Anthony Chan Yau, born Chan Chi-to on 1 October 1952 with roots in Xinhui, Guangdong, is a Hong Kong actor, director and musician. In 1969 he formed the band The Losers with Alan Tam and others, and in 1973 the band was reshaped with him as drummer of The Wynners alongside Alan Tam, Kenny Bee, Bennett Pang and Danny Yip, the five becoming known as the 'Wynners Five'; the band announced a break-up in 1978, its members going solo but agreeing to reunite and release a record every five years. In 1975 he appeared in his first film, Let's Rock. From the 1980s he moved to the big screen, appearing in Behind the Yellow Line (1984), Mr. Vampire (1985) and Mr. Vampire II (1988) and becoming a familiar face of Hong Kong's vampire-film boom; in 1985 he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 4th Hong Kong Film Awards for Behind the Yellow Line. In 1986 he formed the Two Friends Film Company with the director Cheung Kin-ting, specialising in low-budget middle-class comedies such as Let's Make Laugh and The Two Wives. A co-founder of a film production company, he directed The Two Wives (1987), The Two Husbands and A Fishy Story (1989), for which leading actress Maggie Cheung won Best Actress at the 9th Hong Kong Film Awards and he himself was nominated for Best Director, and in 1990 he wrote, directed and starred in Stephen Chow's When Fortune Smiles. Besides acting and directing he contributed to film planning, providing the story for Her Fatal Ways. In 1993 he went to the mainland to develop advertising and television, founding City Television with offices in Guangzhou and Beijing, and stepped back from film for a time; the Wynners announced a comeback at the end of 2006 and held concerts. In 2013 he starred in Juno Mak's Rigor Mortis, earning a Best Supporting Actor nomination at the 33rd Hong Kong Film Awards. He has also hosted television and radio programmes, his comedy noted for its natural, everyday rhythm, spanning music and film for over half a century.
Moving from a pop band's drummer to actor and director, Anthony Chan is one of the five members of The Wynners. A regular presence in the 1980s vampire-film boom, he returned in Rigor Mortis (2013) to pay tribute to Hong Kong vampire cinema and earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination, spanning music and film for over half a century.
Achievements
- 1973 · Became the drummer of The Wynners
- 1989 · Directed A Fishy Story, for which Maggie Cheung won Best Actress at the Hong Kong Film Awards
- 2013 · Starred in Rigor Mortis, nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 33rd Hong Kong Film Awards