Joe Ma Wai-ho, born on 21 February 1964, is a Hong Kong director, screenwriter and producer known for commercial romantic comedies and nicknamed the 'master of love'. At secondary school, Buddhist Sin Tak College, he was active in drama from Form 2, and in his final year he wrote and directed a stage play, Zhu Xiucai, at a drama festival, winning best director and best overall production; the judge, producer Raymond Wong, bought the rights and turned it into the Happy Ghost film series. He then studied hard, scoring two A grades and a B at A level, and read history at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He began writing film scripts in 1983 and was recruited by Clifton Ko into the creative team of D&B Films; after graduating he spent several years as an assistant creative director at Asia Television and half a year as an editor-in-chief of Japanese comics. In the late 1980s he wrote comedies such as Chicken and Duck Talk, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World and Spooky, Spooky, began directing features in the early 1990s and also produced for Blackie Ko's company, with hits including Dummy Mommy, Feel 100%, First Love Unlimited, Love Undercover, The Lion Roars and Sound of Colors; Love Undercover (2002), starring Miriam Yeung and Daniel Wu, won the audience award at the Far East Film Festival, and Sound of Colors (2003) was adapted from the picture book by Jimmy Liao. He ran his own production house, Siu Ma Gor, from 2000 to 2017 and settled in Beijing in 2008 to develop the mainland market; in recent years he has mentored younger film-makers, such as producing Sunny Chan's debut feature Men on the Dragon.
Through romantic comedies such as Feel 100% and Love Undercover, Ma established a template for Hong Kong commercial cinema in the late 1990s and 2000s, and he promoted younger directors through production work.
Achievements
- 1983 · Began writing film scripts and was recruited by Clifton Ko into D&B Films' creative team
- 1996 · Directed the romantic comedy Feel 100%
- 2002 · Directed Love Undercover, which won the audience award at the Far East Film Festival
- 2000 · Founded his own production house, Siu Ma Gor, which he ran until 2017