Philip Chan Yan-kin was born in Hong Kong on 25 January 1945, his family coming from Xinhui in Guangdong, and has worked as an actor, screenwriter, director and producer after beginning his career as a police officer. At school he played in a band, the Astro-notes, as its lead vocalist. He joined the police force in 1965 as an inspector and in 1975 was promoted to divisional commander of the Criminal Investigation Department, serving in Kowloon City and Mong Kok. While still in the force he was invited to act as a story consultant on a film dealing with an armoured-van robbery in Hong Kong, which first brought him into contact with the film world. In 1975 he was asked to help write the crime film Jumping Ash, which he co-wrote with Josephine Siao; directed by Leong Po-chih and Josephine Siao and released in 1976, the film took more than a million Hong Kong dollars in its first three days and is regarded as a forerunner of the Hong Kong New Wave. Urged on by the investor Yip Chi-ming, he then resigned from the police force and turned to film planning, and he also supplied information for the TVB series CID in 1976. In 1979 he co-directed Cops and Robbers with Dennis Yu, his first time in the director's chair. In 1984 he wrote the screenplay of Johnny Mak's Long Arm of the Law, earning nominations for Best Screenplay at the 4th Hong Kong Film Awards and Best Original Screenplay at the 21st Golden Horse Awards. In 1986 he directed Chocolate Inspector, starring Michael Hui, and co-wrote the script with him. Between 1976 and 1990 he directed fourteen films. Also a familiar screen actor in police and villain roles, he spent over fifteen years as a master of ceremonies for TVB's large-scale shows. He has been named permanent honorary president of the Hong Kong Film Directors' Guild and has served as a vice-chairman of the Hong Kong Film Awards, chairman of the Hong Kong Film Industry Association, and chief executive of a promotions company. In December 2017 he gave his first solo concert.
Philip Chan moved from the police force into films, and his police background gave his crime writing unusual solidity; Jumping Ash, which he co-wrote with Josephine Siao, is seen as a forerunner of the Hong Kong New Wave, and his script for Long Arm of the Law earned Hong Kong Film Awards and Golden Horse nominations. He directed fourteen films between 1976 and 1990, acted in police and villain roles, and long held industry posts with the Film Directors' Guild and the Film Awards.
Achievements
- 1976 · Co-wrote Jumping Ash with Josephine Siao, a film regarded as a forerunner of the Hong Kong New Wave
- 1979 · Co-directed Cops and Robbers with Dennis Yu, his directorial debut
- 1984 · Earned Hong Kong Film Awards and Golden Horse screenplay nominations for Long Arm of the Law
- 1986 · Directed Chocolate Inspector, co-writing the script with Michael Hui