31 Facts About Tsui Hark

Tsui Hark, born Tsui Man-kong, is a Hong Kong filmmaker.

Amid the Hong Kong handover, Tsui Hark briefly pursued a career in the United States, directing the Jean-Claude Van Damme-led films Double Team and Knock Off, before returning to Hong Kong.

Tsui Hark was born and raised in Saigon, Vietnam, to a large Chinese family with sixteen siblings.

Tsui Hark drew comic books, an interest that would influence his cinematic style.

Tsui Hark started his secondary education in Hong Kong in 1966.

Tsui Hark proceeded to study film in Texas, first at Southern Methodist University and then at the University of Texas at Austin, graduating in 1975.

Tsui Hark worked as an editor for a Chinese newspaper, developed a community theatre group and worked in a Chinese cable TV station.

Tsui Hark returned to Hong Kong in 1977 and worked for TVB, the dominant local television station, then moved to its rival, CTV, lured by its general manager Selina Chow.

Tsui Hark's second film, We're Going to Eat You, was a blend of cannibal horror, black comedy and martial arts.

Tsui Hark was quickly typed as a member of Hong Kong's "New Wave" of directors.

Tsui Hark's third film, Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind, was a nihilistic thriller about delinquent youths on a bombing spree.

Tsui Hark played his part in the process with pictures like the crime farce All the Wrong Clues, his first hit, and Aces Go Places 3, part of the studio's long-running spy spoof series.

In 1983, Tsui Hark directed the wuxia fantasy film Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain for the studio Golden Harvest.

Tsui Hark imported Hollywood technicians to help create special effects whose number and complexity were unprecedented in Chinese-language cinema.

In 1984, Tsui Hark formed the production company Film Workshop with Nansun Shi.

Tsui Hark developed a reputation as a hands-on and even intrusive producer of other directors' work, fuelled by public breaks with major filmmakers like John Woo and King Hu.

Tsui Hark produced John Woo's A Better Tomorrow, which launched a craze for Heroic bloodshed movies, and Ching Siu-tung's A Chinese Ghost Story, which did the same for period ghost fantasies.

Tsui Hark often resurrects and revises classic films and genres: the murder mystery in The Butterfly Murders ; the Shanghai musical comedy in Shanghai Blues.

Tsui Hark made frequent cameo appearances in his own productions, such as a music judge in A Better Tomorrow and a phony FBI agent in Aces Go Places II.

Tsui Hark returned to directing at home in 2000 after not having made a local film since 1996.

Tsui Hark continues to push technical boundaries and revise old favourites.

In 2005, Tsui Hark launched the multimedia production Seven Swords, a film adaptation of Liang Yusheng's novels Saiwai Qixia Zhuan and Qijian Xia Tianshan.

The film was relatively successful, and in February 2006 Tsui Hark announced plans to begin filming the second late in the year.

Tsui Hark directed the 2008 thriller Missing starring Angelica Lee and the 2008 romantic comedy film All About Women featuring comic graphics and extensive ADR dubbing.

In 2011 Huayi Brothers announced that Tsui Hark will be making a prequel to Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame; shot in 3-D, it was released in 2013 as Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon.

In October 2011, Tsui Hark received the Asian Filmmaker of the Year Award at the 16th Busan International Film Festival for his contributions to Hong Kong cinema.

Tsui Hark is the fifth Chinese filmmaker to receive this award at Busan.

Tsui Hark worked on a film with Milkyway Image alongside Ann Hui, Ringo Lam, Patrick Tam, Johnnie To, Sammo Hung and Yuen Woo-Ping.

In 2021 Tsui Hark co-directed The Battle at Lake Changjin with Chen Kaige and Dante Lam.

Tsui Hark was briefly married during his time studying in the US in the 1970s.

In 2008, Tsui Hark was reported to have been living with Seven Swords actress Chen Jiajia in Beijing.