Po-Chih Leong

He began his career as a trainee film editor at the BBC before joining TVB in 1967, where he set up its film unit in British Hong Kong.

• Name — Po-Chih Leong • Born — 31 December 1939 • Birthplace — Northampton, Northamptonshire, England • Education — * University of Exeter • London Film School • Native Name — 梁普智 • Other Names — Leung Po-Chi, Po-Chick Leong, Leong Po-Chih, Pochih Leung, Po-Chih Leong • Occupation — Film director, television director, screenwriter • Spouse — Mary Leong • Relatives — Po Shun Leong (brother) Sze Tsung Leong (nephew) Po-Chih Leong (born 31 December 1939) is a British and Hong Kong filmmaker. He was a figure in the Hong Kong New Wave, and was nominated for a Hong Kong Film Award for Best Director for the war drama film Hong Kong 1941 (1984). He has also directed films in Britain and the United States. He began his career as a trainee film editor at the BBC before joining TVB in 1967, where he set up its film unit in British Hong Kong.

On 31 December 1939, Leong was born in Northampton to parents from Taishan, Guangdong. His father was a seaman who opened a Chinese restaurant in London's West End. Leong has two siblings; his younger brother is sculptor Po Shun Leong, and his nephew is photographer Sze Tsung Leong. Leong attended Leighton Park School. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the University of Exeter and studied at the London Film School.

Leong began his career as a trainee film editor at the BBC. Leong worked on a variety of productions, including the long-running series Panorama. In 1967, Leong joined TVB and set up its film unit in British Hong Kong. As an executive producer he also directed a number of entertainment programmes, including The Star Show. He left TVB in 1969 to form Adpower, one of the first commercial production companies in Hong Kong. In 1976, Leong co-directed his first Hong Kong film Jumping Ash, an action film set in a drug underworld, where he also appeared in this film as Tiger's man. It was one of the two top-grossing films of the season. At the 23rd Hong Kong Film Festival, it was described as "the advance guard of the (Hong Kong) New Wave". He went on to direct a range of genres from drama to action movies, comedies, horror and satire, in both English and Chinese. Banana Cop (1984) was the story of a British–Chinese policeman who returns to Hong Kong to seek help with a case. It was the genesis for his first British film Ping Pong (1986), made for UK's Channel 4, the first English feature film set in Soho's Chinatown. After Banana Cop, Leong turned to history for inspiration and made the award-winning movie Hong Kong 1941 (1984), starring Chow Yun Fat, set in Hong Kong during the early days of the Japanese invasion. Hong Kong 1941 was an oblique comment on the 1984 deal between Britain and China about Hong Kong's future. Leong and his film maker daughter, Sze Wing Leong, directed and filmed the effect of this deal up to and beyond the handover in Riding the Tiger (1997-1998), an eight part, observational documentary series for the UK's Channel 4. Further pursuing his interest in history, Leong made a Hong Kong English-language movie, Shanghai 1920 (HK, 1990), set in Shanghai and starring John Lone, about the rise of the legendary Shanghai gangster Big-Eared Du. His second British feature film, was the award-winning 1998 movie, The Wisdom of Crocodiles, starring Jude Law, Timothy Spall, and Kerry Fox, with notable references to Akira Kurosawas opus, especially Rashomon, and to Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samouraï. In recent years Leong has made action films starring Steven Seagal, Wesley Snipes, Judd Nelson, Joe Mantegna, and Oscar-winning Marcia Gay Harden. He has directed films for US network television and AMC. In 2012, he reunited with Hong Kong producer Raymond Wong Bak Ming to direct the 3D movie, Baby Blues.

Leong is married to Mary Leong. His son James Leong is also a filmmaker.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1976 — Jumping Ash — Tiger's man • 1980 — Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind — Head Interpol Officer • 1985 — The Island — Tang San • 1986 — Peking Opera Blues — Mr. Kam • 2014 — Camera — Ming's father • 2015 — Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong — Cab driver

• Year — Title — Notes • 1997-98 — Riding the Tiger — Documentary series; 4 episodes • 2000 — Cabin by the Lake — TV movie • The Darkling — TV movie • 2001 — Return to Cabin by the Lake — TV movie • 2001 — Wolf Lake — Episode: "Excitable Boy" • 2001 — Night Visions — Episode: "If a Tree Falls..." • 2001 — Spenser: Walking Shadow — TV movie