The Hong Kong Film Awards, the Oscar event of the Chinese-language film industry, has gone through 40 years so far. In the past 40 years, it has witnessed the ups and downs of Hong Kong films, and also witnessed the birth of 41 actors. Behind the trophy of each Academy Awards, there is a touching story about acting, perseverance and fate.
Among the 41 winners, there is a well-known joke: "The actor is either surnamed Liang or Liu, otherwise he is called Jiahui." Although this sentence has a ridiculous meaning, it also conveys a real phenomenon.
Tony Leung, Leung Ka-fai, Cheung Ka-fai, Andy Lau, and Liu Qingyun have won 5, 4, 2, 3 and 2 awards respectively.
However, being an actor is not only an honor, but also a heavy responsibility. It not only reflects the strength of the actors, but also carries the expectations of the audience. In this group portrait, we see different types of actors: someone such as Tony Leung, with his unique acting skills, partnered with director Wong Kar-wai to create classic works.
Some people are like Liu Qingyun, although he has been nominated for Best Actor 16 times, he has only won the award twice, showing the charm of the role of "Tragic Actor"; There are also people such as Zhang Jiahui, who spent 27 years from a supporting role to a leading role, and finally won the title of actor.
This year, Xie Xian, an 85-year-old actor, finally won the first Academy Award for Best Actor in his life. This makes people sigh that the profession of actor really has no age boundary.
His son Nicholas Tse won the Best Newcomer Award as early as 11 years ago, and the father and son are both actors, which has also become a good story in the history of the Academy Awards.
Among the 41 actors, some are changeable, and some are unchanged. However, no matter what style it is, a real actor should interpret every role with heart and conquer every audience with strength.
So, who is the real "actor among actors"? Let's explore the world of these actors and unravel the mystery.
Among the bright stars of Hong Kong films, Chow Yun-fat is undoubtedly one of the brightest stars. However, what is less known is that the actor, who was later hailed as synonymous with the Hong Kong film industry, was once burdened with the heavy label of "box office poison".
In 1986, Chow Yun-fat's fate changed drastically due to the filming of "The True Color of Heroes", and the audience completely remembered the character of "Little Pony": he was wearing a beige trench coat, holding a toothpick in his mouth, and his eyes flashed with undisguised ambition and unyielding.
This role is simply a realistic portrayal of Chow Yun-fat.
There is a classic line in the movie that expresses Chow Yun-fat's inner monologue: "I waited for three years just to wait for an opportunity." I want to prove what I lost, and I must get it back, not to prove that I am great, but to regain the dignity I lost.
This passage is not only what the character says, but also reflects Chow Yun-fat's expectations and oaths for himself.
Since then, Chow Yun-fat's acting career has been in full swing, and his performances are sometimes tense and relaxed, and this easy control has allowed him to navigate a variety of roles.
This ingenious balance has not only made him synonymous with the Hong Kong film industry, but also made his name deeply rooted in the hearts of many fans.
With his outstanding acting skills, Chow Yun-fat won the Academy Award for Best Actor three times. He was once called "box office poison" for his failed performance in the movie, however, the glory of the three-time actor confirmed his strength.
Chow Yun-fat's success lies not only in his superb acting skills, but also in his in-depth understanding and interpretation of the role, and each of his roles is lifelike under his interpretation, so that the audience can see not only a fictional character on the screen, but also a real existence with flesh and blood.
Chow Yun-fat's life story tells us that in acting, there is no eternal failure, and there is no overnight success. As long as we persevere, maintain our love and focus on performance, there will be a day when we will break out of the cocoon and become a butterfly.
As he said in the movie, what is lost will eventually be brought back, and Chow Yun-fat used his own experience to interpret what a real "actor" is.
In the history of Hong Kong cinema, the duo of Wong Kar-wai and Tony Leung has been hailed as a match made in heaven. Their collaboration has created many classic films, and also shaped Tony Leung's career as an actor.
Tony Leung is the actor who has won the most Best Actor in the history of the Academy Awards, and no other actor can compare. He has won the Best Actor for "Chongqing Forest", "Happy Spring", "In the Mood for Love", "Infernal Affairs" and "2046" five times.
It is worth mentioning that four of these five works were directed by Wong Kar-wai, which is enough to prove Wong Kar-wai's important influence on Tony Leung's acting career.
Wong Kar-wai's films are poetic and philosophical, and their style is unique. Tony Leung is an actor with an eye for storytelling, and his eyes can perfectly interpret Wong Kar-wai's cinematic mood.
This innate temperament has made Tony Leung an indispensable soul in Wong Kar-wai's films, as his wife Carina Lau said: "Watching dogs at home is affectionate".
However, this match made in heaven has also sparked some controversy. Some people believe that if there is no Wong Kar-wai, Tony Leung's acting skills will drop by three percent. Although this statement is somewhat exaggerated, it also reflects the importance of Wong Kar-wai's acting skills to Tony Leung.
In fact, Tony Leung's acting skills far exceed this level. His talent allows him to switch between a variety of roles. However, in Wong Kar-wai's films, he found the stage that suited him best and showed his most touching side through these roles.
Tony Leung and Wong Kar-wai's collaboration is like choreographed dance: the director gives the rhythm and the actors perform it. In the process, the souls of the two artists collide with each other, inspiring an amazing spark.
This tacit understanding has made them a good story in the history of Hong Kong cinema.
Tony Leung's acting strength is obvious to all, and without Wong Kar-wai, he is just missing the influence of a leader. Winning the Best Actor award at the Hong Kong Film Awards five times is enough to prove his huge influence in the film industry.
In his performance, we can see what real acting is, and the versatility and adaptability he shows also illustrate the qualities that a good actor should have.
In the Hong Kong film industry, there are two actors who have a very similar growth process, they are Liu Qingyun and Zhang Jiahui. They all started from playing supporting roles, relying on solid acting skills and unremitting efforts, and finally won the honor of the best actor.
Liu Qingyun is quite special in the history of the Academy Awards. He was nominated for Best Actor a total of 16 times, but only won 2 times, namely "I Want to Be Famous" and "Eavesdropping 3". This data makes people sigh that Liu Qingyun always seems to pass by the actor.
However, this does not mean that his acting skills are not good enough, on the contrary, his acting skills are underrated precisely because he is too good at acting.
Liu Qingyun's tough performance in "Dark Flower" is on par with Tony Leung, showing his strength. 's performance in "Detective" is also god-level, but he failed to win the actor. In films such as "Dumb Birthday", "The Birth of a Word", "New Love", "Streets of Rage" and other films, the director and actress have been successful, but Liu Qingyun has been running along.
It wasn't until the film "I Want to Be Famous" that Liu Qingyun finally got his wish and won the honor of actor.
Liu Qingyun has worked with many directors in Hong Kong, and all of them have given him a very high evaluation: "If there are any loopholes in your script, they can be made up for through the professionalism and superb acting skills of an actor, and that person is Liu Qingyun."
"Whether it's creating a serious character, a funny comedy, or an image of a decent or villain, Liu Qingyun can handle it with ease.
In contrast, Cheung's success came belatedly. It took him 27 years to win seven actor awards in 2009 with "Witness", and the hardships and efforts can be imagined. From 2009 to 2014, Zhang Jiahui was nominated a total of 4 times, and finally won 2 awards, which is enough to prove his strength and hard work.
Zhang Jiahui is a late-blooming actor, and in his early years, he was just a "bone dragon" interspersed with jokes. Since "Underworld", his roles have gradually increased. Until "Witness", his acting skills exploded, and he successfully found his own positioning and achieved positive results.
Zhang Jiahui's performance in the later series of films "The Informant", "Guild War", "Equator", and "Anti-Drug" became more and more stable, allowing the audience to see what an actor who is the mainstay of the Hong Kong film industry should be. As he said: "I don't have a peak, I just know that I have to keep running, and when one day I am tired and don't want to act, where is my peak, and there is my end."
The story of Liu Qingyun and Zhang Jiahui in the film makes us deeply understand that success is not achieved overnight, it requires time precipitation, patient accumulation, and persistent pursuit of performing arts.
Stephen Chow and Jet Li, as two representative figures among the actors, have made extraordinary achievements in the film industry with their unique performance styles, and have become representatives of the unusual path among the actors.
Stephen Chow, who has been nominated for the Academy Awards 7 times, is recognized as a representative of the comedy film industry. In many people's perception, comedy seems to be very different from serious performing arts.
However, Stephen Chow proved in his own way that comedy is also a profound art, and he won the first and only actor trophy in his life with "Shaolin Football", and what is even more amazing is that the film won three awards at the same time: Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor, creating a miracle in the history of the Academy Awards.
Stephen Chow's comedy works are not only funny, but also the crystallization of his wisdom. There is a very shocking scene in "Wu Zhuangyuan Su Qi'er", he turned from a willful son to a frustrated beggar overnight, lying on a chair and singing "Red Candle Tears".
This scene carries a hint of loneliness and a hint of sadness, showing the complex emotions in the character's heart Director Chen Jiashang saw this scene behind the monitor and exclaimed that he had seen a genius actor.
Jet Li conquered the audience and judges in a unique way. Jet Li is the first mainland Academy Award actor in history, and his award breaks geographical restrictions. Although he has only been nominated for two Academy Awards and won only once, the film that won the name of the actor was "Vote for Fame", but his performance is much more than martial arts action.
Many viewers only noticed Jet Li's martial arts skills, but missed his profound acting skills. Indeed, every role he plays has a vivid image, and it is impossible to mistake Huang Feihong, Zhang Wuji and Chen Zhen.
But in my heart, Jet Li's performance in "Ocean Paradise" is the best, in this movie, he successfully played the father of an autistic child, completely subverting the audience's inherent impression of him, his performance has no traces, there is no shadow of a martial arts superstar, but he deeply moved the audience.
The success stories of Stephen Chow and Jet Li tell us that there is not only one path to success as an actor. Whether it is to win the audience with comedy works or move people's hearts through action scenes, as long as you put your heart and soul into the performance, you have the potential to become a generation of actors.
Their achievements have enriched the diversity of Hong Kong cinema and opened up new possibilities for later actors.
In the long history of the Academy Awards, the story of Xie Xian's father and son has attracted much attention. Their experience symbolizes the legendary story of the Hsieh family, and is the epitome of the vicissitudes of Hong Kong's film industry for half a century.
recalled that 11 years ago, Nicholas Tse, who was only 18 years old, won the Best Newcomer Award, and he proudly shouted to his father: "I won the Best Newcomer Award at the age of 18, and you always told me when I was a child: Do you know that I have made hundreds of TV series and movies? At the time, I thought, you always say that you shoot a lot, but now I am winning the Academy Award.
At that time, Xie Xian had changed from a big star to "Nicholas Tse's father".
However, fate is as unpredictable as a drama. Just yesterday, the 85-year-old Xie Xian won the honor of Best Actor at the Academy Awards for the first time and will be the last time he won the honor of Best Actor for the movie "Deus Ex Dusk".
Looking back on Xie Xian's acting career, he played the role of Luo Sihai in "The King of a Thousand Kings" in the 80s of the last century, and created the role of "Gambling King" to appear in film and television dramas. He is domineering and affectionate in the play, and he can switch between good and evil freely, with this role, "Fourth Brother" Xie Xian is popular all over Southeast Asia.
In addition, he also created a ratings miracle in "Thousands of Rivers, Thousands of Mountains, Always Love", and the theme song of this drama "Don't say that there are many obstacles in the green mountains, and the wind is also strong..."
Behind the story of the father and son of Xie Xian and Nicholas Tse, it is not only competition and inheritance, but also a microcosm of the vicissitudes of the Hong Kong film industry for half a century. In the historical changes from Xie Xian to Nicholas Tse, we have seen the changes of the times, as well as the charm and challenges faced by the profession of actors.
Their experience shows us that on the stage of acting career, there are no eternal peaks and no eternal lows, only perseverance and love for acting.