News for
Ying hung boon sik (1986) More at IMDbPro »

1 article from 2003

1 April 2003 | WENN | See recent WENN news »

Leslie Cheung, the acclaimed Cantonese actor best known for his work in Farewell My Concubine and Happy Together, committed suicide in Hong Kong by jumping from the Mandarin Oriental hotel; he was 46. Hong Kong police issued a terse statement on Tuesday, saying only that "The man was certified dead at hospital. His name is Cheung 'X' Wing and was aged 46. He left a suicide letter." An anonymous police source confirmed that it was indeed the actor, and the news was picked up by local television and radio, with a statement ultimately posted on Cheung's web site, www.lesliecheung.com. Born in Hong Kong, Cheung attended college in England before returning to his home country in 1976, where he entered an Asian music contest and won second place. A singing career and roles in teen films followed, but his career hit high speed with John Woo's A Better Tomorrow (1986), co-starring Chow Yun-Fat. Cheung's most acclaimed performance came in 1993's Farewell My Concubine, in which he starred as an opera singer involved in a love triangle set against the backdrop of 20th-century Chinese history; the film, directed by Chen Kaige, won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and received two Oscar nominations, including Best Foreign Language Film. Cheung also starred in Wong Kar-Wai's award-winning Happy Together (1997) opposite Tony Leung and Days of Being Wild for which he won Best Actor at the HK Film Festival, and had garnered acclaim for 2002's Inner Senses. The contents of Cheung's suicide letter have not been revealed. --Prepared by IMDb staff »

Permalink | Report a problem

1 article from 2003