One of Hong Kong’s most loved acting talents for several decades, Carina Lau has also established herself as a player in various sectors of the luxury industry. Born in Suzhou in the mid-1960s, she moved to Hong Kong as a child, and started her acting career working for Hong Kong TV station TVB in 1983. After getting good reviews in various series, she really hit the big time in 1989 with epic family saga Looking Back in Anger.

Around the same time she moved onto films. In addition to forming a long-standing association with Hong Kong’s leading cinematic auteur Wong Kar-wai, appearing in films such as Days of Being Wild (1991), Ashes of Time (1994) and 2046 (2004), she has also starred in the two Infernal Affairs prequel-sequels (2003); as actor Li Lili in Center Stage (1991); as a courtesan in Flowers of Shanghai (1998); and as Empress Wu Zetian in Tsui Hark’s Detective Dee films. Over the years she has won best actress awards at the Hong Kong Film Award and Golden Rooster Awards, and been nominated at the Cannes Film Festival and Golden Horse Awards.

She is married to legendary actor Tony Leung, with whom she has been in a relationship since 1989, after the couple first appeared on TV together in 1984. A patron of many charities, she is also in demand among brands, becoming the first ever global face of legendary skincare brand Erno Laszlo. She even launched her own wine brand in China in 2015.