Louis Koo

One of Hong Kong’s most loved actors, Louis Koo is both a commercial and a critical favourite—and in 2022, he hit even greater heights with Warriors of Future, of which he is both star and producer, and which became the highest-grossing Chinese film ever in Hong Kong.

After running into trouble during his years as a teenage tearaway, the perma-tanned star cleaned up his act and started acting in dramas for TVB in the 1990s, before concentrating on film from the turn of the millennium onwards. He has been particularly associated with director Johnnie To, starring as a washed-up former judo champion in Throwdown (2004), and as a gangster in Election (2005), Election 2 (2006) and Drug War (2012). Among his other most notable roles have been as a drug addict in Protégé (2007); as a troubled police officer Overheard (2009); and again as a police officer, this time with revenge on his mind, in Paradox (2017), which won him several best actor awards.

In recent years he has also moved behind the scenes with film production company One Cool Group, which was formed in 2013 and has since produced more than 20 films; and Cool Style, its partnership with Media Asia, launched in 2021. His low-key charity work has seen him fund the construction of numerous schools, medical clinics and water supply projects in impoverished areas of China, something that only emerged when recipients found each other on social media. He is also a Unicef ambassador.

In 2023, Koo was honoured with the Extraordinary Star Asia Award at the New York Asian Film Festival for his exceptional contributions to Asian cinema, where he also presented the North American premieres of his productions, Vital Signs and The White Storm 3: Heaven or Hell.