Sean Lau was born in Hong Kong on 16 February 1964, his family from Sanshui in Guangdong. He joined Television Broadcasts' twelfth actor training class in 1983 and, after graduating, appeared in television dramas; he made his name in a 1984 series as a cool, unflappable character and rose to leading-man status, later starring in dramas such as a 1990 pair and a 1992 epic. In 1986 he took his first film role in a drama that won critical praise, but for a time he continued to focus on television. Only with a 1993 romance did he gain his first best-actor nomination at the Hong Kong Film Awards and become a sought-after film lead; between 1994 and 1995 he appeared in more than twenty films, among them a box-office comedy and three pictures with a filmmakers' company, on one of which he first worked with Johnnie To. Output slowed after 1996 but the work grew finer, from a 1996 action drama and 1997 thrillers to his role in Wai Ka-fai's directorial debut, beginning a close partnership with To and Wai that produced films such as A Hero Never Dies (1998), Running Out of Time (1999) and Mad Detective (2007). He has also turned to comedies and romantic dramas with equal success. Nominated repeatedly for his distilled acting, he has twice won best actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards, for My Name Is Fame (2006) and Overheard 3 (2014), and twice at the Golden Horse Awards, for The Victim (1999) and Life Without Principle (2011). More than three decades on he remains a top-line actor widely admired by audiences.
Known for his understated, intense performances, Sean Lau rose to the top of Hong Kong television before creating a string of Milkyway Image classics with Johnnie To and Wai Ka-fai; a two-time Hong Kong Film Award and two-time Golden Horse best actor, he is one of the few Hong Kong talents to endure at the summit across both television and film.
Achievements
- 1984 · Rose to fame playing a cool character in the 1984 television series
- 2006 · Won his first Hong Kong Film Award for best actor with My Name Is Fame
- 2014 · Won the Hong Kong Film Award for best actor again with Overheard 3