in Hong Kong Many consider Leung to be the most acclaimed contemporary actor in
Greater China. He first garnered international attention in
Hou Hsiao-hsien's 1989 film
A City of Sadness, which won the
Venice Golden Lion. Before that he was already known in Hong Kong for his TV shows and films in the mid-1980s. Leung's initial transition from television to film in the late '80s and early '90s is considered a low period in his career. He had won two
HKFA Best Supporting Actor awards in quick succession but was struggling to establish himself as a leading man on the big screen. Leung has also said that until
Days of Being Wild (1990), he had lost interest in acting and considered quitting, but working with
Wong Kar-wai and seeing his scene in the final film changed his mind. His career entered a new chapter when he won dual Best Actor awards at the
Golden Horse Awards and
Hong Kong Film Awards for
Chungking Express (1994), becoming only the second actor to do so after
Danny Lee in 1984. He repeated the feat with
Infernal Affairs in 2003. Beginning with
Chungking Express, Leung has picked up six Best Actor wins at the Hong Kong Film Awards, three Best Actor awards at the Golden Horse Awards, as well as a
Best Actor prize at Cannes. Leung often collaborates with Wong Kar-wai and has appeared in many of his films. His roles include the lonely policeman in
Chungking Express (1994), a gay Chinese expatriate living in Argentina in
Happy Together (1997), and a self-controlled victim of adultery in
In the Mood for Love (2000), for which he won the Best Actor award at
Cannes. He reprised his role from
In the Mood for Love as a new Chow Mo-wan in
2046 (2004) and trained in
Wing Chun for five years to prepare for his role as
Ip Man in Wong's
The Grandmaster. Wong's Jet Tone Film Production was also Leung's management agency for many years until 2018. In addition to his works with Wong, Leung has starred in three
Venice Golden Lion winning films:
A City of Sadness (1989),
Cyclo (1995) and
Lust, Caution (2007), cementing his reputation in the arthouse cinema world. He also became the first Chinese actor to receive the
Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival. In 2014, he was a member of the jury of the
64th Berlin International Film Festival, and in 2017 he was invited to become a member of the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In 2022, Leung was named the Asian Filmmaker of the Year at the
27th Busan International Film Festival.
Robert De Niro and
Brad Pitt are admirers of his work, and
The Times has called Leung Asia's answer to
Clark Gable. He has also been compared to
Cary Grant, or a combination of several A-list Hollywood stars. Leung is widely believed to be a
method actor. He has said that he often has trouble separating the characters from himself, beginning with his early TV roles. He usually takes long breaks after filming to recover from psychologically taxing roles, and remnants of the characters still remain within him years later. He has said that the voice of his wife
Carina Lau can bring him back to reality. Leung admits that he has a tendency to stay in his comfort zone and work with familiar teams and filmmakers. Over the course of his career, he has worked with Wong Kar-wai eight times (including
See You Tomorrow, which Wong wrote), three times with
John Woo, three times with
Derek Yee, and twice with
Hou Hsiao-hsien. He has also worked with the creators of
Infernal Affairs (
Andrew Lau,
Alan Mak,
Felix Chong) on three other films:
Confession of Pain (2006),
The Silent War (2012), and
The Goldfinger (2023). In recent years, Leung has become more adventurous and willing to try new things; this includes collaborating with new directors and taking on his
first Hollywood role. In 2005, he signed with an American agent with the intention to appear in a Hollywood film. Producer
Kevin Feige announced at the 2019
San Diego Comic-Con that Leung will join the
Marvel Cinematic Universe as the villain in
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, marking his Hollywood debut
. Leung's character
Wenwu is a
composite character of
Fu Manchu and
the Mandarin. The movie was released in 2021 and his performance was universally praised. Leung also had a successful
Cantopop and
Mandarin pop singing career in the 1990s, which he abandoned to focus on acting. He still occasionally sings for his films; the theme song of
Infernal Affairs which he performed with
Andy Lau is one of the
Top 10 Song of 2003 and won the
22nd Hong Kong Film Awards'
Best Original Film Song. During the promotion of the film
Hero, some commentators in Hong Kong alleged that Leung expressed the view that the
Tiananmen Square demonstration crackdown was necessary to maintain stability. Leung made a single comment in response that he may have been misquoted and his statement taken out of context. Leung speaks Cantonese, English and Mandarin.
Lust, Caution (2007) is the first film where he used his own voice in a Mandarin-speaking role (his dialogue in
Hero is dubbed) and
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) is his first English-speaking role, despite being fluent in the language. In 2023, Leung starred in the World War II spy thriller
Hidden Blade, directed by
Cheng Er, and the crime drama
The Goldfinger, along with Andy Lau
. The Goldfinger is the duo's first collaboration since
Infernal Affairs III in 2003. He also made a cameo appearance in the music video for
NewJeans's "
Cool With You". '' in the presence of Tony Leung Chiu-wai, at the
Cinéma Capitole (
Swiss Film Archive, 2026). Next, Leung made his first European film,
Silent Friend, with Hungarian filmmaker
Ildikó Enyedi. ==Personal life==