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Milestones
- 2003: Starred in title role of "Bulletproof Monk"
- 2000: Starred as Li Mu Bai, a noble and expert warrior looking for peace in his final days, in Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", a tour de force martial arts epic filmed in Mandarin dialect; subtitled for foreign audiences; debuted at Cannes
- 1999: Portrayed Siamese ruler Mongkut to Jodie Foster's English governness in "Anna and the King"; filmed in Malaysia
- 1999: Played Nick Chen, head of the NYPD's Asian gang unit, who teams with unlikely partner Mark Walhlburg, in "The Corrupter", a routine guns and mayhem picture
- 1998: First American feature, "The Replacement Killers", executive produced by Woo; acted opposite Mira Sorvino, whose fluency in Mandarin helped immeasurably as the two co-stars could converse when Chow's English failed him
- 1995: Last Hong Kong film (to date), "Peace Hotel"
- 1992: Fifth and last HK collaboration with Woo, "Hard Boiled"
- 1992: Fifth and last HK collaboration with Lam, "Full Contact"
- 1989: Starred in the popular action comedy "The God of Gamblers", which inaugurated a cycle of gambler films; reprised his role for "Return of the God of Gamblers" (1994)
- 1987: Starred as an undercover cop in the popular, influential and Hong Kong Academy Award-winning crime film, "City on Fire"; first collaboration with director Ringo Lam; starred in two thematically related sequels, "Prison on Fire" (also 1987) and "Prison on Fire II" (1991)
- 1987: In "Scared Stiff", played a true villain for the first (and, to date, the last) time in his HK film career
- 1986: Revived flagging film career and attained international superstar status as star of the landmark gangster melodrama, "A Better Tomorrow"; first collaboration with writer-director John Woo; starred in two sequels, "A Better Tomorrow II" (1987, also directed by Woo) and "A Better Tomorrow III: Love and Death in Saigon" (1989, helmed by Tsui Hark); Woo modeled Chow's fast-shooting but noble gangster on similar characters played by Alain Delon, even lifting Delon's trademark trench coat for the character, causing a run on trench coats of the same look in stores throughout Asia
- 1984: Won acclaim starring in the period dramatic feature, "Hong Kong 1941"
- 1983: Episodes of "Shanghai Bund" re-edited into two features released in January, "The Bund" and "The Bund, Part II"
- 1981: Breakthrough feature performance in "The Story of Woo Viet"
- 1980: Increased his popularity playing a white-suited 1920s crime boss in the TV series, "Shanghai Bund"
- 1976: Feature debut, "The Reincarnation"
- 1976: First film in a leading role, "Massage Girls"
- 1976: Began his 128 episode stint as the young hunk on the HK primetime soap "Hotel"
- From 1972 to 1973: Enrolled in an actor's training course at TVB, a leading HK television operation (broadcasting at home, video distribution throughout Asia) owned by the Shaw Brothers
- 1972: Suffered a serious motor bike accident
- 1972: Quit school at age 17 (date approximate)
- 1972: Answered a newspaper ad inviting people to apply for "free" acting classes
- 1967: Participated in riots as the Cultural Revolution spread to Hong Kong; transferred by his alarmed mother to a boarding school set up by the Nationalist Party Kuomintang
- 1965: At age ten, moved with family to Kowloon, a part of Hong Kong connected by land to China (date approximate)
- Renegotiated contract with TVB; stayed for an additional ten years
- Enrolled in a leftist school that promoted the teachings of Mao Tse-tung
- Arose at 4 am each morning to sell dim sum
- Started acting; signed a three-year contract with TVB for less than HK $500 per month
- At 16, worked in a factory, packing radios to ship overseas for $1.40 per day
- Worked variously as a bellboy, office boy, postman and camera salesman
- Acted in over 1,000 episodes of various soap operas
- Grew up on Lamma Island near Hong Kong (HK)
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