Stephen Chow-Comedy Artist

Comedy's artist Stephen Chow Sing-Chi was born in Hong Kong in June 1962. His childhood was comparatively gentle,and he was fascinated by BruceLee, much like other children his age. Stephen Chow was 9 years old in1971 when Bruce Lee's triumphant Hong Kong film, "The Big Boss"debuted. This was Bruce Lee's introduction to the movie-going public inHong Kong and it was huge hit. Many children in Asia and around the world looked up to Bruce Lee, and Stephen was no different. Because Stephen respected Bruce Lee, he began to study martial arts. And it issaid that Stephen's friends were sometimes made to call him "smalldragon." In 1982, after graduating high school, Stephen and his friend Tony Leung Chui-Wai auditioned for TVB (a television station in HongKong) acting school, but Stephen didn't make the cut. However, he became a student of the night class by an acquaintance's introduction.Waise Lee Chi-Hung, of "A Better Tomorrow" fame, was a fellow classmate. The next year, Stephen was singled out to be the master ofceremonies of the children's program "430." Stephen was not fond ofchildren and this made it very difficult for him, but he took anunusual.attitude and faced a child in the program. His behavior became popular and he worked on this show for five years. He went on to variety programs and so on for several years after that, and gained more popularity and moved more to small parts from the "life trip" to the drama. At this time, Stephen worked with Alex Man Chi-Leung and learned acting tips from Alex's advice. (Stephen played with Alex Man Chi-Leung in his movie debut, "He Who Chases After the Wind.") In 1988, Danny LeeSau-Yin (actor/director/producer whose most famous role is that of Chow Yun-Fat's cop pal in John Woo's "The Killer") cast Stephen for one of the leads in the movie "Final Justice." Stephen went on to win the Best Supporting Actor award of the Taiwan Academy Awards. It was his first film. His "Sit down, and drink tea, and eat even a manju" saying became popular. Stephen appeared in both movies and TVB dramas for a while. His film parts increased gradually. At last , 1990's "All For The Winner" (a parody of Chow Yun-Fat's "God of Gamblers") was a huge hit. This film went on to break the Hong Kong box office record. After the runaway success of "All For The Winner," Stephen's films consistently ranked at the top of the box office. In fact, Stephen Chow is the number one top-grossing Hong Kong film actor of the 1990s. In comparison, by total box office, Jackie Chan takes 2nd place, but Stephen's films outgross Jackie's by as much as double. And Stephen made 29 films from 1990 to 1993. Stephen's performance style at the time of "All for the Winner" was called "Mo-Lei-To," which translates as "Makes No Sense." This style established his popularity in the 90's as a comedy actor. His roles ranged from high school undercover detective in 1991's "Fight Back to School," period lawyer drama in 1993's "Justice, My Foot!" and period comedy in 1993's "Flirting Scholar." Stephen accomplished a great success at the box office, winning top spot for four consecutive years in Hong Kong . Of the above 3 films, only "All For the Winner" has been released in the theatres in Japan.

In interviews, Stephen has expressed interest in other aspects of the production of his films, taking on a role more than just as an actor. He challenged the first director of his James Bond spoof "From Beijing with Love" (1994). He became more concerned with the production side of moviemaking with the "Chinese Odyssey" films, his telling of the "Journey to the West" story. He co-wrote and co-directed two of his recent films, "Forbidden City Cop" (1996) and "God of Cookery" (1997). However, it is a recent thing for his films to be introduced in Japan. Only 14 of his 47 films are available on video in Japan, and only half have been released in the theater here. In 1997, he became a hot topic with the success of "God Of Cookery." His popularity is set to explode soon. Stephen visited Japan three times formally in 1996, for the Yu-bari Fantastic Film Festival in February and the Tokyo International Film Festival in October. and He came agin in March 2002 for prompotion of Shaolin Soccor.