Hawick Lau Hoi-wai left Hong Kong for Canada when he was 14 to complete high school.
His first brush with fame was in 1993, when he won a national Chinese-language singing competition in Canada. The following year, while he was studying architecture at Ryerson Polytechnic University in Toronto, he came to Hong Kong for a holiday and was spotted by TVB.
After impressing television audiences with his acting skills, Lau proved that he had other marketable talents. He signed with Sony Music in 1995. In 1997, he recorded his first album in Putonghua, Lalala I Love You, for the Taiwanese market and released his first Canto-pop album, A Boy's Story, in 1998.
Born: October 13, 1974
Family: parents and a younger sister
Hobbies: playing the guitar, singing, swimming, all kinds of ball games except golf