Stephen Zhou

Education

Chow graduated from TVB"s acting classes in 1982.

Career

Chow began as a temporary actor for the television He entered TVB in early 1980s, and was trained there. Chow began to find some success with the children"s programme 430 Space Shuttle.

Chow shot to stardom in 1989"s The Final Combat.

1991"s Fight Back to School with his expert comic timing became Hong Kong"s top-grossing film of all time. In 1994 Chow began directing films, starting with From Beijing with Love, which he co-directed with Lee Lik-Chirurgical

In the later half of the 1990s, China began to warm to Stephen Chow movies. His film duology A Chinese Odyssey became (and remains) a cult classic in China, Chow rapidly became most iconic film star in China.

In 2001 his film Shaolin Soccer grossed over United States$50 million all over the world.

lieutenant was his first international hit and established his reputation in the Western world. In 2004 his film Kung Fu Hustle grossed over United States$106 million all over the world. Chow"s film CJ7 began filming in July 2006 in the eastern Chinese port of Ningbo.

In August 2007 the film was given the title CJ7, a play on China"s successful Shenzhou manned space missions—Shenzhou 5 and Shenzhou 6.

In 2013, Chow directed the film Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons, a loose adaptation of the novel of the same name. The film was a box office success, becoming the highest-grossing film ever in Chinese language film.

In 2016, Stephen Chow released a new film titled The Mermaid. lieutenant was released in China on February 8, 2016.

Upon release, it broke numerous box office records such as the biggest opening day and the biggest single day gross through its seventh day of release and having the biggest opening week of all time in China.

On February 19 it became the highest-grossing film of all time in China. The Mermaid released in Vietnam on February 10, 2016. On March 14 it became the 3rd highest-grossing film of all time in Vietnam.

Chow often casts relatively new young actresses to play opposite him, especially as romantic leads, and many of these actresses have gone on to have successful film or music careers of their own.

These actresses are collectively called the "Sing girls", and include Karen Mok, Sharla Cheung, Athena Chu, Michelle Reis, Christy Chung, Gigi Leung, Cecilia Cheung, Huang Shengyi, Zhang Yuqi and Xu Jiao.

Achievements

• In 1987, Chow entered into the movie industry through the film Final Justice, which won him the Taiwan Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actor. 1990"s All for the Winner made him one of the most sought-after stars in Hong Kong. Chow won Best Director and Best Actor at the 2002 Hong Kong Film, and the film went on to garner additional awards including a Blue Ribbon for Best Foreign Language Film and the Golden Bauhinia Award for Best Picture and Best Director. Chow won Best Director at the 2005 Taiwan Golden Horse and Best Picture of Imagine Film Festival and 20 international awards.