Chang Yang was born Zhao Huachang in Tianjin in 1930 to a family from Nanhai, Guangdong. He studied in Tianjin and then in Beijing, reading economics at Fu Jen Catholic University and China University; after a year he left for Taiwan via Hong Kong in 1951, staying nine months in Taipei before returning to the territory to work as an accountant at a trading company a friend had opened. In 1953 he joined Shaw and Sons as a contract player under the stage name Chang Yang, making his debut opposite Lucilla You Min in Black Gloves (1953) and appearing in such films as The Fragrant Bird (1954). He moved to the Motion Picture and General Investment company (MP&GI, or Cathay) in 1956, his first picture there being The Young Amorous, and in 1958 Hong Wa opposite Linda Lin Dai established him as a leading man. Handsome and urbane, he was well suited to contemporary roles, and his Cathay period produced such hits as The Battle of Love (1957), The Wild, Wild Rose (1960) and Sun, Moon and Star (1961), the second starring him with Grace Chang and becoming a studio classic. He usually played upright, honest characters with small flaws, giving the screen's Prince Charming a human touch, and in 1969 he won best actor at the Asian-Pacific Film Festival. After remarrying in 1966 he worked increasingly in Taiwan and began directing, including two comedies co-helmed with Lo Wei, the 1974 Hu Tu Fu Xing and the 1975 Ah Niu Chu Yu Ji. He retired from acting in 1975 and emigrated to the United States to go into business, rarely returning to the film world. He and Chao Lei and Lei Chen were among Cathay's foremost leading men of the day, and he was one of the northern-born film people who became part of the Hong Kong film world.
Chang Yang was a leading man of Cathay in the 1950s and 1960s, and his contemporary dramas with stars such as Grace Chang and Linda Lin Dai shaped the image of the urban male in postwar Mandarin cinema, while his career traced Cathay's rise and decline and the absorption of northern-born film people into Hong Kong's industry.
Achievements
- 1953 · Joined Shaw and Sons under the name Chang Yang, debuting opposite Lucilla You Min in Black Gloves
- 1958 · Established himself as a Cathay leading man with Hong Wa opposite Linda Lin Dai
- 1969 · Won best actor at the Asian-Pacific Film Festival