Leung often collaborates with director Wong Kar-wai and has appeared in many of his films. His most notable roles include the lonely policeman in "Chungking Express" (1994), a gay Chinese expatriate living in Argentina in "Happy Together" (1997), and a self-controlled victim of adultery in "In the Mood for Love" (2000) for which he won the Best Actor award at Cannes. He trained in wing chun for five years to prepare for his role as Ip Man in Wong's "The Grandmaster." He is considered by many to be one of the finest actors of his generation in Hong Kong. Robert De Niro and Brad Pitt are admirers of his work, and Leung has been labeled by The Times as Asia's answer to Clark Gable due to their romantic leading roles. Leung has also been compared to other stars and was said to be much bigger than these Hollywood actors combined in Asian cinema, thereby making the analogies unavailing. One of the reasons for the lack of any definable analogy was due to Leung's subtle intensity in a plethora of versatile performances on screen that established his reputation internationally.