Kam Kwok-leung was born in Hong Kong on 3 September 1950 and became a screenwriter, director, actor and all-round media creative. He moved to Macao with his family as a teenager and returned to Hong Kong after secondary school, entering the first artiste training class co-organised by Shaw Brothers and TVB in 1971; after graduating he worked as both actor and scriptwriter. His distinctive style showed early in Tai Tai's Entourage (1974) and Two Families (1975), and he became a producer in 1976, working across youth drama such as Teens, suspense anthologies and female comedies, and from 1978 producing Between the Twins and the serial Five Easy Pieces; his 1980 production The Treasure Hunt was also a talking point of its year. He was assistant programme manager of TVB's programme division from 1981 to 1987. On film, his screen debut was the lead in Kuei Chih-hung's The Killer Snakes (1974), and that year he co-wrote a film script with Chor Yuen. From 1983 he serialised a Cantonese-language novel in Ming Pao Weekly, described as a 'paper movie novel'. In 1986 he formed a production company with Winnie Yu, making his directorial debut with Wonder Women in 1987, then writing Carry on Dancing (1988) and taking over its direction. In 1988 he helped develop satellite television and starred in The Other 1/2 & the Other 1/2, and in 1990 was executive producer of A Terracotta Warrior. In 1996 he wrote and directed a segment of 4 Faces of Eve. In 1998 he became station head of Metro Broadcast, founding its entertainment and finance channels. In 2000 he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 5th Golden Bauhinia Awards for Purple Storm. From 2007 he hosted the radio programme Kam Kwok-leung Opens the Skylight. He served as general manager of Phoenix Television and chief operating officer of Commercial Radio Hong Kong, was a strategic consultant for Asia Television in 2011, and founded Citizen K Films in 2006.
Kam Kwok-leung moved from television scriptwriting to become a cross-media creative, working across TV, film, radio, theatre and publishing, and from 1983 wrote a Cantonese-language serial novel in Ming Pao Weekly. His work on serials such as Five Easy Pieces and The Treasure Hunt shaped the style of TVB's golden-age dramas. He also spent long periods in media management, serving as station head of Metro Broadcast and general manager of Phoenix Television.
Achievements
- 1971 · Entered the first Shaw Brothers-TVB artiste training class
- 1976 · Became a television producer, working on dramas such as Teens
- 1980 · Produced the serial Five Easy Pieces and the drama The Treasure Hunt
- 1987 · Made his film directorial debut with Wonder Women
- 1998 · Became station head of Metro Broadcast, founding its entertainment and finance channels