What Tony Leung Chiu-wai learned about acting from directors including John Woo, Ang Lee and Wong Kar-wai, such as why it is ‘like tai chi’

In a 40-year career, Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai has honed his craft working with directors such as John Woo, Ang Lee, Wong Kar-wai and Hou Hsiao-hsien

From using sex scenes – such as with Tang Wei in Lust, Caution – to establish his character, to learning how to ‘un-act’, we look at some of the most notable influences

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Tony Leung Chiu-wai receives the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. The Hong Knog actor has worked with some top directors over the course of a 40-year career, and often talked about what he has learned from them to hone his acting craft. Photo: AFP

Richard James Havis

Published: 4:15am, 11 Feb 2024Updated: 4:31am, 11 Feb 2024

Tony Leung Chiu-wai is one of Hong Kong’s biggest celebrities – and a very serious actor.

Over a 40-year career, Leung has worked hard to develop his own method of acting, and has continually striven to improve. Just this week, he received his latest best actor nomination in the Hong Kong Film Awards, having won the honour five times in the past.

“On my first day of acting, I realised that acting is an endless pursuit,” he once said. “You can try and improve every day.”

Here we look at what Leung has said he learned from some of the directors he has worked with.

Leung in a still from The Goldfinger, for which he has received his latest best actor nomination in the Hong Kong Film Awards.

1. Hou Hsiao-hsien

The New Taiwanese Cinema movement was big at film festivals in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and Hou Hsiao-hsien’s A City of Sadness was one of the breakthroughs.