Do we like Chow Yun-fat?
Our score: 8 out of 10. Nothing harmful found in decades of coverage, a public pledge to give his fortune away, and one big political stand; the record on LGBTQ+ and climate issues is simply blank.
Chow grew up in a farming community on Lamma Island, Hong Kong, and left school at 17 to help support his family. He worked as a bellboy, factory hand, taxi driver and postman before TVB's artist training programme picked him up in 1973. His first taste of performance was Cantonese opera staged by oil lamplight on the island.
The road up wasn't smooth. He became a TV name in the late 1970s, then flopped hard enough in early films to be called "box-office poison". Then A Better Tomorrow, City on Fire and God of Gamblers made him a superstar. He moved to Los Angeles in 1993, had a patchy Hollywood run, and broke through with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and later Pirates of the Caribbean.
As scandals go, the cupboard is bare. The closest thing is a May 2025 video of him on a Shanghai beach, where some online viewers called his smile for fans fake while others defended him. That's about the whole list: no court losses or credible allegations turned up in our searches.
On the harm check, his own words are on the right side. In 2014 he told Apple Daily that “there was no need for any violence or tear gas” at the Hong Kong protests, and reports said pro-protest artists were then blacklisted on the mainland. In 2023 he spoke openly about mainland censorship at Busan while avoiding naming anyone. We found nothing from him on LGBTQ+ people or climate either way, so that part is a gap, not a pass earned by words.
His recent work is mainstream and unremarkable. He is back on screen in Cold War 1994, a Hong Kong crime-thriller prequel. At 70 he said the thing he's happiest about is being able to pass the legacy on to the younger cast.
The good stuff is the best part. In a 2018 interview he said the money “isn't something you possess forever” and that he would leave it to others, and he vowed to give his fortune to charity after his death. Profiles say he still rides the MTR and buses and happily takes selfies with strangers. In 2023 Busan named him Asian Filmmaker of the Year.