Stephen Chow

Trivia

• A wing chun stylist, Chow began using it in combat scenes, starting with Fist of Fury 1991.
• His parents couldn't afford kung fu lessons, therefore he taught himself from watching TV.
• Grew up in Hong Kong.
• Quentin Tarantino calls him "the best actor in Hong Kong.".
• His favorite director is Steven Spielberg.
• In 1990, Stephen Chow introduced his incredible comedy talent in the film,'All for the Winner' which was a hilarious spin-off of the film, 'God of Gamblers' starring Chow Yun-Fat. The film became such a success that he also starred alongside Chow Yun-Fat in the successful sequel, 'God of Gamblers 2'.
• Stephen Chow excelled in the comedy genre and developed a trademark that reinvented his career in years to come as he began doing parodies of Hollywood, Japanese Hong Kong cinema films, such as 'Fist of Fury 1991', 'From Beijing with Love', and his directorial debut, 'All's Well Ends Well'. The parody film, 'Justice My Foot' earned him Best Actor of Asia at the Pacific Film Festival.
• His idea of combining sports with action kung-fu & comedy came into play in 2002 with 'Shaolin Soccer' where some CGI digital effects were used to help create astonishing action sequences with the help of legendary action choreographer 'Tony' Ching Siu-Tung who provided a stylized twist to the fights.
• The film struck gold on release, ranking the highest grossing film in the history of Hong Kong cinema with a record of HK$60 million.
• Finally, Hollywood took support of Chow's comedic skills and Miramax Films bought the distribution rights to 'Shaolin Soccer' and released it internationally in 2003.

Quotes

• "The reason to do a remake is always because the idea is good but the quality is not up to standard. With Kung Fu Hustle the quality is already there. And it would be hard to do it in English because it is all about Chinese culture."
• "I used to cry when I watched Chaplin's films. It was from him that I learned about the role of the underdog. And because I'm also from a poor family, this kind of thing moved me and I found that it also worked for the audience because most of them are like me - ordinary guys."
• "I'm not good at kung-fu at all. I have been learning, but obviously I am not an expert."
• "Right from the beginning of my work, I wanted to capture a mass audience. And I love the unusual: you never see dancing villains. For me, there's a fine line between comedy and drama; so it's not just played for laughs. There's a little romance in this story, too - something for everybody."
• "I thought martial arts were my great strength, but when I actually got involved in show-business, I realized I wasn't the only one who could do these things. And compared to a lot of others, I wasn't really that good. So I became a children's TV program host."