Stephen Chow

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Stephen Chow
Chinese name	Chiau Sing Chi
Chinese name	周星馳 (Traditional)
Chinese name	周星驰 (Simplified)
Pinyin	Zhōu Xīngchí (Mandarin)
Jyutping	zau1 sing1 ci4 (Cantonese)
Ancestry	Shanghai
Born	22 June 1962 (1962-06-22) (age 47) [1] Hong Kong
Other name(s)	星爺 (lit. Grandmaster Sing)
Occupation	actor, screenwriter, director, producer
Years active	1983 – present
Parents	Lin Bo Yee ( Mother )
Influences	Bruce Lee
Awards Hong Kong Film Awards Best Actor 2002 Shaolin Soccer Best Director 2002 Shaolin Soccer Best Supporting Actor 2008 CJ7 Golden Bauhinia Awards Best Actor 1996 A Chinese Odyssey Best Director 2002 Shaolin Soccer Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards Best Actor 1996 A Chinese Odyssey Golden Horse Awards Best Director 2005 Kung Fu Hustle Other Awards Asia Pacific Film Festival Best Actor 1992 Justice, My Foot Blue Ribbon Awards Best Foreign Language Film 2003 Shaolin Soccer Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival Silver Scream Award 2005 Kung Fu Hustle

Stephen Chow Sing-Chi (traditional Chinese: 周星馳, born 22 June 1962 in Hong Kong), is a Hong Kong actor, comedian, screenwriter, film director and producer.

Chow is a well-known, top-tier comedian and superstar of Hong Kong entertainment. This image is epitomized by his nickname 星爺 (Sing Yeh, lit. Grandmaster Sing). However, his brand of mo lei tau comedy, which includes puns, double entendre and jokes at the expense of unique aspects of Chinese culture, meant that few of his earlier films could exercise much impact in the West until his later films, Shaolin Soccer (2001) and Kung Fu Hustle (2004).^{[citation needed]}

Chow often casts relatively new young actresses to play opposite him, especially as romantic leads, and many of these actresses have gone on to have successful film or music careers of their own. These actresses are collectively called the "Sing girls", and include Karen Mok, Sharla Cheung, Athena Chu, Michelle Reis, Christy Chung, Gigi Leung, Cecilia Cheung, Huang Shengyi, and Zhang Yuqi.^[2]

Contents 1 Professional career 2 Filmography 3 Awards 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Professional career

Stephen Chow began as a temporary actor for TVB.^{[3] [4]} He entered TVB in early 1980s, and was trained there, although he had few opportunities to appear in films.^[3]

In 1999 Chow began directing films, with King of Comedy. In 2001 his film "Shaolin Soccer" (Siu lam juk kau) grossed over 60 million HK dollars ^[5], the film won Best picture, and Chow won Best Actor and Best Director at the 2002 Hong Kong Film Awards, receiving a total of seven wins from 2001–2003, including Blue Ribbon Award for Best Foreign Language Film & Golden Bauhinia Best Picture and Best Director.^[6] In 2004 he also directed the film Kung Fu Hustle (Kung Fu), winning 18 awards including BAFTA Best Film not in the English Language, five Golden Horse Awards and six Hong Kong Film Awards.^[7]

Chow's film CJ7 began filming in July 2006 in the eastern Chinese port of Ningbo. ^[8] In August 2007 the film was given the title CJ7 ((长江七号)Chang Jiang qi hao), a play on China's successful Shenzhou manned space missions—Shenzhou 5 and Shenzhou 6.^[9] This film introduced newcomer Kitty Zhang as his romantic lead.

On 19 September 2008, it was announced that he will co-star in Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg's The Green Hornet.^[10]

[edit] Filmography