Linda Kuk Mei-lai was born in Hong Kong in 1954 to a Shandong family. She majored in English and translation at the University of Hong Kong, graduating in 1976, and then joined RTV as an assistant director, first working on the variety show Saturday Night Live before being promoted to director of programmes such as Owl's Hour and the information shows New Look at Home and Anecdotes of Yesteryear. She also directed episodes of the long serial Crocodile Tears (1978), working alongside Nansun Shi, who handled administration at the station. In the early 1980s Shi invited her to join Cinema City, where she took charge of administration and human resources. Her television experience and strong English led to her serving as producer of A Chinese Detective (1984), travelling to Britain for the shoot, and assisting on the Spanish production of All the Wrong Spies (1983), marking her move into production. In 1985 she joined the expanding D & B Films in an administrative producer role, closely monitoring schedules and controlling budgets. She worked on major productions, coordinating Yes, Madam (1985), Royal Warriors (1986) and Eastern Condors (1987), and coordinating and producing Legacy of Rage (1986). Films by the directing trio of Clifton Ko, Ronny Yu and Alfred Cheung were produced by her, among them The Family Strikes Back (1986), Dream Lovers (1986), It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World (1987) and The Happy Bigamist (1987), and she coordinated the acclaimed An Autumn's Tale (1987). She took a break from film after marrying in late 1987, then formed Ko Pung with Amy Chin and Barry Wong, releasing The Fun, the Luck and the Tycoon (1988) and presenting Clifton Ko's I Am Not Underage (1989). In the early 1990s she co-founded Milestone Pictures with John Woo and Terence Chang, producing Once a Thief (1991), Love on Delivery (1992) and Hard Boiled (1992), and was administrative producer on Big Bullet (1996); meanwhile she and Chang set up East Asia Films, making Treasure Hunt (1994). Leaving the industry in the mid-1990s to raise her family, she later devoted herself to charity, helping leukaemia patients and people with schizophrenia. Her brother Clifton Ko and niece Louise Kuk are also film figures. She died in Hong Kong in 2026.
Moving from television directing into film administration, Linda Kuk coordinated the making of Yes, Madam and An Autumn's Tale at D & B, then co-founded Milestone Pictures and produced Once a Thief and Hard Boiled. She was one of the few women in the 1980s and 1990s to run both production and administration on Hong Kong features.
Achievements
- 1985 · Joined D & B Films as an administrative producer, coordinating films such as Yes, Madam.
- 1987 · Coordinated An Autumn's Tale, and took a break from film after marrying that year.
- 1991 · Co-founded Milestone Pictures with John Woo and Terence Chang, producing Once a Thief.