# Francis Ng

Francis Ng Chun-yu (Chinese: 吳鎮宇; pinyin: Wú Zhènyǔ; born 21 December 1961) is a Hong Kong actor and director. He is known for his roles in the TVB series Old Time Buddy (1997) and Triumph in the Skies (2003), as well as in films such as Bullets Over Summer (1999), The Mission (1999), 2000 AD (2000), Juliet in Love (2000), and Infernal Affairs II (2003).

## Early life

Ng was born in Hong Kong to a family with ancestry from Panyu, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. He is the uncle of footballer, Ng Wai Chiu.
Ng revealed in a stand-up comedy, saying that when he was a child he told his mother that his dream was to get a job that does not need any academic qualification, without a fixed working hours and high pay. Then, his mother asked him to become a beggar. So, he went to Wong Tai Sin, a famous temple in Hong Kong, to observe those beggars there. He realised that becoming beggar is too busy and need to perform manual labour, which does not suit his free and unconstrained attitude. Consequently, he gave up and decided to become a movie star because being a movie star fulfilled all the condition he requested.
During that time, the only way to become a movie star was to get into TVB Training Classes, so Ng signed up. After failing thrice entering the training classes, he eventually gave up. He went for a short period Pabbajja for seven days, shaved his head bald. After the event, he decided to try applying for the training classes again and this time he succeeded. He said in an interview that he succeeded because the interviewer thought that he Knew Shaolin Kung Fu due to his bald head.

## Television career

He graduated from TVB's training classes in 1982 along with Stephen Chow and Tony Leung. He acted in minor roles for the first few years in his television career. Until 1985, he started to involve in a great deal of TV Series, he was very outstanding in playing villainous roles in TV series such as The Price of Growing Up and The Final Combat. Later on, he played as a protagonist in situation comedies such as Everybody Loves Somebody and The Family Squad, which make him gradually disengage from being the stereotypical villain.
His contract with TVB ended in 1993 and he broke into the movie industry. In 1997, he returned to TVB to star a nostalgic comedy series Old Time Buddy with Gallen Lo, Maggie Cheung and Jessica Hsuen, which was one of the highest rating TV series that year. Later in 2003, he was invited back to TVB again to film Triumph in the Skies casting an airline pilot. He was the leading man role of the series, that series was cited as one of the best serial drama in TVB. He also involved in the sequel of the series Triumph in the Skies II which was aired on 15 July 2013.

## Film career

Ng entered the movie industry in 1986, and debuted in Midnight Girls. As a newcomer, he was only given minor roles. After becoming a freeman in 1993, he had the chance to be involved in bigger production film such as Flirting Scholar with Stephen Chow and Kung Fu Cult Master with Jet Li.
Ng's turning point in his filming career came in Young and Dangerous (1995), as villain Ugly Kwan, which was so popular that it spun an unofficial spin-off in Once Upon a Time in Triad Society (1996). His output has steadily increased since then. During 1999, he has won the Golden Horse Awards Best Actor for The Mission and the Hong Kong Film Critics Society Best Actor for Bullets Over Summer. In 2002, he also won the Hong Kong Film Awards and Golden Bauhinia Awards Best Supporting Actor for 2000 AD.
Although Hong Kong cinema encountered a downturn in the late 1990s, however Ng still put on at least 10 films per year. Ng also ventured into the arena of directing. He has directed a few movies including 9413 (1998), What is a Good Teacher (2002), Dancing Lion (2003) and Tracing Shadow (2009).
Along with Lau Ching-wan and Anthony Wong, he was named as one of the major three character actors working in the Hong Kong film industry at the 25th Hong Kong International Film Festival.

## Other performances

Other than television series and movies, Ng once was involved in stand-up comedy with Cheung Tat-ming and Dayo Wong in 1998 and 2000.
He provided the voice for Mr. Incredible/Bob Parr in the Cantonese version of Disney and Pixar's The Incredibles.

## Others

In the Greater China, the Mexican professional football goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa is often regarded as a lookalike of Francis Ng, and therefore bears the nickname "Mexican Francis Ng" (Chinese: 墨西哥吳鎮宇).

## Filmography
### Films

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1986 | Midnight Girls | | |
| 1989 | Final Run | | |
| 1989 | Proud and Confident | | |
| 1989 | Lucky Guys | | |
| 1989 | Devil Hunters | | |
| 1990 | Dragon Fighter | | |
| 1990 | Fire Phoenix | | |
| 1991 | Fatal Game | | |
| 1991 | In the Lap of God | Alex | |
| 1992 | Mighty Gambler | | |
| 1992 | Handsome Siblings | | Nominated – Hong Kong Film Award for Best Supporting Actor |
| 1993 | The Bride with White Hair | Chi Wu Shuang | |
| 1993 | Kung Fu Cult Master | Chang Tsui-San | |
| 1993 | Flirting Scholar | Member of The Four Scholars | |
| 1993 | Legal Innocence | Patrick Wong | |
| 1993 | Kidnap of Wong Chak Fai | | |
| 1994 | I Wanna Be Your Man! | | |
| 1994 | Naughty Couple | | |
| 1994 | Easy Money | | |
| 1994 | From Zero to Hero | | |
| 1994 | Reckless Barrister | | |
| 1995 | Fake Emperor | | |
| 1995 | The Golden Girls | | |
| 1995 | Those Were the Days... | | |
| 1996 | Young and Dangerous | Ugly Kwan | |
| 1996 | Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Star (Yun cai zhi li xing) | | |
| 1996 | Sexy and Dangerous | | |
| 1996 | Satan Returns | | |
| 1996 | Once Upon a Time in Triad Society | Ugly Kwan | |
| 1996 | Big Bullet | Inspector Yang | |
| 1996 | Once Upon a Time in Triad Society 2 | Diy Chai/Dagger | |
| 1996 | God of Gamblers 3: The Early Stage | Ko Ngo | |
| 1997 | A Queer Story | | |
| 1997 | All's Well, Ends Well 1997 | Lo Fei | |
| 1997 | Too Many Ways to Be No. 1 | Matt | |
| 1997 | 24 Hours Ghost Story | | |
| 1997 | 97 Aces Go Places | | |
| 1997 | Full Alert | Mak Kwan | |
| 1997 | Those were the Days | Patrick Tse Yuen | |
| 1997 | Theft Under the Sun | | |
| 1997 | Behind the Yellow Line | | |
| 1998 | Portland Street Blues | | |
| 1998 | Raped by an Angel 2: The Uniform Fan | | |
| 1998 | Till Death Do Us Part | | |
| 1998 | The Group | | |
| 1998 | Young and Dangerous: The Prequel | | |
| 1998 | Magnificent Team | | |
| 1998 | The Extra | | |
| 1998 | 9413 | | |
| 1998 | Wipe Out | | |
| 1999 | The Mission | | |
| 1999 | The H.K. Triad | Lok | |
| 1999 | Last Ghost Standing | | |
| 1999 | A Wicked Ghost | | |
| 1999 | Bullets Over Summer | | Nominated – Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor |
| 1999 | King of Debt Collecting Agent | | |
| 1999 | Gen-X Cops | | |
| 1999 | A Man Called Hero | | |
| 1999 | Ripley's Believe It or Not! | | |
| 1999 | Lord of Amusement | | |
| 1999 | Never Compromise | | |
| 2000 | 2000 AD | | Hong Kong Film Award for Best Supporting Actor |
| 2000 | Chinese Midnight Express II | | |
| 2000 | Juliet in Love | | Nominated – Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor |
| 2000 | What is a Good Teacher | | |
| 2000 | A War Named Desire | | |
| 2000 | Clean My Name, Mr. Coroner! | | |
| 2001 | Bakery Amour | | |
| 2001 | Horror Hotline... Big Head Monster | | |
| 2001 | A Gambler's Story | | |
| 2001 | Loser's Club | | |
| 2001 | Leaving in Sorrow | | |
| 2001 | Good Boys 2 | | |
| 2001 | Fall for You | | |
| 2002 | Beauty and the Breast | | |
| 2002 | Women from Mars | | |
| 2003 | Shiver | | |
| 2003 | Heroic Duo | | |
| 2003 | Colour of the Truth | | |
| 2003 | Infernal Affairs II | | Nominated – Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor |
| 2004 | Fantasia | Kin | |
| 2004 | Love Trilogy | | |
| 2004 | The White Dragon | | |
| 2005 | Crazy N' The City | | |
| 2005 | Himalaya Singh | | |
| 2005 | Hands in the Hair | | |
| 2005 | The Curse of Lola | | |
| 2005 | Teacher in University | | |
| 2006 | McDull, the Alumni | | |
| 2006 | Karmic Mahjong | | |
| 2006 | Exiled | | |
| 2006 | On the Edge | | |
| 2006 | Wo Hu | | |
| 2006 | One Last Dance | | |
| 2007 | Zhui Bu | | |
| 2007 | It's a Wonderful Life | | |
| 2007 | The Closet | | |
| 2007 | Dancing Lion | | |
| 2007 | Shamo | | |
| 2007 | Bullet and Brain | | |
| 2008 | Deadly Delicious | | |
| 2008 | Buttonman | | |
| 2009 | Tracing Shadow | Yehe Changkong | |
| 2009 | Turning Point | Zatoi | |
| 2010 | Wind Blast | | |
| 2010 | Midnight Beating | | |
| 2011 | The Warring States | | |
| 2011 | Love Never Dies | | |
| 2011 | Turning Point 2 | Fok Tin-yam | |
| 2012 | Crazy Stupid Thief | | |
| 2012 | My Way | | |
| 2012 | Passion Island | | |
| 2012 | Good-for-Nothing Heros | | |
| 2012 | Game of Assassins | | |
| 2012 | The Last Tycoon | Mau Choi | |
| 2013 | Pay Back | | |
| 2014 | The House That Never Dies | | |
| 2015 | Triumph in the Skies | Samuel Tong | |
| 2015 | Two Thumbs Up | Lucifer | |
| 2015 | Lovers and Movies | | |
| 2015 | Love Without Distance | | |
| 2015 | Sentence Me Guilty | | |
| 2016 | House of Wolves | Charlie | |
| 2016 | Line Walker | Q sir/Inspector Q | |
| 2016 | The Warriors Gate | Wizard | |
| 2016 | Girl of the House | | |
| 2017 | Shed Skin Papa | Tin Yat-hung | Nominated – Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor |
| 2017 | 77 Heartbreaks | | |
| 2017 | Goldbuster | | |
| 2018 | The Leaker | | |
| 2018 | Man on the Dragon | Chan Lung | Nominated – Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor |
| 2019 | Change of Gangster | Director | |
| 2019 | A Home with a View | | |
| 2019 | Line Walker 2: Invisible Spy | CIB Superintendent Yip | |
| 2021 | All U Need Is Love | | |
| 2021 | Once Upon a Time in Hong Kong | Lak Chui | |
| 2021 | Drifting | Fai | Nominated – Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor |
| 2022 | Septet: The Story of Hong Kong | Headmaster | |
| 2023 | Death Notice | | |
| 2023 | Death Stranding | | |
| 2024 | Crisis Negotiators | Tse Ka Chun | |
| 2024 | Customs Frontline | | |
| 2024 | A Place Called Silence | Dai Guodong | |
| 2024 | The Prosecutor | Yeung Tit-lap | |
| TBD | Under Current | | |

### Television series

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1982 | Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils | A Buddhist monk | |
| 1982 | Hương thành lãng tử 香城浪子 | | |
| 1983 | The Old Miao Myth | Guest | |
| 1983 | The Legend of the Condor Heroes | Guest | |
| 1984 | The Duke of Mount Deer | Monk | |
| 1985 | Sword Stained with Royal Blood | Luo Liru | |
| 1985 | The Possessed | | 1987 Cheng Sing-Kung 鄭成功 |
| 1989 | Deadly Secret | Man Kwai | |
| 1989 | Everybody Loves Somebody | | |
| 1989 | Mo Min Kap Sin Fung | | |
| 1990 | The Final Combat | Duen Yuk Lau | |
| 1992 | Land of the Condors 大地飛鷹 | Xiao Fong | |
| 1992 | Family Squad 卡拉屋企 | | |
| 1997 | Old Time Buddy | Tse Yuen | |
| 1998 | General Fu 福将军 | Zhou Fusheng | |
| 2003 | Triumph in the Skies | Samuel "Sam" Tong | |
| 2005 | The Great Adventure | Fan Sau-mong | |
| 2005 | Magic Chef | Cheng Fat | |
| 2008 | Healing Souls 生命有明天 | Qin Huo | |
| 2013 | Triumph in the Skies II | Samuel "Sam" Tong | |
| 2018 | The Trading Floor | Anthony Yip | |

### Variety show

| Year | English title | Chinese title | Role | Notes |
| 2021 | China in Classics | 典籍里的中国 | Sun Tzu | |