From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dicky Cheung Wai Kin (simplified Chinese: 张卫健; traditional Chinese: 張衛健; pinyin: Zhāng Wèijiàn), born on 8 February 1965) is a Hong Kong television actor/singer.

Career

He entered show business in the early 1980s, signing a contract with television station TVB. He won the 3rd annual New Talent Singing Awards in 1984. Up until the mid 90's, Dicky struggled for many years working as a low-paid actor, singer, and appeared occasionally in films. It wasn't until his brilliant portrayal of the Monkey King character in the 1996 TVB adaptation of the classical Chinese novel Journey to the West that his popularity began to skyrocket. A sequel to the TV adaptation was planned, but due to a contract dispute with TVB, Cheung left before production began. Benny Chan Ho Man took over the role of the Monkey King in the sequel. Cheung then went abroad to Taiwan to continue his career.

He appeared in many Taiwanese television productions since then, but none were groundbreaking. In 1999, TVB's rival station ATV acquired the Hong Kong broadcasting rights to his Taiwanese television series Young Hero Fong Sai Yuk. Cheung played Fong Sai Yuk, a character also portrayed by Jet Li in his film Fong Sai Yuk. To everyone's surprise, the show was an instant hit in Hong Kong, and managed to gain much higher ratings than TVB's own television series. Ironically enough, the TVB series showing at that time was Dragon Love, starring Benny Chan Ho Man, who replaced Cheung in the Journey to the West sequel, Journey to the West II. Recently Dickey starred in his first HK martial arts movie, Champions.

Personal life

Dicky Cheung is married to Zhang Qian who gave birth to a daughter. In that year, he said he would like to eventually leave the acting business and seriously consider doing something more meaningful in life such as volunteering to give back to the society.

Notable roles

Cheung has starred in many Hong Kong-Taiwanese television productions, enjoying both success in Taiwan as well as Hong Kong. The three most notable are:

Journey to the West

Dicky's most notable performance that made him famous was his brilliant portrayal of the Monkey King in the 1996 TVB adaptation of the classic Chinese tale Journey to the West. As well as being the lead character, Dicky also sang the theme tune as well as many other songs throughout the series. This series was very popular during its run on TVB Jade, it was even dubbed in to English and broadcast on TVB Pearl, the only TVB series to receive this treatment to date. Dicky was also due to play the Monkey King in the sequal however due to a dispute regarding the contract, the role was given to Benny Chan Ho Man.

Duke of Mount Deer 2000

Yet another TV adaptation of Louis Cha's Wuxia novel The Deer and the Cauldron. Cheung played the anti-hero Wai Siu-Bo, a character previously portrayed by Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Stephen Chow and Jordan Chan in many television and film adaptations.

The Monkey King: Quest for the Sutra

In 2001, Andy Lau's NMG production company produced another television adaptation of Journey to the West. Cheung was given a chance to once again portray the role that made him a household name. The series was broadcast in 2002 on TVB. Although it received high ratings, many felt it was not as good as the 1996 version.

Filmography

TV series

• Shi Da Qi Yuan (2008)
• Champions (2008)
• The Kung Fu Master Wong Fei Hung (2008)
• Project A (2007)
• Ayo (2007)
• The Proud Twins (2005)
• Magic Chef (2005)
• Hero / Tian Xia Di Yi / Number One in The world (2005)
• The Luckiest Man (2005)
• The Legend Of The Treasure Basin (2004)
• Kung Fu Soccer (2004)
• Smart Kid (2003)
• Taiji Prodigy (2003)
• The Monkey King: Quest for the Sutra (2002)
• Mr. Winner (2002)
• Chess Warriors (2001)
• Chor Lau Heung 2001 (2001)
• Duke of Mount Deer 2000 (2000)
• Young Hero Fong Sai-Yuk (1999)
• Swordman I (1999)
• Happy Flying Dragon (1997)
• Journey to the West (1996) - Sun Wukong
• The Buddy Gang (1995)
• The Kung Fu Scholar (1994) - Lun Man Chui (Cantonese)
• My Hero 2 (1993)
• Edge of Righteousness (1992)
• Wong Fei Hung Returns (1992)
• Mystery of the Twin Swords II (1992)
• Mystery of the Twin Swords (1991)
• The little boy from China (1991)
• The Legend of the Book and the Sword (1987)

External links

• JayneStars.com - English translated news about Dicky Cheung
• Dicky.cn (Chinese)