Movies

Chow Yun-fat SBS (born 18 May 1955), previously known as Donald Chow, is a Hong Kong actor. He is perhaps best known for his collaborations with filmmaker John Woo in the five Hong Kong action heroic bloodshed films: A Better Tomorrow, A Better Tomorrow II, The Killer, Once a Thief and Hard Boiled, and in the West for his roles as Li Mu-bai in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Sao Feng in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. He mainly plays in drama films and has won three Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Actor and two Golden Horse Awards for Best Actor in Taiwan. Chow started his career in movies in 1976 with Goldig Films, the third largest film company at the time.

Early life and education :

Chow was born in Lamma Island, Hong Kong, to Chow Yung-wan (周容允), who worked on a Shell Oil Company tanker, and Chan Lai-fong (陳麗芳), who was a cleaning lady and vegetable farmer. Chow grew up in a farming community on Lamma Island, in a house with no electricity. He woke up at dawn each morning to help his mother sell herbal jelly and Hakka tea-pudding (客家茶粿) on the streets; in the afternoons, he went to work in the fields. His family moved to Kowloon when he was ten.

At 17, Chow left school to help support the family by doing odd jobs including a bellboy, postman, camera salesman, and taxi driver.

Chow's life started to change after college when he responded to a newspaper advertisement, and his actor-trainee application was accepted by TVB, the local television station. He signed a three-year contract with the studio and made his acting debut. Chow became a heartthrob and familiar face in soap operas that were exported internationally. According to his filmography, Chow made his debut in 1976 in various movies produced by Goldig Films, including Hot Blood (入冊).  Goldig Films was founded and self-funded by Gouw Hiap Kian who was its Chairman and Managing Director and employed other individuals as movie directors. It produced and distributed over 100 movies from 1972 to 1982. Goldig also invested in properties, including a cinema, and financial investments with substantial assets since  the 1990s. Chow was identified by Goldig to be an actor before he applied to TVB as a trainee.