Poon Chan Leung

Biography

Poon Chan Leung is a Hong Kong stage and television actor, known as the "Prince of the Theatre Troupe." He was born in Hong Kong and grew up in Sai Ying Pun before moving to Choi Hung Estate in Kowloon. His father was a paint worker and his mother a school janitor; he has an older brother and an older sister. He attended Christian Alliance Primary School and Christian Alliance Middle School, where his academic performance was poor, though he achieved a grade B in Technical Drawing in the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination. He participated in basketball and drama activities at school. After graduating from Form 5, he worked as a technical draughtsman, a label clerk at Dairy Farm, and an electrical goods delivery worker. He applied to the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts four times between 1984 and 1987, working as an office assistant and backstage technician at the City Contemporary Dance Company before being admitted in 1987. He graduated in 1991 with a major in acting and joined the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre as a full-time actor that same year, remaining with the company for 21 years (1991–2012) before becoming a joint actor. In 1994, he won the Hong Kong Drama Award for Best Supporting Actor for "The Black Deer Speaks." He has won multiple Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor awards and has also worked as a playwright and director. He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 34th Golden Horse Awards and the 17th Hong Kong Film Awards for "The Mad Phoenix." In 2005, he received a Lee Hysan Scholarship from the Asia Cultural Council to study at the American Repertory Theatre in New York. His first independent script, "A Mortal Returned to the World," was presented in 2009 and he directed it himself in 2011. In 2012, he became a joint actor and joined HKTV to act in television dramas. His wife is actress So Yuk Wah, and they married in 2020.