Mikeru On Chinese Music Today

Some actors take a while to hit their stride, and such has been the case with Aaron Kwok, who has spent many years paying his dues before finally being recognized as more than just a pretty face. Of course, he has been enjoying fame for nearly two decades now for his slick singing and dancing skills, being hailed as one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Cantopop, though it is only recently, with back to back wins at the 2005 and 2006 Golden Horse Awards for his stunning turns in Divergence and After This Our Exile, that his acting talent has also earned him the same kind of acclaim and respect. As such, he has now truly joined the A-list of Hong Kong performers equally adored on stage and screen, and with more high profile roles on the way and a third Golden Horse nomination for his latest work on Oxide Pang's The Detective, it seems that the best from Aaron Kwok may be yet to come.


First Steps
Kwok Fu Shing was born on October 26, 1965 in Hong Kong, where he grew up and attended school. After graduating he went to work in the family business, a small gold and jewelry store which his father had hoped to one day hand over to him. However, Kwok, known back then by the nickname Shing-Shing, had other plans, and in 1984 he joined a dancing course at the famous TVB studio where he quickly rose up through the ranks thanks to his natural ability, appearing in music videos and variety shows. His talent and screen presence were spotted in 1985, and he was immediately transferred to an acting training course, leading to a few brief appearances in television dramas. He graduated again in 1987, taking on the name Aaron and continuing to work as an actor and background entertainer, turning up in several series such as Everybody's Somebody's, Two of a Kind, The God & The Demons of Zu Mountain, and Song Bird, in which he appeared with Leon Lai and fellow newcomer Nadia Chan.

In 1989 Kwok made the decision to switch his career focus to Taiwan, where he struck it big through an appearance in a hugely popular commercial which featured him looking boyish and chasing after a girl on a motorbike. The commercial was such a hit that apparently girls all over the country tore posters of him off the street to take home. Enjoying this newfound popularity, he recorded and released his first music album, which included the now famous song "Loving You Forever". Making full use of his dancing skills to promote the record paid off and it was a smash hit, selling more than 300,000 copies in Taiwan alone.

The King of Stage
He returned to Hong Kong a star, being immediately ranked alongside Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau and Leon Lai as one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the music industry, with the Hong Kong media naming him "King of Stage" for his smooth dance moves. Predictably, this quickly led to his first proper big screen appearances in the 1989 action films The Big Heat and Close Escape, in which he featured along with the prolific martial arts star Dick Wei and Japanese actress Yukari Oshima. However, his music career was at the time a more pressing concern, and over the next few years he became one of the top recording artists, releasing many hit albums and winning numerous awards, though he was probably best known for his energetic live shows.


Kwok's popularity as a singer and dancer has certainly been at the heart of his rise to fame, and indeed has seen him go from strength to strength, still winning awards and enjoying sold-out tours in recent years. However, his career as an actor is arguably more interesting, as far from earning him the same kind of overnight success, it has seen him gradually earn critical respect, progressing from the kind of eye candy parts usually doled out to popstars, through to his more substantial roles of late. Certainly, it's fair to say that it is only now that he is being taken seriously as an actor, though there is a definite impression that this has come as a result of many years of hard work.