Andy Lau Tak-wah
Dr Andy Lau Tak-wah
Doctor of Letters, honoris causa (2026)
He might be best known as an entertainment superstar. But Dr Andy Lau Tak-wah is also a rags-to-riches story, the local boy made good who exemplifies the opportunities our city can offer to those who are willing and able. He is the stuff of legend and a household name, “Wah Jai” to many.
Born the fourth child to a family of six siblings in Tai Po, his parents moved to Diamond Hill to give the children a better chance in education. Those were the years when Diamond Hill was a shanty town. Dr Lau saw their family home burn to the ground when he was 11. Those tough years also gave Dr Lau his first encounter with the film industry. He would deliver food from a store his dad worked at to Kin Shing Film Studio. There he saw the beginnings of the Hong Kong movie industry……low budget films that told Hong Kong stories often with the same rotation of local movie stars.
Dr Lau’s own acting career began when he enrolled in the tenth TVB Artiste Training Programme in 1981. This was a cradle of stars in Hong Kong at the time. Dr Lau’s talent was recognised even before he graduated. His first leading role came when he was just 20 years old, playing a police officer in The Emissary. Those were the days when a good TV drama could get people to go home early just to park themselves in front of the TV to catch up on the drama. And that’s pretty much how Dr Lau shot to instant fame. The following year, he played the lead again, this time in the martial arts love story, The Return of the Condor Heroes. Those flips through the air while professing his love to the leading lady made Dr Lau the local heart throb.
His career as a singer also took off in the early 80s. His first album Just Know I Only Love You was released in 1985. Since then, he has released over 100 albums in Cantonese and in Putonghua. He has sold more than 48 million albums. One of them, Forget Love Potion, sold 3.8 million copies in Asia alone. This turned Dr Lau from a Hong Kong household name into an international star.
If we are to list the music awards Dr Lau has received, we would be here for a few hours. He has pretty much won every single one of those in Hong Kong. In fact, he holds the Guinness World Records for the “Most Awards Won by a Cantopop Male Artist” in 2000. To date, he won close to 500 music awards. His songs are heard not only across China, but across the entire Chinese diaspora worldwide. Now that is influence, before anyone had even heard of the word “influencer”.
The talented Dr Lau constantly challenges himself. He played increasingly complex characters in his films. In A Simple Life, he was the caring Roger who repays kindness shown to him by his childhood nanny. In Infernal Affairs, he was the villain pretending to be a good cop facing off against the good cop pretending to be the villain. He did wushu (Chinese martial arts) in House of Flying Daggers, Muay Thai in A Fighter’s Blue, and wore a fat suit in “Love on a Diet”. He has appeared in over 160 films. His versatility as an actor is simply endless. He has won three Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Actor and two Golden Horse Awards for Best Leading Actor.
In 1991, Dr Lau started his own production company, Teamwork Motion Pictures (later renamed to Focus Group Holdings Limited). They saw movies through a uniquely Hong Kong lens, from the romantic fantasy modern wuxia film Saviour of the Soul and the touching romance in Days of Tomorrow, to the struggling youth in Made in Hong Kong and the shady characters in The Longest Summer. These films were made in the back alleys of Mong Kok, the narrow streets of Tai Po. The characters cycled through Tiu Keng Leng, ate at dai pai dong (open-air food stall), and travelled through Wan Chai on the tram. They are vehicles of Hong Kong culture and Dr Lau made it happen. Once he himself had risen to fame, Dr Lau gave opportunities to countless other local talents. His most important role in the movie industry is perhaps being an ambassador of Hong Kong culture.
He gives back not just through the movie industry, but also through the Andy Lau Charity Foundation. The many donations have benefitted natural disaster relief around China and around the world. Those include earthquake relief around China, India and Japan. He gave not just money, but in some cases, through fundraising performances. He has also appeared in promotional videos for charitable causes, such as AIDS prevention. In education, Dr Lau has given generously to children in impoverished areas around China. People with disabilities is of particular concern to Dr Lau. In 2007, he funded and appeared in the music video Everyone is No. 1 as encouragement for disabled people. He currently serves as the Vice-President of the Sports Association for the Physically Disabled of Hong Kong, China.
Dr Lau’s dedication to public service and philanthropy is a model for society. He firmly believes that “with great power comes great responsibility”. His longstanding social contributions have earned him recognition both internationally and locally. He was named one of the “Ten Outstanding Young Persons of Hong Kong” in 1999 and “Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World” in 2000, and was awarded the “World Outstanding Chinese Award” in 2010. For his contributions to Hong Kong, Dr Lau has been appointed as a Justice of the Peace by the Government of the HKSAR and has been awarded the Medal of Honour, the Bronze Bauhinia Star, and the Silver Bauhinia Star.
How would Dr Lau answer the question “What is art?” Is it the expression of complex feelings, in his case through film and music, to the audience so they can empathise? Is it because he sang our blues as well as our joy through years of change? In this uncertain age of artificial intelligence, one thing seems sure: AI can never “be” Dr Lau because it cannot take the role of his humanity, his talent and the emotional connections he has woven through Chinese communities through his art.
Dr Lau actually does not need more awards or titles. He probably does not have any more shelf space at home to keep them. So it is truly our honour here at HKBU today to award Dr Andy Lau Tak-wah the degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa.