Maggie Cheung

Margaret Cheung Man-yuk(Chinese:張曼玉;pinyin:Zhāng Mànyù; born 20 September 1964) is a former Hong Kong actress. Raised in Hong Kong and Britain, she started her career after placing second in 1983'sMiss Hong Kong Pageant. She achieved critical success in the late 1980s and into the early 2000s, before taking a break from acting following her last starring role in 2004. She rarely makes public appearances except for fashion events and award ceremonies.
Cheung has won numerous accolades at home and abroad for her acting. She won theHong Kong Film Award for Best Actress5 times in the span of 11 years from 1990 to 2001, and holds the record for most wins in that category. She also holds the record for most wins for theGolden Horse Award for Best Leading Actressin Taiwan, having won 4 times. In the West, she was awarded theSilver Bear for Best ActressatBerlin International Film Festivalin 1992 andBest ActressatCannes Film Festivalin 2004. In 2004, she became the first Asian actress to be nominated for the FrenchCésar Award for Best Actress.
Her most acclaimed performances includeAs Tears Go By,Center Stage,Green Snake,Irma Vep,Comrades: Almost a Love Story,The Soong Sisters,HeroandClean. TheWong Kar-wai–directedIn the Mood for Love(2000), in which she plays acheongsam-wearing character opposite male leadTony Leung, is a classic in both the film and fashion worlds.
Maggie Cheung was born in Hong Kong on 20 September 1964 toShanghaineseparents.She attended St. Paul's Primary Catholic School inHappy Valley, where she began at the primary one level. Her family emigrated from Hong Kong to the United Kingdom when she was eight. She spent part of her childhood and adolescence inBromley, London, and attended St Edmund's School, Canterbury. She returned to Hong Kong at the age of 18 in 1982 for a vacation but ended up staying for modelling assignments and other commitments. She also briefly had a sales job at theLane Crawforddepartment store.
In 1983, Cheung entered theMiss Hong Kong pageantand won the first runner-up and the Miss Photogenic award as well.She was a semi-finalist in theMiss Worldpageant the same year.After two years as a TV presenter, it led to a contract with TVB (the television arm of the Shaw Bros. Studio).
Cheung is apolyglotas a result of her upbringing in Hong Kong and England and ten years' stay in Paris. InCenter Stage, Cheung performed inCantonese,Mandarin, andShanghainesefluently, switching languages with ease. InClean, she performed in fluent English, French, and Cantonese.
Soon after her debut, Cheung broke into the film industry, starring in comedies. She caught the attention ofJackie Chan, who cast her inPolice Story(1985) as May, his long-suffering girlfriend. The film was a huge hit and made Cheung a star overnight.Cheung was slated to star in TVB's "The Legend of the General Who Never Was", but due to the death ofBarbara Yungwho was in the midst of filmingBattlefield, andThe Feud That Never Wasa.k.a.Kings of Ideas(橋王之王), Yung's remaining scenes were assigned to Cheung, and Cheung's role was given toSheren Tang.
Despite her success, Cheung found herself typecast in the roles of comics or weak, clumsy women. Realizing this, Cheung wanted to break away by seeking more dramatic roles. She got this opportunity whenWong Kar-waicast her inAs Tears Go By(1988), her first of many collaborations with Wong.Cheung often cites the film as the piece that truly began her serious acting career, and she won critical praise for it. In 1989, she won Best Actress awards at theGolden Horse AwardandHong Kong Film Awardfor her work inFull Moon in New YorkandA Fishy Storyrespectively.In 1991, she became the first Chinese performer to win a Best Actress Award at the prestigiousBerlin Film Festivalfor her work inCenter Stage.
Cheung subsequently proved her versatility with roles in action films. Her performance in the sci-fi martial arts smash hitThe Heroic Trio(1992) and its sequel,Executioners(1993), impressed both critics and audiences with her martial arts skills.Also in a departure from her usual roles, Cheung played a beautiful and vicious femme fatale inNew Dragon Gate Inn(1992).
After taking a break in 1994, Cheung returned to filmOlivier Assayas'Irma Vep(1996), which helped her break into the international scene.That same year, she won further acclaim for her work in the romantic filmComrades: Almost a Love Story, in which she played one of a pair of lovers kept apart for ten years by fate and circumstance. The following year, she made her first English-language film inWayne Wang'sChinese Box(1997). Cast as a mysterious young woman named Jean, Cheung held her own alongside the more internationally well-established stars,Jeremy IronsandGong Li.
After her 1998 marriage to Olivier Assayas, Cheung stayed mainly in France. She returned to Hong Kong to filmIn the Mood for Love(2000), which won critical acclaim and a second Taiwanese Golden Horse award for Cheung.Thereafter, she starred inZhang Yimou'sHero(2002) and Wong's2046(2004).She won the Best Actress award at theCannes Film Festivalfor her role as a mother who tries to kick her drug habit and reconcile with her long-lost son inClean(2004).
Cheung was a jury member at the1997 Berlin Film Festival,the 1999Venice Film Festival, the 2004Hawaii International Film Festival, the 2007Cannes Film Festival,and the 2010Marrakech International Film Festival.And for the first time in its history, the 59th Cannes Film Festival (2006) used a photographic image of a real actress on its poster – that of Cheung.
On 7 February 2007,The New York Timesrated Cheung as one of the 22 Great Performers in 2006 for herCanneswinning role as Emily inClean.After 25 years of making movies, she decided to retire from acting to pursue a career as a film composer. She had mentioned she would like to compose music and paint after having fulfilled her acting potential.Her last film appearance was as Mazu, Chinese goddess of the sea, in the filmTen Thousand Waves(2010) by British filmmaker and installation artistIsaac Julien.
As UK'sIndependentputs it, since her Cannes moment in 2004, Cheung "turned her back on film"and has shifted her focus to philanthropy, making music, and editing. In April 2010, Cheung was appointed as UNICEF's Ambassador to China.In July 2011, she was awarded adoctorhonoris causaat theUniversity of Edinburgh.Cheung retired from acting in 2013 and has since kept a low profile.
Cheung has providedcelebrity endorsementforMandarin Oriental Hotel Group.
In May 2014, Cheung performed at the 2014 Shanghai Strawberry Music Festival. In June 2019, during a guest appearance onMango TVreality showMaster in the House[zh]in which she mentored boybandNext, Cheung spoke frankly about her 2014 performance's poor reception.
In 2015, Cheung composed and performed the theme song "If You Were Gone" (Chinese:如果沒了你) for the anthology filmCities in Love.According to producer Gu Xiaodong, Cheung dedicated almost half a year to producing the song.In June 2022, Cheung performed a DJ set at the grand opening of a newGuccistore atThe Landmarkin Hong Kong.
Cheung married French directorOlivier Assayasin 1998; they divorced in 2001.She began a relationship with German architectOle Scheerenin 2007.The relationship ended in 2011.
In 2020, the Singaporean publicationTodaywrote that Cheung had no plans to return to acting, instead devoting her time to fashion, music, and producing and editing films.