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He married Shu Qi, has a bromance with Daniel Wu: how Hong Kong’s Stephen Fung went from singing to performing to discovering his true calling as a director

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He married Shu Qi, has a bromance with Daniel Wu: how Hong Kong’s Stephen Fung went from singing to performing to discovering his true calling as a director


That is the nineteenth instalment in a biweekly series profiling main Hong Kong popular culture figures of latest many years.

Whereas it isn’t unusual for Hollywood actors to change into writers, producers and even administrators, the phenomenon is comparatively uncommon in Hong Kong cinema.

Stephen Fung Tak-lun is an exception. At age 49, he appears to have all of it: he has confirmed himself in numerous fields in showbiz, from performing to singing to directing, and has a loving marriage with actress Shu Qi, whom he has been associates with for 26 years.

Born in 1974 in Hong Kong, Fung is the son of Julie Sek Yin, a notable actress through the Shaw Brothers period within the Sixties. He made his performing debut at 16 after a trainer mentioned he ought to audition for the Warner Brothers’ tv movie, Forbidden Nights (1990).

Stephen Fung, pictured in 1998. Picture: SCMP

He didn’t correctly start his performing profession there, nevertheless. His dad and mom made certain schooling got here first, and Fung went to the US to check graphic design on the College of Michigan, the place he did a movie elective. Round 1995, he returned to Hong Kong.

In 1996, he shaped the Cantopop group Dry with composer Mark Lui Chung-tak. Although they gained a handful of awards, the duo break up up in 1998 after their third studio album, as each singers’ respective movie and songwriting careers had been taking off.

Ada Choi: from beauty queen to lauded actress and family woe to wedded bliss

A number of years later, Fung mentioned in an interview that there was “no setting for a wholesome music trade in Hong Kong” with style range: “Audiences right here shouldn’t have tolerance for selection. You’ll by no means have a Weapons N’ Roses or Metallica right here. It’s all mass pop for karaoke, and the vary could be very slender.”

Fung was principally solid in pretty-boy roles at the start of his profession. His first lead position was as a homosexual intercourse employee in Yonfan’s Bishonen (1998) reverse Daniel Wu Yin-cho.
In 1999, the 2 actor’s display screen careers overlapped once more once they starred with Nicholas Tse Ting-fung in Benny Chan Muk-sing’s motion comedy and box-office success Gen-X Cops.
Mark Lui (left) and Stephen Fung, of Hong Kong pop band Dry, at a efficiency in 1997. Picture: SCMP
The following 12 months, Fung returned for the sequel Gen-Y Cops. The story was set in Washington and introduced in US actor Paul Rudd, now finest identified for his position as Ant-Man. The movie was launched beneath the title Jackie Chan Presents: Metallic Mayhem on a US cable channel in 2002, though Jackie Chan doesn’t seem on this film.

Fung was not totally glad with these roles. In a 2004 interview, he mentioned he was not “that keen on” his earlier roles. Because it seems, his ardour for movie was deeper than that.

Between 2001 and 2002, Fung spent a while in Los Angeles to survey the Hollywood scene, the place he was supplied principally stereotypical East Asian roles.

Daniel Wu (left) and Stephen Fung play homosexual lovers in Bishonen (1998).
Whereas he didn’t take them, his time in LA did quantity to one thing – he acquired to fulfill the likes of director John Woo Yu-sen, motion choreographer Dion Lam Tik-on and The Matrix’s martial arts choreographer Yuen Woo-ping, and inspiration got here for his directorial debut.
Fung informed the Submit he used to edit videotapes as a child in Hong Kong and he made brief movies together with his associates whereas within the US. Within the late Nineteen Nineties, he directed music movies for Nicholas Tse, Eason Chan Yik-shun and Karen Mok Man-wai – his girlfriend on the time.

“I’m fairly nosy on set. I wish to go round and see what everyone seems to be getting as much as. So, it was a reasonably pure factor, turning into a director. That individual aspect simply type of grew,” Fung mentioned in 2005.

(From left) Stephen Fung, Sam Lee Chan-sam and Nicholas Tse Ting-fung in a nonetheless from Gen-X Cops (1999).

“The following 10 years are my golden years. I need to profit from them … I simply needed to return to the fundamentals of the outdated Hong Kong movies I grew up watching.”

Fung’s directorial debut Enter the Phoenix (2004) is a homosexual gangster comedy that includes Daniel Wu, Chapman To Man-chat and Karen Mok, with cameos by Nicholas Tse, Sammi Cheng Sau-man and Jackie Chan, who helped produce the movie. Fung additionally performed a supporting position.

“There was some extra confidence in me after my first movie,” mentioned Fung whereas making ready for his second movie, the kitschy martial arts comedy Home of Fury (2005). “Then I acquired Yuen Woo-ping concerned and that helped get me a bigger funds. Throughout a break from engaged on Kill Invoice he’d come to city and seen my first film and favored it.”

Karen Mok and Stephen Fung on the twenty fifth Hong Kong Movie Awards Presentation Ceremony in 2006. Picture: SCMP

Fung’s profession continued to diversify. In 2006, he wrote, directed and starred in Stephen’s Diary, a sitcom-format drama sequence which clocked good rankings on TVB Jade.

In 2007, he was seen assembly with Hollywood massive names for potential movie tasks – there was Tom Cruise in Berlin and Brandon Routh, the then new Superman, in Beijing.

Stephen Fung (proper), alongside actress Orla Brady, on the set of Into the Badlands. Picture: Aidan Monaghan/AMC

It was additionally the 12 months that he went by means of a serious life change, as he and Karen Mok, his girlfriend of 9 years, broke up. In response to queries, Fung mentioned: “We hadn’t been placing our relationship within the highlight after we had been relationship, why would we do it after we had been separated?”

In the meantime, his filmmaking profession continued to blossom and he directed Bounce (2009), produced by Stephen Chow Sing-chi. In 2011, he co-founded manufacturing firm Diversion Photos with shut buddy Daniel Wu.
Fung’s different movie directing efforts so far embrace Tai Chi 0 and Tai Chi Hero (each 2012), the primary two entries in a never-completed, special-effects-laden martial arts trilogy, and The Adventurers (2017), a shiny but superficial motion journey film.
Shu Qi and Stephen Fung introduced their engagement in 2016. Picture: Weibo

Round 2012, Fung quietly started relationship Shu Qi, whom he had been associates with since they met on the set of Bishonen within the late Nineteen Nineties. The superstar couple married in a small, informal ceremony in Europe in 2016 and so they have stayed low-key ever since.

In 2015, Fung labored as govt producer, director and motion director on US martial arts sequence Into the Badlands, once more starring Wu. In 2019, Fung served as govt producer on Netflix’s Wu Assassins (2019), for which he directed the primary two episodes.

Though Hollywood couldn’t present him with the suitable alternatives within the early 2000s, it seems to be like Fung cast a brand new path for himself and acquired there anyway.

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5 greatest new motion pictures to stream this weekend on Netflix, Paramount Plus, HBO Max, and extra (Oct. 4-5)

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5 greatest new motion pictures to stream this weekend on Netflix, Paramount Plus, HBO Max, and extra (Oct. 4-5)


It is lastly beginning to really feel like fall, and the best streaming services are raking within the newest must-watch motion pictures to have a good time. With so many new movies dropping this week throughout high platforms like Netflix, HBO Max, Paramount Plus, and extra, it is the proper time to curve up for a film marathon.

Since spooky season is underway, the clear headline decide this week is “Deliver Her Again” on HBO Max, a haunting new horror movie from the administrators behind 2023’s significantly chilling “Speak to Me.” In case you’re in search of laughs as a substitute of frights, Liam Neeson’s “The Bare Gun” revival lands on Paramount Plus. “Downton Abbey” followers will probably be excited on the premium streaming launch of the third and remaining film in Julian Fellowes’ aristocratic saga. Simply you’ll want to have some tissues on standby.

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Amal and George Clooney Step Out for Glam Date Evening in London at The Albies

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Amal and George Clooney Step Out for Glam Date Evening in London at The Albies



NEED TO KNOW

  • George Clooney and Amal Clooney hosted the 2025 version of The Clooney Basis For Justice’s The Albies on the Pure Historical past Museum in London on Friday, Oct. 3
  • There, the couple arrived with Hollywood glam-inspired appears
  • Amal wore a brown off-the-shoulder robe by Atelier Versace, designed by Dario Vitale

George Clooney and Amal Clooney introduced Hollywood glam to London.

The Jay Kelly star, 64, and the lawyer, 47, stepped out for the 2025 version of The Clooney Foundation For Justice‘s The Albies in London on Friday, Oct. 3. The couple arrived arm-in-arm on the Pure Historical past Museum occasion.

Amal wore an Atelier Versace robe designed by Dario Vitale. The brown off-the-shoulder ruched look featured intricate pleats at her waistline. Her refined ensemble included a small gold clutch, gold rings and gold dangle drop earrings.

The legal professional’s lengthy brown hair was styled in curls that cascaded down her shoulders. Her make-up aligned together with her impartial and gold ensemble, with a shimmery brown eye, bronzed blush and nude lip gloss.

In the meantime, the Oscar winner coordinated with a traditional Previous Hollywood look, sporting a glossy black tuxedo with black leather-based gown sneakers.

George Clooney and Amal Clooney on October 03, 2025 in London, England.

Taylor Hill/Getty Photos


The pair’s basis established the annual occasion “to shine a protecting highlight on courageous people and teams from across the globe who, at nice private threat, have devoted their lives to preventing for justice,” per the official web site.

The Albies are named after the anti-apartheid hero Justice Albie Sachs, who acquired a Lifetime Achievement in Pursuit of Justice award on the inaugural ceremony in 2022.

The 2025 honorees embrace Gambian girls’s and ladies’ rights activist Fatou Baldeh, Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora, American newspaper editor Marty Baron, philanthropist Melinda French Gates and lifelong achievement recipient Darren Walker.

George Clooney (L) and Amal Clooney on Sept. 29 in New York Metropolis.

TheStewartofNY/FilmMagic


By no means miss a narrative — join PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to remain up-to-date on the very best of what PEOPLE has to supply, from celeb information to forcing human curiosity tales. 

The couple’s London look comes days after they walked the pink carpet on the New York Movie Pageant premiere of Jay Kelly on Monday, Sept. 29.

At that occasion, Amal went flirty in a pink velvet minidress from Oscar de la Renta’s fall/winter 2025 ready-to-wear assortment. The deep pink velvet showcased her toned legs, arms and shoulders with a strapless reduce with refined ruching across the bust. The skirt of the gown was fully lined in three-dimensional, pink poppy flowers that bloomed outward to imitate actual petals.

George, in the meantime, wore a navy blue go well with with a pale blue button-down shirt and black leather-based sneakers.

George exclusively shared with PEOPLE one of many greatest classes he discovered since being along with his spouse. “The best lesson I discovered is to marry the suitable individual, which I did,” he stated. “And so, it has been nothing however an honor and a pleasure to be married to my spouse.”

The pair had been launched by a mutual pal, and commenced courting in 2013. They tied the knot on Sept. 27, 2014, in a star-studded marriage ceremony in Venice, Italy. In June 2017, the couple welcomed twins Alexander and Ella, now 8.

George additionally informed PEOPLE on the Jay Kelly premiere that he’s grateful for his household.

“I have been very fortunate to have nice household and nice associates, and my kids really like me nonetheless,” he stated. “They’re younger.”

Jay Kelly hits theaters on Nov. 14 and streams on Netflix starting Dec. 5.

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Hailee Steinfeld on Josh Allen Marriage Altering Way of life

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Hailee Steinfeld on Josh Allen Marriage Altering Way of life


Hailee Steinfeld has discovered to understand a timeout. 

The Sinners star revealed that her relationship with Josh Allen—who she tied the knot with in May following two years of courting—has taught her to get pleasure from a slower tempo of life, particularly with regards to her profession. 

In spite of everything, the Buffalo Payments quarterback’s job requires a really constant routine, whereas her performing schedule is continually altering. 

“What we do is so unpredictable, and his job is on such a strict schedule,” Hailee defined to Variety in an interview revealed Oct. 3. “So it’s truly a blessing—I attempt to set up my time so I might be the place he’s.”

And with Josh, 29, at the moment within the midst of the NFL’s 2025 common season, the Oscar nominee, 28, stated she is presently having fun with some downtime so she will cheer him on throughout his video games.

“This time of 12 months, I get to hunker down, decelerate, help him and reside life,” she continued. “When the offseason rolls round, it’s go-time for me.”

Up to now, taking time without work work wasn’t precisely an everyday incidence for Hailee. 

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