EMILY CHEUNG OPERA SINGER TRIAL

The following year proved to be a significant one, as Cheung starred not only in the equally popular A Better Tomorrow 2, but in Stanley Kwan's supernatural romantic drama Rouge (alongside Anita Mui) and Tsui Hark's A Chinese Ghost Story. The film, with its stylish direction and blood-soaked themes of brotherhood and honor was hugely successful, and started a new trend of Hong Kong gangster and action cinema. One of his most notable appearances during this period was in Patrick Tam's Nomad, which won him a Best Actor nomination and which he himself considered to be his first proper film.Ĭheung's film career began in earnest in 1986, when he was cast opposite Chow Yun Fat in John Woo's masterpiece A Better Tomorrow. This helped him to achieve leading man status, though initially he starred mainly in teen comedies such as the Shaw Brothers' Teenage Dreamers and Behind the Yellow Line.

EMILY CHEUNG OPERA SINGER TRIAL

Slowly but surely, Cheung gained ground in the film industry, with supporting roles in Encore in 1980 and On Trial in 1981, for which he received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards. Cheung's musical career continued to flourish with albums such as For Your Love Only and Love in Those Days, both of which contained several Top Ten Gold Songs. His star continued to rise with the 1984 release of the song 'Monica', which won the RTHK Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Award and ushered in a new era of fast-moving dance music.

It was then that he met his long time friend Anita Mui, a fellow singer and actress, with whom he would later star in several famous films. In 1982, Cheung joined Capital Artists, releasing his first hit album, The Wind Blows On, which helped establish him as one of the leaders of the new breed of Cantopop singers. Cheung's film career got off to a similarly undistinguished start in 1978 with The Erotic Dream of the Red Chamber, an obscure piece of soft pornography whose sexual content he later claimed not to have been aware of at the time. Unfortunately, the public proved difficult to win over, and both releases, along with his early attempts at touring were unpopular. This led to numerous television appearances and the signing of a contract with Polydor Records, with whom he released the albums Day Dreaming and Lover's Arrow in 19 respectively. It was in 1976 that Cheung got his big break in the entertainment industry, winning second prize in the ATV Asian Music Contest. Cheung stayed on in England to study textile management at Leeds University, though returned to Hong Kong after his father fell ill. It was during this time that he took the name 'Leslie', apparently as he liked the fact that it was unisex, suiting both men and women. After his parents divorced, a 15-year-old Cheung was sent to a boarding school in Norwich, England, where he worked at his relatives' restaurant between studies. His was not a happy childhood, being raised largely by his grandmother and the family maid, with his parents constantly arguing on the rare occasions when they were together. He was exposed to the film industry at an early age by his father, who worked as a tailor for the likes of Cary Grant and William Holden. Leslie Cheung was born Cheung Fat Chung on Septemin Hong Kong, the youngest of ten children. Known to his fans as 'Gor Gor' (literally meaning 'elder brother'), Cheung was a respected performer of diverse talents, whose charismatic personality is sorely missed in a modern industry overpopulated with vacuous, mass-marketed teen stars. Equally loved as an actor and singer, he featured in many of the iconic films of the Hong Kong golden age of the mid 1980s - mid 1990s as well as releasing a staggering list of best selling hit songs. As his continued popularity after his tragic death proves, Leslie Cheung is one of the few stars to truly achieve immortality.

Emily cheung opera singer