Tony Leung wins lifetime achievement award at Venice Film Festival
By Carl Samson
Hong Kong actor Tony Leung received the prestigious Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement award at the 80th Venice Film Festival on Sunday.
What he said: Leung, 61, was presented the award by Taiwanese filmmaker Ang Lee, who described him as “a director’s dream.”
In his acceptance speech, Leung expressed gratitude to his native Hong Kong and its film industry.
“I am so grateful to have been raised in Hong Kong as well as being nurtured by the Hong Kong movie industry… where my acting career began,” Leung said. He also thanked his wife, fellow actor Carina Lau, 57, and “all the wonderful people who I have worked with over the past 41 years.”
Acting career: Leung is known for his roles in films such as 1980’s “A City of Sadness,” 1994’s “Chungking Express,” 1995’s “Cyclo,” 1997’s “Happy Together,” 2000’s “In the Mood for Love,” 2007’s “Lust, Caution” and 2021’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.”
Leung has won several awards over the past four decades, including the best actor award at the Cannes Film Festival and Asian Filmmaker of the Year at the Busan International Film Festival.
What’s next: Leung will lead opposite Andy Lau in Felix Chong’s Hong Kong action crime thriller “The Goldfinger,” which premieres in December. He will also star in Hungarian director Ildikó Enyedi’s “Silent Friend,” where he will play a neuroscientist.
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