Alan Tang Kwong Wing

Biography

Alan Tang Kwong Wing was born in Shunde, Guangdong, China in 1946 and grew up in Mongkok, Hong Kong. His father owned the Taiping Theatre in Guangzhou. He studied at Tak Ming School and New Method Academy, where his classmates included actor Joe Junior and lyricist Lam Chun Keung. In 1963, at age seventeen, he auditioned for the film "The Student Prince" as a joke by his classmates and won the role among thousands of applicants, launching his acting career and earning him the nickname "The Student Prince." He became one of the top cinema stars of the 1960s alongside stars such as Josephine Siao and Connie Chan. In 1968, he joined the Shaw Brothers South China Experimental Theatre training class. In 1972, he went to Taiwan to star in "White House Romance," adapted from a novel by Hsuan Hsiao-fu, and went on to appear in over thirty Taiwanese films, mostly romantic dramas, with actresses including Brigitte Lin, Lin Feng-jiao, and Sylvia Chang. In 1977, he founded the Da Rong Film Company, specializing in gangster-themed films. In 1987, he established Shadow Jay Productions, which produced "Rich and Famous" with a screenplay by Wong Kar-wai. Tang discovered Wong Kar-wai's talent and financed "As Tears Go By" and "Days of Being Wild." Known as "Big Brother" and "The Student Prince," he was a member of the "Silver Mouse" group with six star friends. He passed away on March 29, 2011.