Louis Koo

Louis Koo
Background information
Chinese name	古天樂 (traditional)
Chinese name	古天乐 (simplified)
Pinyin	Gǔ Tiānlè (Mandarin)
Jyutping	Gu2 Tin1-lok6 (Cantonese)
Born	(1970-10-21) 21 October 1970 Hong Kong
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1994 - present
Ancestry	Zhongshan, Guangdong, China
Website	http://www.kootinlok.com/blog
Awards TVB Anniversary Awards Best Actor 1999 Detective Investigation Files IV 2001 A Step into the Past My Favourite Television Character 2000 At the Threshold of an Era 2001 A Step into the Past

Louis Koo (Koo Tin-lok 古天樂; born 21 October 1970) is a Hong Kong film actor. He began his professional career as an actor in local television series, winning TVB's Best Actor award in 1999 and 2001. For the past decade, he has focused primarily on his film career. Koo has become one of the stalwarts of the Hong Kong film industry,^[1][2] and is a popular spokesman for various brands including Pepsi, Osim, Tag Heuer, Lotte, Zero Eyewear, Lay's, and Samsung Galaxy.

Koo is the highest earning actor in Hong Kong with 236 million HKD (30.4 million USD) in 2013,^[3] 2014 with 300 million HKD (38.6 million USD) and 2015 with 400 million HKD (51.8 million USD).^[4]

Career

Koo left school after completing his secondary education.^[5] He worked in a modelling agency before he was approached to model for advertisements and karaoke videos. He then signed as a contract artist with TVB in 1993. During the period when he was under contract with TVB, he starred in many television dramas, movies and commercials. Koo started gaining recognition in 1995 with his leading role in The Condor Heroes 95, a popular series based on a classic wuxia novel. In 1997, Koo began sporting an extreme tan (for which he is well known for), which apparently enabled him to take on more contemporary roles. He also began taking on roles in films such as the paranormal Troublesome Night series, romantic film Sealed with a Kiss as well as action films such as The Suspect. In 1999, Koo received TVB's Most Popular Male Artist Award for Detective Investigation Files IV. In 2001, Koo was given the award once again for A Step into the Past and also the Most Stylish Personality Award and Men of Power 2001. He then went on an indefinite hiatus from television and has since focused on his film career.

Koo is known for many of his TVB television dramas, most notably The Condor Heroes 95 (1995); Detective Investigation Files IV (1999); At the Threshold of an Era ll (2000) and A Step into the Past (2001). Due to the popularity of TVB dramas in the late 1990s, Koo amassed a sizeable fan base in Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, South-east Asia and North America. While he had often been cast in cool, aloof characters, he took a different approach to his role in A Step Into the Past. This deviation from his usual aloof on-screen persona to a funnier, carefree and down-to-earth one resonated with the audience and widened his acting range, leading to many offers to star in romantic comedies. He began acting in a number of romantic comedies immediately after his departure from TVB, opposite actresses such as Gigi Leung, Cecilia Cheung, Sammi Cheng and Miriam Yeung.

In 2004, Koo took on the role of Sze-to Bo, a perpetually drunk and despondent former judo champion, in Johnnie To’s Throw Down; the movie was a marked departure from his usual commercial genres. He also began his long-term collaboration with To and Milkyway Image. Koo later received international acclaim^[6] for his chilling performance in Election 2 (aka Triad Election), which was screened during the Out of Competition section at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.

By the mid-2000s, Louis Koo has become a widely known film actor in Greater China, often playing supporting roles to the biggest film stars in China. Koo played Octopus in Benny Chan's film Robin B Hood (2006) along with Jackie Chan. He had also worked with Donnie Yen in Wilson Yip's Flash Point (2007).

The 2007 film, Happy Birthday, differed from many of his past romantic movies due to its earnest tone.^[7] In the Jingle Ma film, which was based on co-star Rene Liu's short story,^[8] Koo portrayed a sensitive man sans the comical gestures and expressions he has adopted in past romantic comedies.

His character as an unscrupulous drug addict in Protégé differed from his previous performances, as he forwent his suave image for an emaciated look. The supporting role earned him positive critical feedback and several major film award nominations.

In Run Papa Run (2008), Koo played a reckless triad leader who tried to shield his daughter from his past misdemeanours. Koo earned a Best Actor nomination in the Hong Kong Film Awards for this role, which required him to portray a character from his late teens to his fifties.^[9] In the same year, he starred in the remake of Cellular, Connected, in which he played an average Joe^[10] cast in a race against time to save a stranger.

In recent years, Koo had often been cast in action films and psychological thrillers. In Accident, Koo played a high-strung killer. In the Overheard series, he put on weight to play middle-aged roles more convincingly.^[11]

Koo made a return to his romantic comedy roots in the 2011 film Don't Go Breaking My Heart, which was directed by Johnnie To and Wai Ka-Fai. Koo played a debonair CEO of a broker film along with co-stars Daniel Wu and Gao Yuanyuan.

Koo received a Hong Kong Film Awards Best Actor nomination for his role in Benny Chan's 2013 film The White Storm. His upcoming films include Pang Ho-Cheung's movie Aberdeen, Overheard 3 by directors Alan Mak and Felix Chong,^[12] Johnnie To's Don't Go Breaking My Heart 2 and Z Storm. Koo is also attached to several upcoming projects including Triumph in the Skies^[13] and the sequel to The Monkey King.^[14]

He won the award for Most Beloved Actor in the Hong Kong UA Film Awards 2006 through public voting for his role in Election 2.

Other works

Koo has published several books over the years including his photo albums Present (1999) and Cool (2001), as well as his autobiography Find Happiness (2002).^[15] He also released Toys Battle (2008), a book chronicling his love for comic book characters and movie superheroes, and donated all proceeds to UNICEF.^[16]

Koo recorded several theme songs for the TVB dramas he had starred in. He had also cut two albums Boyfriend and Popular Louis in 2000 and released another album Mr.Cool in 2003.^[17]

With a career spanning nearly two decades, Koo has endorsed a large number of brands in Hong Kong and Mainland China. Some of the major brand endorsements include, Gillette, Epson, Hugo Boss Perfume, Lotte, Tag Heuer, Lipton, Clinique, OSIM,^[18] Yokohama Tire,^[19] Pepsi,^[20] Lay's, Tropicana,^[21] Samsung Galaxy^[22] and Xbox 360 Kinect.^[23]

Charity

On 3 July 2012, Chinese microblogs caught on to the news of Koo's low profile philanthropy in China, which became a trending topic. Major Chinese dailies reported that he had helped build 49 schools, over 20 clinics and completed 50 water supply projects to help the underprivileged in remote areas in rural China for the past three years^[24] without any publicity. He was reluctant to comment on the issue but it was learnt that Koo set up his charity foundation after witnessing the devastation from the Sichuan earthquake in 2008.^[25]

Koo is also a UNICEF ambassador^[26] since 2007.

Education

He is an alumnus of St. Teresa's School Kowloon and Carmel Secondary School.^[27]

Filmography

Film

Television

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References

External links

• KooTinLok.com - Official Fans Club website for Louis Koo
• Louis Koo at the Internet Movie Database
• Louis Koo at EntGroup.cn
• Louis Koo Tin-Lok at LoveHKFilm.com
• HK cinemagic entry
• JayneStars.com - English translated news about Louis Koo