Interview with Stephen Chow

CJ7 is the fifth feature directed by Stephen Chow, Asia's number one comedy star and one the region's most beloved entertainers. His previous feature Kung Fu Hustle was the second highest grossing film in Hong Kong history after Titanic. Chow made his directorial debut with God of Cookery in 1996 followed by The King of Comedy in 1999, both of which he also wrote and starred in. In 2001 Show directed, wrote, and starred in Shaolin Soccer. He went on to win seven major awards at the Hong Kong Film Awards, including Best Actor, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Sound Design and Best Visual Effects.

A native of Hong Kong, Stephen Chow was one of the three children in what he describes as a "very poor family." He grew up as a Bruce Lee fan and a martial arts fanatic, but he remembers that as a child his own kung fu training had to stop after six weeks when his family could no longer afford lessons. Chow started his entertainment career as the host of a TV children's show, 430 Space Shuttle. He quickly made a name for himself with his witty ...

CJ7 is the fifth feature directed by Stephen Chow, Asia's number one comedy star and one the region's most beloved entertainers. His previous feature Kung Fu Hustle was the second highest grossing film in Hong Kong history after Titanic. Chow made his directorial debut with God of Cookery in 1996 followed by The King of Comedy in 1999, both of which he also wrote and starred in. In 2001 Show directed, wrote, and starred in Shaolin Soccer. He went on to win seven major awards at the Hong Kong Film Awards, including Best Actor, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Sound Design and Best Visual Effects.

A native of Hong Kong, Stephen Chow was one of the three children in what he describes as a "very poor family." He grew up as a Bruce Lee fan and a martial arts fanatic, but he remembers that as a child his own kung fu training had to stop after six weeks when his family could no longer afford lessons. Chow started his entertainment career as the host of a TV children's show, 430 Space Shuttle. He quickly made a name for himself with his witty style, but it was not until 1989 that he began acting in films.

In 1989, in the movie Final Justice, he played a supporting role, which won him the best supporting actor award at the Taipei Golden Horse Awards and established him in the Hong Kong film world. The key turning point in his career came only a year later, when he had his first starring role in the 1990 Chow Yun-Fat spoof All for the Winner. In this movie, Chow's unique and hilarious onscreen persona - playing his first in a series of lovable underdogs - made him a overnight sensation in Hong Kong and throughout Asia. Asian film observers also say that in that film Chow gave birth to the "Mo Lei Tau" (nonsense) comedy style, now considered a fully established genre of Hong Kong comedy.

Since All for the Winner, Chow has gradually but firmly established himself as Hong Kong's comedy king. Among his 50 some movies, Justice My Foot won him the best actor award at the 1992 Asian Pacific Film Awards, and A Chinese Odyssey won him the best actor award at the 1996 Hong Kong Critics Society Awards as well as the Hong Kong Golden Bauhinia Film Awards.

With God of Cookery in 1996, his first directorial effort, which he also wrote and produced, in addition to starring, Chow entered a new era of his film career, in which his full talents as a filmmaker began to blossom. After the huge success of God of Cookery he made King of Comedy in 1999, which he also wrote, starred in, and directed. A charming story about a movie extra meeting the star of his dreams, King of Comedy earned Chow lavish praise from American writer-director-actor Quentin Tarantino, who describes Chow as the best actor in Hong Kong.

Stephen Chow's Star Overseas recently produced by the feature Jump starring Kitty Zhang, directed by Stephen Fung, part of a new multi-feature collaboration between Star Overseas and Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia, under which Sony Pictures Releasing International will distribute the features worldwide.

Stephen Chow will next produce the major live-action feature film version of the hugely popular Japanese Manga comic feature Dragonball.