Andy Lau

Born: September 27 1961
Where: Tai Po, Hong Kong

A pop and film star venerated in his own country, he is probably best known to Western audiences for the thriller Infernal Affairs.

The movie, which he directed and also starred in, was picked up by Martin Scorcese for an American version.

So popular in Asia he has his own museum in Hong Kong, hee began his career as a TV star but as a singer became one of Hong Kong's so-called Four Kings of Pop.

He has released more than a dozen hit albums in Mandarin and Cantonese and has won four Most Popular Singer Awards in Hong Kong and seven Most Popular SingerAwards in Taiwan.

As an actor, he starred in over 75 feature films and became well recognized as Chow Yun Fat's sidekick in several box office hits.

He has been nominated for Hong Kong's Best Actor Award, for Boat People, Full Throttle and Lee Rock.

Infernal Affairs, which he directed with Alan Mak, swept the board at the 22nd Hong Kong Film Awards, landing best film and best cinematography award.