Hailed as ‘the coolest actor in the world’ and described as a cross between Clarke Gable and Clint Eastwood, Chow Yun Fat is Asia’s hottest star with a diverse résumé of T.V. and film roles that span over twenty years and has claimed him numerous awards along the way. With the help of action film director John Woo he defined a new kind of Hong Kong hero, a killer with a conscience – a romantic killer.
Chow Yun Fat was born Jau Yun Faat in Lama Island, Hong Kong on May 18th, 1955, the son of two farm workers he grew up in a small farming community in a house with no electricity. Whilst still a child, Chow and his family moved to Kowloon City when his father gained a position as a tanker seaman, meaning he was rarely home. Upon leaving school at the age of seventeen Chow drifted from job to job in order to support his family.

In 1973, after turning his hand at being a bellboy, courier, salesman and taxi driver, a friend suggested that he auditioned for a placement in a school for television actors run by TVB, Hong Kong’s biggest T.V. studio controlled by the legendary Shaw Brothers.

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