What makes Hong Kong’s Chow Yun-fat ‘the coolest actor in the world’? At 65, the Pirates of the Caribbean star is still up for action – and romance

As he celebrates his 65th birthday, it’s undeniable that Chow Yun-fat is one of Hong Kong cinema’s greatest icons – standing tall alongside the likes of Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li. The Los Angeles Times described him as “the coolest actor in the world” in the 90s and Gore Verbinski described Chow as a “living legend” when the actor signed on for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.

In contrast to the wealth and fame he would acquire, Chow comes from a modest background. While his father worked on oil tankers, his mother was a cleaning lady and a farmer and Chow grew up helping her sell Hakka tea-pudding and herbal jelly on the streets of Lamma Island where he was born.

Chow, who celebrates the milestone birthday on May 18, dropped out of school at 17 to earn a living and help support his family. Within a year, he caught a break when he was accepted into TVB’s actor training course in 1973. Three years later Chow was one of the principal characters in TVB’s hugely popular drama Hotel , which was about the struggles of the middle class that ran for more than 100 episodes and attracted millions of viewers.

Although he was a popular TV star, for many years Chow could not translate that into popularity at the box office – many of his early films are forgotten. Eventually things started to change, first with Hong Kong 1941 for which he won best actor at the Golden Horse Awards. But it wasn’t until his star turn as honourable gangster Mark in A Better Tomorrow (1986) that Chow proved he was a draw.

The film’s director, John Woo, recollected, “At that time Chow was already a huge TV star in Hong Kong. But he’d never made a successful film. Some people even called him “box office poison”, even though people recognised him as a great actor.”

5 scenes that made Chow Yun-fat a screen legend

Chow’s super cool demeanour and skill with twin handguns helped make his character one of the icons of Hong Kong cinema. The actor himself says it was a “coincidence” that he landed the role of Mark at all, what with studios and cinema owners keen on the role going to a more bankable star.

With A Better Tomorrow’s box office success there were no complaints about bringing Chow back for the sequels – despite his character dying at the end of the first film. In a typical piece of Hong Kong schlock, it is revealed in A Better Tomorrow II that Mark has an identical twin brother, Ken, conveniently enabling Chow to return and pick up guns again.

However, Chow admitted he was not exactly happy to play Mark or Ken in these sequels. In the 90s, with the A Better Tomorrow trilogy complete, he admitted, “I hated to play [Mark] again … I didn’t want to do the role again … I don’t like part two and part three.”

Despite his reservations, A Better Tomorrow was the start of a fruitful relationship between Chow and Woo. The pair worked on a number of the most famous Hong Kong films of the era, including The Killer and Hard Boiled.

These bullet-riddled films helped make Chow an action hero around the world. Chow has been effusive in his praise for Woo, describing him as “the special one” and crediting the director with helping him become a star. He has even said that one of his dreams is to make a movie with John Woo in Hollywood.

Surprisingly, however, Chow is not particularly fond of these sorts of violent films. “I myself don’t like violence,” he said. “I don’t like gunfire. John Woo does. He loves the sound of the bullets. On the set, he never wears earplugs!”

How Hong Kong’s film industry got so big – and why it fell into decline

Supporting this, Chow has remarked that his favourites of the films he has worked on are those “not popular in the West” like An Autumn’s Tale and All About Ah-Long, which were romantic dramas rather than action flicks. “For me,” he said, “I’m not fascinated about all the [kung fu] wire work or martial arts things, I’m more dedicated to the drama and the romance. I’d rather have a girl than a wire and two guns.”

Nonetheless, that would not stop Chow from taking on a famous role like James Bond. When once quizzed by Time magazine about whether he’d like to work for Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Chow replied, “Why not? It would be a lot of fun, sunglasses, toothpicks, guns – I could be 008 from Shanghai.”

It was action films that helped make Chow’s name around the world and so it was for action films that he was brought to Hollywood. His first films in America were The Replacement Killers and The Corruptor, both films that featured plenty of bullets flying.

Chow was sanguine about these projects, though. “Just being able to act is good enough. You hold two girls, it’s a drama. You hold two guns, it’s action. If from now on I only get action roles I’m still happy,” he said.

Whatever roles he may have desired, Chow has never lost sight of the fact that making movies is ultimately a business. In an interview with Chinese TV host Chen Luyu he said, “Hong Kong is a realistic place, you act and hope it will bring returns at the box office. So one should just follow this path and not think too much.”

7 biggest snubs at the Hong Kong Film Awards ever

This attitude didn’t change after the actor’s move across the Pacific. The Replacement Killers came second at the box office the first week of its release, behind Titanic – no great failing. However, aware of the inescapable pressures of the industry, Chow knew he would have to do better. “As an Asian actor wanting to make a second Hollywood movie, what’s most important is the box office. We’re talking about a business, not your performance, the skill, we’re talking about the market share. How [much] can you get in the domestic, overseas [market]? I’m more concerned about the box office than the critics.”

Despite hitting retirement age, it seems like Chow has no desire to stop acting. He was one of the leads in the award-winning Project Gutenberg two years ago and he is starring in the soon to be released – Covid-19 allowing – Be Water, My Friend, where he plays a gambling addict looking for ways to communicate and connect with his autistic son.

Still going strong, 25 years ago Chow commented that, “I could retire right now if I wanted to – I really could. But maybe it’s like, God gave you talent. He gives you talent and you sign a contract to entertain people with it. You don’t know, but it could be a contract for 40 years. Who should stop when you’re only halfway there?”

Want more stories like this? Sign up here. Follow STYLE on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter .