Cover Leslie Cheung on the cover of ‘Film Biweekly’ in 1997, for his role in ‘Happy Together’. (Photo: Courtesy of the Hong Kong Heritage Museum)
Leslie Cheung on the cover of ‘Film Biweekly’ in 1997, for his role in ‘Happy Together’. (Photo: Courtesy of the Hong Kong Heritage Museum)
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To mark what would have been Leslie Cheung’s milestone 70th birthday, we revisit seven crucial screen performances that cemented his legacy as a Hong Kong legend
Few figures in Asian entertainment history command the effortless charisma and enduring reverence of Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing. Affectionately remembered as Gor Gor, Cantonese for “elder brother”, the multitalented icon bridged the worlds of Canto-pop and world-class screen artistry throughout the 1980s and ’90s, and continues to cast a luminous glow over the Hong Kong’s cultural heritage.
Beyond his magnetic screen and stage presence, Cheung stood as a trailblazer of queer visibility, fearlessly—or rather, nonchalantly—living his truth during a much more conservative era. As film lovers and devotees around the world prepare to honour what would have been his milestone 70th birthday on September 12, the power of his artistic legacy feels as vital as ever.
Here are seven cinematic masterpieces that cemented Cheung as an immortal titan of Asian cinema.
Farewell My Concubine (1993)
Above Draped in Peking opera regalia, Cheung captures the tragic grace of a devout actor in the epic historical drama
Directed by Chen Kaige, whose own youth in the military deeply informed his lens on Chinese history, this historical drama adapted from Lilian Lee’s novel of the same name stars Cheung as Cheng Dieyi, a Peking opera performer raised through gruelling training to specialise in female roles. Blurring the boundaries between performance and reality, Cheng harbours a lifelong, obsessive devotion to his stage partner, Duan Xiaolou, played by Zhang Fengyi. Their dynamic is shattered when Duan marries Juxian, a headstrong courtesan played by Gong Li, sparking a bitter triangle of jealousy and heartbreak that unfolds across decades of Japanese occupation, political upheaval and the harrowing betrayals of the Cultural Revolution.
A tour de force of world cinema, the film remains the sole Chinese-language feature to capture the Palme d’Or at Cannes, alongside a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award, a Golden Globe and two Academy Award nominations. Coming shortly after Cheung publicly embraced his bisexuality in 1992, his delicate yet fierce embodiment of gender fluidity reshaped queer representation across Asia, establishing a high watermark for LGBTQ+ artistry on the global stage.
Days of Being Wild (1990)
Above Cheung exudes cool vulnerability as the restless playboy Yuddy in his first collaboration with Wong Kar-wai
In his maiden collaboration with auteur Wong Kar-wai, Cheung crafted an unforgettable persona as Yuddy, an enigmatic 1960s playboy drifting through casual affairs while nursing an aching obsession over his birth mother.
The performance earned Cheung Best Actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards, where the movie also swept Best Film and Best Director. Channeling a bruised, James Dean-esque coolness, Cheung immortalised Yuddy’s monologue about a mythical “legless bird” destined to fly until death. While Wong Kar-wai resisted reducing his work to political commentary, audiences and critics alike embraced the line as a poignant symbol of Hong Kong’s pre-1997 identity crisis.
I’ve heard that there’s a kind of bird in this world that has no legs. It can only fly and fly, and sleep in the wind when it is tired. The bird only lands once in its life... and that’s when it dies.
Happy Together (1997)
Above Cheung plays a seductively mercurial Ho Po-wing in the landmark queer romance
Also conceived by Wong, this Buenos Aires-set romance pairs Cheung with Tony Leung as Ho Po-wing and Lai Yiu-fai, a volatile couple who travel to Argentina to salvage their relationship, only to unravel after getting lost en route to the Iguazu Falls. Stranded in a foreign city, Ho reappears at Fai’s doorstep battered and bruised, uttering his irresistible, manipulative refrain, “Let’s start over”. A brief spell of tender domesticity quickly devolves into a destructive cycle of jealousy and emotional warfare, culminating in a heartbreak as vast as the falls themselves.
Cheung infused his role with raw vulnerability without sanitising or sensationalising gay romance, earning Wong Best Director at Cannes and establishing this masterpiece as a cornerstone of 1990s New Queer Cinema.
Read more: Leslie Cheung’s most famous on-screen looks: ‘Days of Being Wild’, ‘Farewell My Concubine’ and more
Rouge (1988)
Above Cheung stars opposite fellow icon Anita Mui as a wealthy playboy bound by a tragic love pact
Stanley Kwan’s haunting supernatural romance unites Cheung with his best friend and fellow music legend Anita Mui in one of Hong Kong cinema’s most celebrated pairings. Mui portrays Fleur, the ghost of a 1930s courtesan returning to modern Hong Kong to track down her aristocratic lover, Twelve Master Chan (Cheung), who failed to honour their suicide pact.
Sweeping six top honours at the Hong Kong Film Awards, the film delivers a sharp commentary on the fleeting nature of urban life and the decline of grand, romantic devotion, anchored by the irresistible chemistry of two lost cultural icons.
A Chinese Ghost Story (1987)
Above Cheung delivers an exceptional performance in this cult fantasy phenomenon as the wide-eyed, earnest scholar Ning Choi-san
Adapted from Pu Songling’s Qing-dynasty folklore collection Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, this fantasy-horror landmark stars Cheung as Ning Choi-san, an earnest tax collector who falls hopelessly in love with a mesmerising spirit (Joey Wong) bound to an evil demon.
The film quickly grew into an enormous pop-culture phenomenon across East Asia. Cheung’s innate charm and pitch-perfect comedic timing provided the emotional heartbeat necessary to ground the film’s frantic blend of high-wire swordplay, gothic horror and folklore romance.
A Better Tomorrow (1986)
Above Cheung plays Sung Tse-kit, an idealistic officer torn between duty and family
John Woo’s seminal crime drama stars Cheung alongside Chow Yun-fat and Ti Lung in the movie that arguably birthed the “heroic bloodshed” genre. Cheung delivers a striking performance as Sung Tse-kit, an idealistic police academy graduate whose world unravels upon discovering his older brother is a senior operative in a powerful triad syndicate.
Cheung’s dramatic evolution from a wide-eyed rookie to a bitter officer consumed by familial betrayal provided the essential moral centre and emotional weight that balanced the film’s explosive action choreography.
The Bride with White Hair (1993)
Above Cheung leads Ronnie Yu’s gothic ‘wuxia’ tale striking a dashing figure as swordsman Zhuo Yihang
Directed by Ronnie Yu (Fearless, Bride of Chucky, Freddy vs. Jason) and loosely based on Liang Yusheng’s wuxia (martial chivalry) novel, this lush, gothic period romance stars Cheung as Ming-dynasty swordsman Zhuo Yihang, whose passionate romance with a wolf-reared warrior, played by Brigitte Lin, collapses under tragic misunderstandings and violent retribution.
Beyond his compelling lead performance, the film showcased Cheung’s rare versatility as a complete creative artist: he composed and sang the movie’s haunting theme song, Red Cheek, White Hair, which claimed Best Original Film Song at the 30th Golden Horse Awards.
Cyril Ip is the Features Editor at Tatler Hong Kong, where he shapes digital strategy, curates long-form features and drives trending cultural coverage across multi-platform digital experiences. He writes about culture, society and self-development. Having lived and worked across Hong Kong, mainland China and the UK, he brings a multifaceted background that spans media, music and publicity—including a four-year tenure as a culture and diplomacy journalist at the South China Morning Post.
