and thats often the role he has played in films such as Moment of Romance 2, Fight Back to School and Blue Jean Monster among others.

The only role I know him from is the memorable one as Flying Monkey in Wing Chun. I believe he may be a Mainland actor.

Born 01/0251 in Canton

I won’t spend a lot of time writing about Tsui Hark since this is an actor’s index as opposed to a director’s index. To get more information on his films I would recommend that you get a copy of Lisa Morton’s book The Cinema of Tsui Hark (2001). Needless to say that from the early 1980s to the mid 1990s he was the most influential producer/director in Hong Kong film and simply turned the film industry and film style on its head. This period of film history is considered by many to be Hong Kong cinema’s Golden Age and a large portion of that can be attributed directly to Tsui Hark.

Though he was born in China, Tsui moved with his family to Saigon at an early age (explaining his interest in Vietnam as displayed in A Better Tomorrow III) and he lived there until he went to Hong Kong at the age of 14 to go to school (BTW, his father’s being a pharmacist -- maybe not all that unlike Tony Leung Kar Fai’s Vietnamese Chinese character’s father in ABT III -- may also explain the man’s seeming to delight in having pharmacist heroes in films like the OUATIC series together with Iron Monkey). Somewhere along the way he developed an interest in film and journeyed to Texas to take up film studies. In 1976 he returned again to Hong Kong and quickly found his way into television. At the time, the work being done in HK television was much more innovative than that being done in film and most of what were to become the "New Wave" directors were working in that medium. Tsui had a huge hit with a series called Golden Dagger Romance and from this was able to get his first
director job in the 1979 The Butterfly Murders. After his first three edgy films failed at the box office, Tsui took on more commercial fare at Cinema City and was soon on his way. But, the question that always must be asked about Tsui as a director/producer is - did he really change the HK film language - was he a film rebel - or was he in fact a very traditional filmmaker - treading much of the same ground but only doing it better than anyone before him.

The classic image of Tsui Kam Kong that amusingly captures his film persona and encapsulates much of his film career takes place in the film The Eternal Evil of Asia when a magic spell turns his character literally into a “dick head”. In a career that spans nearly twenty years and over one hundred films, Tsui has made himself into the King of Cat. III films. His bald head, moustache and fierce demeanor are as much Hong Kong landmarks as the Star Ferry.

Tsui's father was an artist in the Guangdong Chinese Opera and Tsui began training with him at a young age. By the time he was five Tsui began training and touring with a Chinese Opera troupe and also appeared in some child acting roles – one of them alongside Bruce Lee in The Orphan (1960). By the time he was 17 he was choreographing action scenes in films - Arhat Fist, Buddha Palm. He has also directed a few films – Buddhist Fist (1983), Mirage (1987), Miracle 90 Days and his most famous film, the Moon Lee vehicle Bury Me High. His largest role was in Bury Me High, but he also appared in Mirage. Though he only has a few film credits, he has an amazing reputation among kung fu fans. He has also directed some televison shows. He can also take some major credit for turning Moon from dancer to "girl with guns" star as she trained in martial arts with him. His brother is actor Norman Tsui.

When Jet Li’s attempt at directing, Born to Defense, started falling apart, Tsui was brought in to finish it.

Born 05/16/83

This young actor/singer stars in Gimme Gimme (Lobo), Glass Tears (as Tofu), Summer Breeze of Love (the playboy that Charlene Choi’s character had the hots for), The Mummy, Age 19. He is even better known in HK though as a member of the boy-band, Shine, that’s been feted as the male Twins (and also part of the EMI talent stable) and styled as J-popsters (IMHO, he’s better looking but less talented at acting than his musical partner, Wong You Nam).

One of the more recurring posts in newsgroups is an inquiry as to where is Tze Miu these days. As the kung fu wonderkind in the Jet Li films, My Father is a Hero and New Legend of Shaolin Tze amazed audiences with his martial arts skills. Other films of his are God of Gamblers Returns and Teenage Master. The last I heard Wong Jing had told enquiring folks that the now teenaged boy was going to school full time and possibly appearing in a television series.