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Maggie Cheung
張曼玉
Cheung in 2007
Born	Cheung Man-yuk Margaret (1964-09-20) 20 September 1964 (age 60) British Hong Kong
Alma mater	St. Paul's Primary Catholic School, Happy Valley St Edmund's School, Canterbury University of Edinburgh (Honorary Ph.D)
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1984–2004 2009–2013
Spouse	Olivier Assayas ​ ​(m. 1998; div. 2001)​
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	張曼玉
Simplified Chinese	张曼玉
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhāng Mànyù Wu Shanghainese Romanization Tsan Mae-nyoh Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Zoeng1 Maan6 Juk2

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's Miss 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 the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress 5 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 the Golden Horse Award for Best Leading Actress in Taiwan, having won 4 times. In the West, she was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Actress at Berlin International Film Festival in 1992 and Best Actress at Cannes Film Festival in 2004. In 2004, she became the first Asian actress to be nominated for the French César Award for Best Actress.

Her most acclaimed performances include As Tears Go By, Center Stage, Green Snake, Irma Vep, Comrades: Almost a Love Story, The Soong Sisters, Hero and Clean. The Wong Kar-wai–directed In the Mood for Love (2000), in which she plays a cheongsam-wearing character opposite male lead Tony Leung, is a classic in both the film and fashion worlds.

Early life and education

Maggie Cheung was born in Hong Kong on 20 September 1964 to Shanghainese parents. She attended St. Paul's Primary Catholic School in Happy 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 in Bromley, 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 the Lane Crawford department store.

In 1983, Cheung entered the Miss Hong Kong pageant and won the first runner-up and the Miss Photogenic award as well. She was a semi-finalist in the Miss World pageant 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 a polyglot as a result of her upbringing in Hong Kong and England and ten years' stay in Paris. In Center Stage, Cheung performed in Cantonese, Mandarin, and Shanghainese fluently, switching languages with ease. In Clean, she performed in fluent English, French, and Cantonese.

Career

Soon after her debut, Cheung broke into the film industry, starring in comedies. She caught the attention of Jackie Chan, who cast her in Police 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 of Barbara Yung who was in the midst of filming Battlefield, and The Feud That Never Was a.k.a. Kings of Ideas (橋王之王), Yung's remaining scenes were assigned to Cheung, and Cheung's role was given to Sheren 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 when Wong Kar-wai cast her in As 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 the Golden Horse Award and Hong Kong Film Award for her work in Full Moon in New York and A Fishy Story respectively. In 1991, she became the first Chinese performer to win a Best Actress Award at the prestigious Berlin Film Festival for her work in Center Stage.

Cheung subsequently proved her versatility with roles in action films. Her performance in the sci-fi martial arts smash hit The 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 in New Dragon Gate Inn (1992).

After taking a break in 1994, Cheung returned to film Olivier 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 film Comrades: 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 in Wayne Wang's Chinese Box (1997). Cast as a mysterious young woman named Jean, Cheung held her own alongside the more internationally well-established stars, Jeremy Irons and Gong Li.

After her 1998 marriage with Olivier Assayas, Cheung stayed mainly in France. She returned to Hong Kong to film In the Mood for Love (2000), which won critical acclaim and a second Taiwanese Golden Horse award for Cheung. Thereafter, she starred in Zhang Yimou's Hero (2002) and Wong's 2046 (2004). She won the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival for her role as a mother who tries to kick her drug habit and reconcile with her long-lost son in Clean (2004).

Cheung was a jury member at the 1997 Berlin Film Festival, the 1999 Venice Film Festival, the 2004 Hawaii International Film Festival, the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, and the 2010 Marrakech 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 Times rated Cheung as one of the 22 Great Performers in 2006 for her Cannes winning role as Emily in Clean. 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 film Ten Thousand Waves (2010) by British filmmaker and installation artist Isaac Julien.

As UK's Independent puts 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 a doctor honoris causa at the University of Edinburgh. Cheung retired from acting in 2013 and has since kept a low profile.

Cheung has provided celebrity endorsement for Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group.

Post-retirement

In May 2014, Cheung performed at the 2014 Shanghai Strawberry Music Festival. In June 2019, during a guest appearance on Mango TV reality show Master in the House [zh] in which she mentored boyband Next, 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 film Cities 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 new Gucci store at The Landmark in Hong Kong.

Personal life

In 1983, shortly after entering the entertainment industry, Cheung began a relationship and moved in with a designer, Eric. During their relationship, Eric’s ex-girlfriend publicly accused Cheung of “stealing her boyfriend.” The relationship lasted for two years, after which she started an on-and-off relationship with Korean hairstylist Mark Kim for two years. In 1987, Cheung met and began a relationship with Hong Kong actor and director Derek Yee. The following year, she starred in The Bachelor’s Swan Song, directed by Yee. They broke up after three years. In 1991, while filming Alan and Eric: Between Hello and Goodbye in the United States, Cheung had a brief one-month relationship with the film’s production designer, Hank. Following their breakup, Hank shared their love letters to a tabloid magazine. In 1993, Cheung began a relationship with real estate businessman Sung Hok-kei, until they broke up in 1995. That same year, Cheung dated hairstylist Steve Cheung. The two broke up before Maggie’s move to Paris.

In 1997, Cheung started a relationship with French director Olivier Assayas. In February 1999, during the launch ceremony of In the Mood for Love, Cheung announced that the couple had registered their marriage in Paris. However, they divorced in May 2002.

In 2003, Cheung was reported to be dating Guillaume Brochard, the CEO of Ebel. The relationship ended in 2007. Later in 2007, Cheung began dating German architect Ole Scheeren. On June 1, 2012, Cheung confirmed that they had broken up.

Filmography

Awards

Wins

Nominations

See also

• Cinema of Hong Kong

References

1. "Style File: Maggie Cheung".
2. ^ "Maggie Cheung: The Lady Is A Vamp". The Independent. 5 October 2011.
3. "Miss Hong Kong 1983". misshkbeauties.com. Retrieved 18 September 2010.
4. "Miss World Previous Title Holders - 1983". missworld.tv.
5. ^ "Hong Kong Actress Maggie Cheung". China.org.cn.
6. ^ "Maggie Cheung: A Multi Award-Winning Actress from Hong Kong". Women of China.
7. "《岁月风云》热播 邓萃雯回首过去体味人生(图)". Sohu. Xinhua News. 8 July 2007. Archived from the original on 27 January 2024. 入行时，TVB最红的花旦是翁美玲和张曼玉，我拍《薛仁贵》时，翁美玲还在，怎知到我拍第二套戏，她已经过了身，她不在，公司很焦急，原本为她度身订造的角色，落在张曼玉身上，而我，又顶了张曼玉原来的角色，之后我有份演出的都是做女主角。配角，应该未做过。
8. Rockwell, John (25 February 1992). "'Grand Canyon' Wins The First Prize at Berlin Festival". The New York Times.
9. "Maggie Cheung Snatches Best Actress Award at Cannes". Sina.
10. "Annual Archives - Juries". berlinale.de. Retrieved 18 September 2010.
11. "Juries 2007". festival-cannes.fr. Archived from the original on 3 December 2010. Retrieved 18 September 2010.
12. "Jury 2010". festivalmarrakech.info. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 4 July 2011.
13. Hirschberg, Lynn (11 February 2007). "Great Performers". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 3 November 2012. Retrieved 18 September 2010.
14. ^ Flynn, Bob (10 April 2007). "Maggie Cheung : Why the Asian Star is turning her back on film". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 6 December 2007.
15. Gritten, David (6 October 2010). "Maggie Cheung returns in Ten Thousand Waves". The Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
16. "Maggie Cheung appointed UNICEF Ambassador in China". Unicef.
17. "Honorary degree for Maggie Cheung". Archived from the original on 26 July 2014. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
18. "Maggie Cheung Gets Unfairly Slammed by Netizens After Someone Posts This Photo of Her".
19. Wolfgang Schaefer and JP Kuehlwein, Rethinking Prestige Branding, Kogan Page, 2015, p92.
20. 唱歌被稱車禍現場！張曼玉：「為甚麼因為你們幾句話，我就不再唱歌。」 [Singing was called the scene of a car accident! Maggie Cheung: "Why do I stop singing because of a few words from you?"]. Yahoo News Hong Kong (in Chinese). 14 June 2019. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
21. "Low voice, flat pitch: Actress Maggie Cheung slammed for her singing". The Straits Times. 7 May 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
22. "Maggie Cheung releases song from new film". chinaculture.org. 14 August 2015. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
23. Xiao Yang (10 August 2015). 張曼玉首次為電影做歌 其聲音曾被評"被上帝拋棄" [Maggie Cheung composed a song for a movie for the first time, and her voice was once criticized as "abandoned by God"]. People's Daily (in Chinese). Retrieved 24 February 2023.
24. Lim Ruey Yan (26 June 2022). "Hong Kong actress Maggie Cheung turns DJ in surprise appearance". The Straits Times. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
25. "张曼玉与男友5年情终 情路坎坷30年9段情遭揭(图)-中新网". www.chinanews.com.cn. Archived from the original on 10 April 2024. Retrieved 18 March 2024. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
26. "张曼玉，铁打的爱流水的情". 環球人物. Archived from the original on 18 March 2024. Retrieved 18 March 2024. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
27. "CCTV-张曼玉曼妙情史". ent.cctv.com. Retrieved 11 December 2024.
28. "Maggie Cheung Okays with 'Basterds' Cut". China Daily. 22 May 2009. Retrieved 22 May 2009.
29. Okamura, Keiko. "Isaac Julien: Ten Thousand Waves". Flash Art.
30. "Maggie Cheung". IMDb. Retrieved 8 April 2010.
31. "Maggie Cheung". chinesemov.com. Retrieved 8 April 2010.

External links

• Maggie Cheung at IMDb

• Hong Kong
• Film
• Biography

• 1964 births
• Living people
• 20th-century British actresses
• 20th-century Hong Kong actresses
• 21st-century British actresses
• 21st-century Hong Kong actresses
• Actors from the London Borough of Bromley
• Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress winners
• British film actresses
• British television actresses
• Hong Kong beauty pageant winners
• Hong Kong emigrants to the United Kingdom
• Hong Kong film actresses
• Hong Kong television actresses
• Miss World 1983 delegates
• Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom
• People educated at St Edmund's School Canterbury
• People from Bromley
• Silver Bear for Best Actress winners
• UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors
• Alumni of the University of Edinburgh