Do we like them?

Do we like Tony Leung Chiu-wai?

Our score: 8 out of 10. No harmful words or acts turned up and he has real honours to his name, but the reporting we could open was thin, so we stop short of a 9.

Tony Leung is one of the great screen faces of Hong Kong cinema. In 2023 he became the first Chinese actor to receive the Venice Film Festival's Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, with director Ang Lee handing it over. He dedicated the honour to Hong Kong's film business and accepted it with tears in his eyes.

The latest news is a festival gig. He opened his first stint as a jury president at a mainland Chinese festival in June 2026, saying he would judge with an open mind. At the press conference he talked up what human filmmakers bring, and in an AFP interview he said AI has no soul. That's a pretty relatable stance for a working actor.

The nearest thing to a stoush in recent years was none of his doing. After he won his sixth Best Actor award at the Hong Kong Film Awards in 2024, director Wong Jing questioned the win and urged him to make way for younger talent. The public reaction was mixed. It's criticism aimed at him, not something he did, so it doesn't count against him here.

In November 2025 his wife Carina Lau complained that an online store had used his photo in an ad to sell products. Again, he's the one who was wronged. Nothing in what we found shows him doing anything but getting on with the job.

On the harm check, nothing turned up: no campaigns against LGBTQ+ people, women, migrants or public health, and no slide into conspiracy theories in the reporting we found. We found no co-stars or studios that set off alarms either. The honest caveat is that a lot of the coverage we could check is about awards and film festivals, so this is a clean sheet with a thin record behind it.

The good stuff is mostly a career spent doing serious work, plus the Venice honour. He's also had a long run of well-regarded roles in Hong Kong and abroad, and he is still taking on new, risky projects this year. Would we support him? Yes, with a small note that we'd love a few more primary sources to be sure.