Sean Lau
| Sean Lau | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese name | 劉青雲 (traditional) | ||||||||||||||||
| Chinese name | 刘青云 (simplified) | ||||||||||||||||
| Pinyin | Líu Qīngyún (Mandarin) | ||||||||||||||||
| Jyutping | Lau4 Cing1-wan4 (Cantonese) | ||||||||||||||||
| Born |
16 February 1964 Hong Kong | ||||||||||||||||
| Spouse(s) | Amy Kwok (m. 1998) | ||||||||||||||||
| Ancestry | Sanshui, Guangdong, China | ||||||||||||||||
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Awards
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Sean Lau Ching-wan (born 16 February 1964) is a Hong Kong actor who has acted in both films and television series. He won Best Actor in the 2007 and 2015 Hong Kong Film Awards and in the 2000 and 2007 Golden Bauhinia Awards.
Lau was born in Hong Kong in 1964. He joined the TVB acting classes in 1983 and made his first appearance on television in the following year in the drama Draw Out the Rainbow. Dark-skinned with no matinee-idol look, he struggled to be cast as a leading man until he received the lead role in the immensely popular stock market drama The Greed of Man (1992), where he acted opposite Adam Cheng. His wife, Amy Kwok, who won the Miss Hong Kong Pageant in 1991, is also a well-known former television actress and co-starred with him on The Greed of Man. Lau starred in two series with ATV in 1991 and again 2000.
Lau is one of a handful of Hong Kong actors who has made the successful transition from television to film; since 2000 he is now exclusively a film actor.
Career
Lau made his film debut in 1986 as a child star and since then has been cast in an increasing number of roles. Amongst his more memorable roles include acting opposite Anita Yuen as a down-and-out musician in C'est la vie, mon chéri (1993) and in a number of cop thrillers, such as Big Bullet (1996), Full Alert (1997), The Longest Nite (1998), Running out of Time (1999), Running Out of Time 2 (2001) and Mad Detective (2007). He has proven himself to be one of Hong Kong's most versatile actors, handling comedy roles with aplomb, as in La Brassiere (2001) and Three of a Kind (2003). He is also well known for his supporting role as the troll in Finn MacCool, an independent piece by James Throgmorton III.
Filmography
Television series
TVB
- Police Cadet '84 (1984)
- The Duke of Mount Deer (1984)
- Take Care, Your Highness! (1985)
- The Battle Among the Clans (1985)
- Ngan sik lui to (1985)
- Genghis Khan (1987)
- The Grand Canal (1987)
- Twilight of a Nation (1988)
- The Challenge of Life (1990)
- The Seasons II (1990)
- The Greed of Man (1992)
ATV
- Generation Empress (1991)
- Divine Retribution (2000)
Films
- The Happy Massage Girls – (????)
- Silent Love (1986) – Kelly Mak
- Police Story 2 (1988) – CID Man 1
- Live Hard (1989) – Fai/Chief
- My Dear Son (1989)
- Angel Hunter (1991) – Jack Chow Man-Kit
- The Roar of the Vietnamese (1991) – Fan Wan-Tin
- The Shootout (1992) – Liu
- All Men Are Brothers: Blood of the Leopard (1993) – Tso Wu
- The Gods Must Be Crazy IV (1993) – John
- Thou Shalt Not Swear (1993) – Chow's Partner
- Pink Bomb (1993) – Daniel
- Executioners (1993) – Tak
- Beginner's Luck (1994) – Mark
- C'est la vie, mon chéri (1994) – Kit
- Bloody Hand Goddess (1994)
- I've Got You, Babe (1994) – Charcoal
- Bomb Disposal Officer: Baby Bomb (1994) – Peter Chan
- It's a Wonderful Life (1994) – Cousin
- Shanghai Fever (1994)
- Over the Rainbow Under the Skirt (1994) – Narrator
- The Most Wanted (1994) – Ho Chi-Yung/Cat
- Don't Shoot Me, I'm Just a Violinist (1994) – Mozart
- Oh! My Three Guys (1994) – Hoi
- I Wanna Be Your Man (1994) – Lu Che-Mo
- Return to a Better Tomorrow (1994) – Big Lobster
- The Tragic Fantasy - Tiger of Wanchai (1994) – Dee
- The Third Full Moon (1994) – Chow's Partner
- Tears and Triumph (1994) – Xie Shi-Wen
- Loving You (1995) – Lau
- Once in a Lifetime (1995) – Kei-on
- Mother of a Different Kind (1995) – Supt Cheung Hung
- Only Fools Fall in Love (1995) – Chiu Ford
- Wealthy Human Realm (1995) (uncredited) – Cameo
- Sea Root (1995) – Sea Root
- Happy Hour (1995) – Chong Tsang
- Mack the Knife (1995) – Chiu
- The Golden Girls (1995) – Chun Wei
- New Tenant (1995) – Joe
- Tricky Business (1995) – Ko Hing
- Romantic Dream (1995) – Hung Chi-Lung
- Black Mask (1996) – Inspector 'Rock' Shek
- Beyond Hypothermia (1996) – Long Shek
- Big Bullet (1996) – Bill Zhu
- Tristar (1996) – Fa
- Muto Bontie (1996) – Lam Chak-Chi/Chi
- Viva Erotica (1996) – Yee Tung-Sing
- Final Justice (1996) – Father Lee (Ho)
- My Dad Is a Jerk (1997) – Li Lap-Cheong
- Full Alert (1997) – Inspector Pao
- Lifeline (1997) – Yau Sui
- The Longest Nite (1997) – Tony
- Too Many Ways to Be No. 1 (1997) – Kau
- Expect the Unexpected (1998) – Sam
- Step Into the Dark (1998) – Dr. Care Quan
- The Victim (1999) – Manson Ma
- Running Out of Time (1999) – Inspector Ho Sheung-Sang
- Where a Good Man Goes (1999) – Michael
- The H.K. Triad (1999) – Ho
- A Hero Never Dies (1998) – Martin
- Running Out of Time 2 (2001) – Inspector Ho Sheung-Sang
- La Brassiere (2001) – Johnny
- Lunch with Charles (2001) (as Sean Lau) – Tong
- Mighty Baby (2002) – Johnny Hung
- My Left Eye Sees Ghosts (2002) – Ken Wong
- Fat Choi Spirit (2002) – Ching Wan
- Lost in Time (2003) – Dai Fai
- Good Times, Bed Times (2003) – Raymond
- Colour of the Truth (2003) – Seven Up
- The Attractive One (2004) – Hugo
- Three of a Kind (2004) – Frankie
- Driving Miss Wealthy (2004) – Mario/Kit
- Itchy Heart (2004) – Poon Chi-Man
- Fantasia (2004) – Michael
- Himalaya Singh (2005) – Uncle Panic
- My Name is Fame (2006) – Poon Kar-Fai
- The Shopaholics (2006) – Choosey Lee
- Mad Detective (2007) – Chan Kwai-Bun
- Poker King (2009) – Uno
- Written By (2009) – Tony
- Overheard (2009)
- Overheard 2 (2011)
- Life Without Principle (2011) – Wen
- The Great Magician (2012)
- The Fairy Tale Killer (2012)
- The Bullet Vanishes (2012) – Inspector Song Donglu
- Out of Inferno (2013)
- The White Storm (2013)
- Overheard 3 (2014)
- Insanity (2015)
- Tale of Three Cities (2015)
- The Vanished Murderer (2015)
- Heartfall Arises (2016)
- Call of Heroes (2016)
Voice Over
Lau has done voice over of translated films from English in Cantonese and animated features:
- Over The Rainbow Under the Skirt (記得…香蕉成熟時2：初戀情人) 1994
- Toy Story (反斗奇兵) 1995 - Cantonese version
- Toy Story 2 (反斗奇兵 2) 1999 - Cantonese/Hong Kong version
- Toy Story 3 (反斗奇兵 3) 2010 - Cantonese/Hong Kong version
- Yesterday You, Yesterday Me (記得…香蕉成熟時3：為你鍾情
- Finding Nemo (海底奇兵) 2003 - Cantonese/Hong Kong version
- Garfield 2 (加菲貓2) 2006 - Cantonese/Hong Kong version
- The Secret of the Magic Gourd (寶葫蘆的秘密) 2007
- Garfield's Pet Force (加菲貓3D) 2009 - Cantonese/Hong Kong version
- 關雲長 2011
Awards
Lau has won Best Actor Awards at the Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards in 1997, 2001, 2011, 2014 and the Golden Bauhinia Awards in 1999 and 2007. He also won his first Best Actor award at the Hong Kong Film Awards in 2007. He won this award acting in the movie My Name is Fame. He won his first Golden Horse Award in 2012 for his performance in Life Without Principle.