Waise Lee Chi Hung was born in Hong Kong on 19 December 1959, with ancestral roots in Chaozhou, Guangdong, and grew up in Tsung Tsin San Tsuen in Yuen Long, one of nine children whose father ran a small store. After leaving Ki San Middle School in 1977 he worked as a warehouse clerk, a bank trainee and a teller, then joined the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department, where he inspected cargo at the Kwai Chung container terminal, checked government records and tracked suspects. Encouraged by colleagues, he enrolled in Television Broadcasts' eleventh actor-training class in 1982 alongside Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Francis Ng and Bobby Au-yeung, but instead of signing with the station he passed the civil service exam for the Immigration Department, working days and studying at night. In 1985 a former classmate introduced him to Tsui Hark's Film Workshop, where he was spotted while shooting a rice commercial. In 1986 he played Tam Shing, the scheming underling who betrays his own boss, in John Woo's A Better Tomorrow, building a villainous image and earning nominations for best supporting actor and best newcomer at the 6th Hong Kong Film Awards as well as a Golden Horse nomination; he quit the civil service and signed with Film Workshop. He went on to play antagonists in A Chinese Ghost Story II, To Be Number One and Four Detectives, and took leading roles in City Cop, Bullet in the Head and The Cat. In 1989 he accepted a per-series contract with Television Broadcasts, becoming familiar to viewers in the sitcom Home at Hong Kong, the period drama The Condor Heroes as Luk Chin-yuen, Cold Blood Warm Heart and Twin of Brothers. After filming A Step into the Past in 2001 he moved to the mainland, settling in Beijing in 2007 and appearing in mainland series such as All Men Are Brothers while continuing in Hong Kong films such as Cold War II and Colour of the Game. He returned to Television Broadcasts as a freelance actor in 2013. Beginning as a villain yet equally convincing as a hero, he has moved between film and television for decades and remains a familiar face to Hong Kong audiences.
Waise Lee made his name as the treacherous Tam Shing in A Better Tomorrow, fixing a screen image as a cunning villain and becoming one of the emblematic supporting players of 1980s Hong Kong gangster cinema. He later moved between television and the mainland market, and proved equally capable in heroic roles.
Achievements
- 1982 · Enrolled in Television Broadcasts' eleventh actor-training class alongside Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Francis Ng and others
- 1986 · Played Tam Shing in A Better Tomorrow, earning best supporting actor and best newcomer nominations at the Hong Kong Film Awards
- 2013 · Returned to Television Broadcasts as a freelance actor, appearing in the drama Black Heart White Soul