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Wu Hsing-kuo

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Wu Hsing-kuo
Born (1953-04-12) 12 April 1953 (age 71)
Awards
Hong Kong Film AwardsBest New Performer
1994 Temptation of a Monk

Chinese name
Traditional Chinese吳興國
Simplified Chinese吴兴国
Transcriptions

Wu Hsing-kuo (Chinese: 吳興國) is a Taiwanese actor of the silver screen and theater, known for both his performance of complex movie roles as much as for his innovative adaptations of Western classics into traditional Peking Opera.

Wu was trained in classical Peking Opera since the age of 11 in Taiwan's state-run Fu-Hsing Chinese Opera School, specializing in wu sheng (male martial) roles. He was admitted with honors into the Theatre Department of Chinese Culture University in Taipei, trained under master Chou Cheng-jung (Zhou Zheng-rong) and became the leading dancer of Lin Hwai-min's Cloud Gate Dance Theater. However, his teacher Chou Cheng-jung (Zhou Zheng-rong) considered him as a pretentious student who didn't focus on study and finally abandoned him in 1989. Since then, Chou Cheng-jung (died in 2000) never met him anymore. In addition, most of the traditional Chinese opera audiences do not recognize him as a qualified actor.

In 1986, he and a group of enthusiastic friends founded the Contemporary Legend Theatre [zh] in Taipei, seeking to revitalize traditional Chinese theatre by adapting Western classical plays to the style and techniques of Peking Opera. He was the leading actor and director of four Shakespeare adaptations, including the critically acclaimed Kingdom of Desire (慾望城國), an adaptation of Macbeth, and King Lear (李爾在此), in which Wu plays all the parts.

In 1992, Wu was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study in New York with Richard Schechner. That year, he also won the Hong Kong Film Award for best new actor.

Wu is currently artistic director of the Contemporary Legend Theatre, and continues to take on challenging roles in both the modern theatre and Chinese Opera. He crosses the fields of traditional opera, dance, modern theatre, cinema, and television.

Filmography

Films

Year English title Original title Role Notes
1993 18 Weirdo
Temptation of a Monk 誘僧 Shi Yansheng
Green Snake 青蛇 Xu Xian
1994 The Great Conqueror's Concubine 西楚霸王 Yu Ziqi
Rock N'Roll Cop 省港一號通緝犯 Wong Kun
Right Here Waiting... 等愛的女人 Dickson Koo
God of Gamblers Return 賭神2 Chao Siu-chi
What Price Survival 獨臂刀之情 Wang Ning
Red Rose White Rose 紅玫瑰白玫瑰
1996 Shanghai Grand 新上海灘 Fung King-yiu
1997 The Soong Sisters 宋家皇朝 Chiang Kai-shek
2000 Comeuppance 天有眼
2001 The Accidental Spy 特務迷城 Lee Sang-zen
2009 Who Rules Over the Destiny of China 誰主沉浮 Chiang Kai-shek
2011 Four Hands 麵引子 Sun Hou-cheng
2012 Love on Gallery Bridge 爱在廊桥 Lin Changtian

TV series

Year English title Original title Role Notes
1996 Love, Sword, Mountain & River 情劍山河 Zhao Kuangyin
The Story of the President 總統的故事 Lee Teng-hui
1997 China at War 烽火中國
1999 Holiday 假期 Chu Chen-hsiang
Dangerous Games 危险游戏 Guan Luochuan
2000 Tiger's Tenderness 老虎的溫柔 Huang Ho-chun
2001 Master Swordsman Lu Xiaofeng 陸小鳳之決戰前後 Ye Gucheng
2003 Flaming Romance 天命因緣 Su Jifei
2005 Lovelorn High Heels 失戀高跟鞋 Ma Ta-cheng
2006 To Live to Love 长恨歌 Li Puzhi

Awards