Stephen Chow - Biography

				Stephen Chow Biography   Name : Stephen Chow Profession : Actor Birth Details : born June 22, 1962 Birth name : Sing-Chi Chow Height : 5' 8½" (1.74 m) Nickname : Sing Jai Personal quotes : "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 t Trade mark : Frequently uses his chinese name, "Sing" in movies.
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Stephen Chow Detailed Biography

Stephen Chow (traditional Chinese : 周星馳 ; simplified Chinese : 周星驰; Cantonese Romanization: Chow Sing Chi ; pinyin : ZhÅ�u XÄ«ngchí) (born June 22, 1962) is a highly popular Hong Kong actor and director, whose expertise in the comedic field has led him to be dubbed the "king of comedy" by the Hong Kong entertainment media. Chow learned his trade at the Shaw Brothers TVB acting school, and co-hosted a popular Hong Kong children's program, 430 Shuttle, as a character named "Black and White Vampire", alongside future star Tony Leung Chiu Wai. His early film career was largely centred on dramatic roles, but his performance in Jeff Lau's smash-hit All For The Winner (1990) (è³­è�–) launched him almost exclusively into comedy films. His subsequent films were built on this success, and he developed his distinct brand of humour known as "mo lei tau" (無厘頭) (loosely translated as "nonsense") which makes frequent use of euphemisms and double entendres in Cantonese slang. He regularly demonstrated his talent for improvisation, suggesting gags to directors to enhance the comedy, which would often lead to rewrites of the script. By 1994 he was writing and directing some of his own films. The films themselves often followed a similar template: portraying an underachiever who beats the odds or an arrogant overachiever who is humbled and learns a lesson. Fight Back to School (1991), From Beijing With Love (1994) (國產零零漆) and God of Cookery (1996) (食神) are notable examples. Sometimes his films would have a period setting, but still exhibit the same style of contemporary humour, for instance in Justice, My Foot (1992) (審死官) and Flirting Scholar (1993). Occasionally Chow would break from this mould: one of his more serious films is A Chinese Odyssey (1994), loosely based on the classic Chinese story Journey to the West. Although still essentially a comedy, Chow himself was able to develop his character more seriously than usual. It was a box-office smash in Hong Kong and developed a cult following in Mainland China. Stephen Chow as Sing in Kung Fu Hustle Recent films have begun to focus on comedic action and special effects sequences instead of verbal humour, to appeal to a wider international audience. The film which launched him in the West was Shaolin Soccer (2001), which made heavy use of CGI and was directed by Chow himself. Kung Fu Hustle (2004) is also directed by Chow and in February 2005 went on to surpass Shaolin Soccer as the highest grossing domestic movie in Hong Kong. Chow has made attempts to acquire Canadian citizenship, but has purportedly been denied by Canadian immigration due to his possible links with the triads in Hong Kong.