Maggie Cheung Man-Yuk 張曼玉

Proudly present to you my new found idol in the show biz industry -

Maggie Cheung Man-Yuk

張曼玉

Date of Birth: September 20, 1964

Maggie Cheung is one of the major stars of Hong Kong cinema. From 1983 to 2001 she made nearly 80 films. An action star, a serious dramatic actress, and a skilled comedienne, Cheung is probably best known to international audiences for her roles in Jackie Chan’s ‘Police Story’ (1985), Ann Hui’s ‘Song of the Exile’ (1990), Johnny To’s martial arts fantasy ‘The Heroic Trio’ (1993), Wong Kar-Wai’s ‘‘In the Mood for Love’ (2000), and Stanley Kwan’s ‘Actress’ (1992) for which she earned Best Actress honors at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Born in Hong Kong, Cheung moved with her family to England at the age of eight. She returned to Hong Kong on completing secondary education and in 1983, entered the Miss Hong Kong Pageant where she picked up First Runner Up and Miss Photogenic. This led to contracts with local film and television production outfits TVB and Shaw Brothers Studios. After appearances in several TV drama series and low budget comedies, Cheung teamed up with Jackie Chan for her first major film role in ‘Police Story’ (1995).

A turning point in Maggie Cheung’s career came in 1988 when she was cast in Wong Kar-Wai’s ‘As Tears Go By’ with Andy Lau and Jacky Cheung. She was nominated for Best Actress at the Hong Kong Film Awards that year, and would later go on to picking up this honors five times throughout her career ‘A Fishy Story’ (1990), ‘Actress’ (‘Yuen Ling-Yuk’) (1992), ‘Comrades: Almost a Love Story’ (1996), ‘The Soong Sisters’ (1997) and ‘In the Mood for Love’ (2000) making her the only quintuple HKFA Best Actress winner to date.

Cheung’s remarkable talent has also propelled her to success far beyond her homeland. In 1996, Cheung caught the attention of the acclaimed French director, Olivier Assayas, who cast her as his reincarnation of the super-criminaline of Feuillade’s silent serial Les Vampires. The film, ‘Irma Vep’ (1996), marked Maggie Cheung’s first international motion picture. Since Irma Vep she has co-starred with Leon Lai in Peter Chan’s award-winning Hong Kong-New York romance ‘Comrades, Almost a Love Story’ (1996), Mabel Cheung’s historical saga ‘The Soong Sisters’ (1997), and Wayne Wang’s ‘Chinese Box’ (1997) in which she co-starred with Jeremy Irons and Gong Li.

Cheung is a five-time Best Actress winner of Taiwan’s Golden Horse Film Awards for her performances in ‘Full Moon in New York’ (1989), ‘Red Dust’ (1990), ‘Actress’ (1992), ‘Comrades: Almost a Love Story’ (1996) and ‘In the Mood for Love’ (2000). Her role as tragic silent era starlet Yuen Ling-Yuk in ‘Actress’ (1992) made her a quadruple award winner, sweeping the Best Actress category in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Chicago, and making her the first Asian performer to win the prestigious Silver Bear Award in Berlin.

Awards:

Berlin International Film Festival

Best Actress of Silver Berlin Bear for Centre Stage

阮玲玉 (1992)

Cannes Film Festival

Best Actress for Clean (2004)

Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards

Best Actress of Golden Horse Award for In the Mood for Love

花樣年華 (2000)
Best Actress of Golden Horse Award for Comrades, Almost a Love Story

甜蜜蜜 (1996)
Best Actress of Golden Horse Award for Centre Stage

阮玲玉 (1991)
Best Supporting Actress of Golden Horse Award for Red Dust

滾滾紅塵 (1990)
Best Actress of Golden Horse Award for Full Moon in New York

人在紐約 (1989)

Hawaii International Film Festival

Award for Achievement in Acting

Hong Kong Film Awards

Best Actress of Hong Kong Film Award for In the Mood for Love

花樣年華 (2001)
Best Actress of Hong Kong Film Award for The Soong Sisters

宋家皇朝 (1998)
Best Actress of Hong Kong Film Award for Comrades, Almost a Love Story

甜蜜蜜 (1996)
Best Actress of Hong Kong Film Award for Centre Stage

阮玲玉 (1992)
Best Actress of Hong Kong Film Award for Farewell China

愛在他鄉的季節 (1991)
Best Actress of Hong Kong Film Award for A Fishy Story

不脫襪的人 (1989)

Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards

Best Actress of HKFCS Award for Comrades, Almost a Love Story

甜蜜蜜 (1996)

Filmography:

2004
Clean (France)
2046

2002
Hero

2000
In the Mood for Love
Augustin, King of Kung-Fu (France)
Sausalito

1998
Chinese Box (USA)

1997
The Soong Sisters

1996
Irma Vep (France)
Comrades, Almost a Love Story

1994
Ashes of Time
In Between

1993
Mad Monk
First Shot
Executioners
Boys are Easy
Flying Dagger
The Eagle Shooting Heroes
Enigma of Love
Green Snake
Holy Weapon
The Heroic Trio
The Bare-Footed Kid
Millionaire Cop

1992
Police Story 3: Supercop
Twin Dragons
Moon Warriors
What a Hero!
New Dragon Gate Inn
True Love
All's Well, Ends Well
Rose

1991
Centre Stage aka Actress
Alan & Eric - Between Hello & Goodbye
Will of Iron
The Perfect Match
Today's Hero
Days of Being Wild

1990
Red Dust
Farewell China
Dragon From Russia
Song of the Exile
Heart into Hearts
Full Moon in New York

1989
Doubles Cause Troubles
The Iceman Cometh
In Between Loves
My Dear Son
The Bachelor's Swan-Song
Hearts No Flowers
A Fishy Story
Little Cop

1988
Last Romance
Faithfully Yours
The Game They Call Sex
The Nowhereman
Police Story 2
How to Pick Up Girls
Moon, Star, Sun
Mother vs. Mother
As Tears Go By

Paper Marriage
Love Soldier of Fortune
Call Girl '88

1987
Project A Part 2
The Romancing Star
Heartbeat 100
Sister Cupid

1986
The Seventh Curse
Happy Ghost 3
Lost Romance

1985
It's a Drink, It's a Bomb
Police Story
Modern Cinderella

1984
Behind the Yellow Line
Prince Charming

Drama Serial

Police Cadet '84 新紮師兄 (1984)
The Fallen Family 武林世家