Leslie Cheung

About

Considered one of the founders of the Cantopop music genre, this enormously popular Hong Kong pop vocalist won several Jade Solid Gold Music Awards as well as a 1999 Golden Needle Award and scored a major 1984 hit with the single "Monica."

Before Fame

Before beginning his acting career, he briefly attended the University of Leeds.

Trivia

A highly successful screen actor, he won major acting awards for his roles in the films Days of Being Wild, Ashes of Time, and Farewell My Concubine. Also a composer, he wrote theme music for the 1990s movie The Phantom Lover.

Family Life

The son of Cheung Wut Hoi, a tailor whose celebrity clients included Cary Grant and Marlon Brando, Cheung grew up in Kowloon, Hong Kong, with nine older siblings. Tragically, he committed suicide in his mid-forties.

Associated With

He and Anita Mui were both in the cast of the 1988 Hong Kong movie Rouge.