Danny Ko Lam-pau is a Hong Kong producer and director in film and television, and a member of the Hong Kong Film Directors' Guild. He attended Tsuen Wan Government Technical School and joined the Tsuen Wan Youth Theatre at fourteen, taking part in both the performance and backstage sides of large stage productions; as a youth he was mentored by the drama teacher Leung Si-kit and later served as chairman of the Tsuen Wan Youth Theatre. As a student he won a best actor prize at the third Tsuen Wan Drama Competition in 1979, alongside contestants such as Ko Sin-ming and Yau Fuk-hing; in 1981 he took a merit award in the secondary school section of the Urban Council Drama Festival, where the actor Yuen Sai-sang was also a contestant. He joined Asia Television as an assistant director in 1986 and was promoted to director in 1989; in 1992 he became a director and assistant administration chief at Wing Shing Video Entertainment, and in 1993 joined Bo Ho Film Production. In 1994 he made his feature debut with a crime film. His 1995 feature February 30 was a recommended film of the second Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards, won the Most Creative Film prize at the first Golden Bauhinia Awards and was chosen for a 1995 Hong Kong retrospective at the 1996 Hong Kong International Film Festival. From 1997 he worked in mainland China on series including The Legend of the Juvenile Justice Bao, The Journey of Flower and Wu Xin: The Monster Killer; his serial about the young monk won Best Co-production at the 1999 China TV Golden Eagle Awards, and he produced and directed The Torrent to the Sea and Geda the Living Buddha for CCTV. He co-directed Painted Skin with Gordon Chan in 2008 and Mural in 2011. In 2015 he was named among China's most influential television directors, and in 2020–2021 he completed a master's degree in film, television and digital media at Hong Kong Baptist University.
From a Tsuen Wan theatre group to the director's chair, Ko drew the attention of the Hong Kong Film Critics Society and the Golden Bauhinia Awards with the experimental February 30; from 1997 he moved into mainland television, carrying Hong Kong production methods into large series such as The Legend of the Juvenile Justice Bao and The Journey of Flower, becoming a regular director of cross-border co-productions.
Achievements
- 1994 · Directed his first feature film
- 1995 · February 30 won the Most Creative Film prize at the first Golden Bauhinia Awards and was a recommended film of the Hong Kong Film Critics Society
- 2008 · Co-directed the film Painted Skin with Gordon Chan