In this Hong Kong name, the surname is Lau. In accordance with Hong Kong custom, the Western-style name is Andy Lau and the Chinese-style name is Lau Tak-wah.
Lau was born Lau Fook-wing in Tai Po, British Hong Kong to fireman Lau Lai (1934–2023). He is the fourth of six siblings and has three elder sisters, one younger sister, and a younger brother named Lau Tak-sing. Although his family was wealthy due to his grandfather being a landowner with farmland and villages, his father moved them to the slums of Diamond Hill when he was six years old so he could receive a bilingual education to improve his English. The area was full of wooden houses, which unfortunately burnt down when he was eleven. During his childhood, Lau had to fetch water for his family up to eight times a day as their house lacked plumbing.[13] He graduated from a Band One secondary school, Ho Lap College in San Po Kong, Kowloon.[14] He also practices Chinese calligraphy and hair styling.[15] He was raised in a nominally Buddhist household and is a follower of the Lingyan Mountain Temple in Taiwan.[16]
Career
Acting
In 1980, Lau enrolled in TVB's actor training program and graduated the next year, signing a contract with TVB. [1] He was propelled to fame by the TVB series The Emissary (1982). His popularity soared the next year with his role as Yang Guo in the TVB wuxia series The Return of the Condor Heroes; at the end of the year, Lau was featured in the TVB Anniversary Gala Show, alongside Tony Leung, Michael Miu, Felix Wong, and Kent Tong. Since then they were known as the "Five Tiger Generals of TVB".[17]
Meanwhile, Lau also started his film career. He made a guest appearance in one of Susanna Kwan's music videos in 1981 and caught the eye of the manager Teddy Robin, who gave Lau his first minor role in the film, Once Upon a Rainbow.[18] Lau then landed a role in Ann Hui's 1982 film, Boat People.[1] In 1983, he had his first leading role in the Shaw Brothers-produced action film, On the Wrong Track.[19]
In 2005, Lau received the "No.1 Box office Actor 1985–2005" award of Hong Kong, yielding a box office total of HKD 1,733,275,816 for shooting 108 films in the past 20 years.[13][15] The aforementioned figure is as compared to the first runner-up Stephen Chow's (HKD 1,317,452,311) and second runner-up Jackie Chan's (HKD 894,090,962). For his contributions, a wax figure of Lau was unveiled on 1 June 2005 at the Madame Tussauds Hong Kong.[23] In 2007, Lau also received the "Nielsen Box Office Star of Asia" award by the Nielsen Company (ACNielsen).[3]
April 2017, he starred in the Hong Kong action film Shock Wave,[24] which earned him another Best Actor Award at the 37th Hong Kong Film Awards in 2018.[25] In February 2021, Lau reunited with Tony Leung since the Infernal Affairs series in the action film The Goldfinger.[26]
Lau released his first album Just Know I Only Love You (1985) under the record label Capital Artists to minimal commercial success.[13] However, he achieved mainstream success in 1990 with the release of the album Would It Be Possible which won Lau his first RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Award.[27] The following year, he released the single "The Days We Spent Together" which topped Hong Kong's music charts and was an international hit across Asia. The song was lauded by Time Out which described its popularity as 'practically a national anthem' and 'one of the most notable hits' in Lau's career.[28] His subsequent albums brought him further recognition spawning hit singles such as "Ice Rain" (1993), "Forget Love Potion" (1994), and "Stupid Fellow" (1998). His popularity as a music artist was such that Lau was dubbed as one of the Cantopop Four Heavenly Kings along with Jacky Cheung, Aaron Kwok, and Leon Lai.[4] His album Love Notes Written in Bone Upon My Heart (1997) is certified 2x Platinum in Taiwan and is one of the best-selling albums with 640,305 copies sold. His other albums Because of Love (1996) and Love is Mysterious (1997) also reached 2x Platinum status there.[11]
At the Jade Solid Gold Top 10 Awards, he won the "Most Popular Hong Kong Male Artist" award 7 times and the "Asia Pacific Most Popular Hong Kong Male Artist" award 15 times.[13] By April 2000, he had already won an unprecedented total of 292 awards.[13] That same year, he entered the Guinness World Records for "Most Awards Won by a Cantopop Male Artist" and again in 2021 for "Most Douyin Followers Gained in 24 hours" and "Fastest Time to Reach Ten Million Followers on Douyin".[29][30][31]
In 2022, Lau set records when an online concert he held via Douyin attracted more than 350 million viewers.[34]
In addition to singing in Cantonese and Mandarin, Lau has also sung in other languages such as English, Japanese and Taiwanese Hokkien. He has held concerts in Asia, North America, Europe, and Oceania, and continues to tour with an upcoming Mainland China leg set for Summer 2024.[35]
Books
Lau has written two books, This Is How I Grew Up (我是這樣長大的) (1995), an autobiography,[36] and My 30 Work Days (我的30個工作天) (2012), a collection of his 30 personal diaries written while working on the 2011 film, A Simple Life.[37]
Art exhibition
In 2023, Lau opened his debut art show titled the 1/X Andy Lau X Art Exhibition, which ran on 25 August at the Freespace venue located in the West Kowloon Cultural District. The exhibit includes a sculpture which Lau designed, a projection of images from his films and concerts, paintings made by him and his daughter, and works where he collaborated with other artists, such as collaborating with Hong Kong artists Sticky Line on a statue of his character from Running on Karma, collaborating with Beijing artist Xu Zhuoer in glass covered film props from A Moment of Romance, and a collaboration with ink painter where Lau showcases his calligraphy.[38][39]
Philanthropy
In 1994, Lau established the Andy Lau Charity Foundation which helps people in need and promotes a wide range of youth education services.[3] In 1999, he received the Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World award, being the third person from Hong Kong at that time to receive this distinguished honour.[3] In 2008, Lau took a main role in putting together the Artistes 512 Fund Raising Campaign for relief toward the victims of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.[40]
Personal life
In 2008, Lau secretly married Carol Chu in America and acknowledged his marriage the following year, ending decades of speculation over their relationship. Both Lau and Chu are vegetarians and Buddhists.[41] On 9 May 2012, Chu gave birth to their daughter Hanna.[42]
In January 2017, Lau sustained a serious pelvic injury after being thrown off and stomped on by a horse during a commercial shoot in Thailand.[43][44] He made a full recovery by the end of the year.[45][46]
Lau was noted for his highly positive energy, his hard work and active involvement in charity works throughout his 30 years in showbiz and honoured as a "Justice of Peace" by the Hong Kong SAR government in 2008.[47] In May 2010, he received the "World Outstanding Chinese" award and an "honorary doctorate" from the University of New Brunswick, Canada.[48] On 14 December 2017, Lau was awarded a Doctor of Letters degree from the Hong Kong Shue Yan University, with the citation highlighting his popularity among locals which stated: "His low-key, modest, friendly and approachable personality has endeared him to millions of fans and ordinary folks alike, who also consider him to be a 'heartthrob' and the 'unofficial Chief Executive of Hong Kong'".[49]
In 2010, the list started to include Chinese celebrities born in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other countries. Prior to that it only included celebrities born in mainland China.