Frankie Chan Fan-kei

Biography

Frankie Chan Fan-kei was born on November 30, 1951 in Hong Kong, originally named Chan Wing-yuk. He grew up in the Wong Tai Sin area of Kowloon and attended Wong Tai Sin Catholic Primary School. He fell in love with films after watching the Wong Fei-hung series in the 1950s and 1960s, and also practiced martial arts including Long Xing Quan and Mantis Fist. He joined the film industry at age 15, working in Shaw Brothers' music recording department under composer Wang Fu-ling. He began his film scoring career with the 1970 film "The Little Daring Ones." Jackie Chan discovered him in 1980, leading to his acting debut in "Two Against the Sky." He co-founded Yong Jia Film Company in 1981 with Lai Ying-jo, backed by Princess Group. He won the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Original Film Score in 1996 for "Fallen Angels" alongside Roel A. Garcia. He moved to mainland China in 1997 to produce the TV series "Shanghai Tango" and now works primarily in China. He was diagnosed with anaplastic thyroid cancer in 2016.