Leslie Cheung

After a five-year self-imposed absence from the industry, Leslie Cheung reasserted his standing among Hong Kong’s foremost talents. The recordings that followed his 1995 return featured the chart-topping comeback album Love Leslie together with Printemps (“Spring”), his inaugural album recorded entirely in Mandarin. His screen career proved equally formidable, encompassing roles in Shanghai Grand, Tri-Star, Who’s The Woman, Who’s The Man, Farewell My Concubine, Nomad, A Better Tomorrow I & II, Chinese Ghost Story I & II, Rouge, Days Of Being Wild, and Viva Erotica. He took a prominent part in Temptress Moon, selected by Time Magazine among the outstanding films of 1996, yet his depiction of a Chinese communist in the 1998 release A Time to Remember provoked widespread debate. Turning increasingly toward direction, he shared a best-director prize at the Cannes Film Festival for co-directing Happy Together in 1997 and helmed his debut feature, The Kid, two years later.

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Cheung completed secondary schooling in England. After one year studying textile management at Leeds University, he withdrew to launch a singing career. He placed first runner-up in an Asian song contest performing Don McLean’s “American Pie,” then issued his debut album, The Wind Blows On, in 1981. Contracting as an actor with Rediffusion TV (now Asia Television), he sustained both professions until declaring “retirement” in the early 1990s. Relocating to Canada, he kept a minimal public profile throughout the subsequent five years. On the infrequent occasions he reappeared, he was persuaded to take part in Farewell My Concubine and was honored as “most popular Hong Kong star” at the Tokyo Film Awards; he also featured in the martial-arts picture Ashes Of Time. In 2001 he received the Golden Needle award at the RTHK Music Awards, regarded as Hong Kong’s equivalent of the Grammys.

In April 2003, at the age of 46, Cheung took his own life.