Stephen Chow

Stephen Chiau Sing Chi professionally known as Stephen Chow is a Hong Kong filmmaker actor and producer Stephen Chow was born in Hong Kong on 22 June 1962 to Ling Po Yee an alumna of Guangzhou Normal University and Chow Yik Sheung an immigrant from Ningbo Zhejiang Chow has an elder sister named Chow Man Kei and a younger sister named Chow Sing Ha Chows given name Singchi derives from Tang dynasty Chinese poet Wang Bos essay Preface to the Prince of Tengs PavilionAfter his parents divorced when he was seven Chow was raised by his mother Chow attended Heep Woh Primary School a missionary school attached to the Hong Kong Council of the Church of Christ in China in Prince Edward Road Kowloon Peninsula When he was nine he saw Bruce Lees film The Big Boss which inspired him to become a martial arts star Chow entered San Marino Secondary School where he studied alongside Lee Kinyan After graduation he was accepted to TVBs acting classes Chow began his career as an extra for Rediffusion Television He later joined TVB in 1981 He was drawn to attention hosting the TVB Jade childrens program 430 Space Shuttle Chow made his film Final Justice in 1988 which won him the Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actor at the 25th Golden Globe Awards Chow shot to stardom in The Final Combat The following decade he appeared in more than 40 films Fight Back to School became Hong Kongs topgrossing film of all time In 1994 he began directing films starting with From Beijing with Love In the latter half of the 1990s Chow becomes very famous in China he became a legend and the Stephen Chow Phenomenon In 2001 his film Shaolin Soccer grossed over US50 million worldwide Chow won Best Director and Best Actor at the 2002 Hong Kong Film Awards and the film went on to garner additional awards including a Blue Ribbon Awards for Best Foreign Language Film and the Golden Bauhinia Award for Best Picture and Best Director It was the highestgrossing Chinese film in Hong Kong at the time grossing 46 million in the Asia region In 2004 his film Kung Fu Hustle grossed over US106 million worldwide Chow also won Best Director at the Taiwan Golden Horse Awards and Best Picture of Imagine Film Festival as well as over twenty international awards Critics as well as film stars such as comedian Bill Murray said that the film was the supreme achievement of modern comedy that had outshone any preexisting form of American comedy including Murrays directorial work His film CJ7 began filming in July 2006 in the eastern Chinese port of Ningbo In August 2007 the film was given the title CJ7 a play on Chinas successful Shenzhou manned space missionsShenzhou 5 and Shenzhou 6 CJ7 became the highestgrossing film of all time in Malaysia For his work in comedy he has received praise from notable institutions such as the Brooklyn Academy of Music who called him the King of Comedy Stephen Chow has directed multiple classic films since the 1990s In 2013 his film Journey to the West Conquering the Demons became the highestgrossing Chinese film of all time In 2016 his film The Mermaid broke numerous box office records and became the highestgrossing film of all time in China