In the Philippines, Hollywood films have a strong presence. They are even more profitable than the locally produced ones. Though most Filipinos favor Hollywood movies and actors, Chinese and Hong Kong actors like Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and Bruce Lee have a huge following in the country. They are in fact the biggest non-Hollywood actorsthe Philippines has ever known. Other than these three action giants, I hadn’t known any Hong Kong or Chinese actor until September 2004 came.
In September 2004, I received a scholarship grant to study Mandarin in Taiwan. Since that was my first time to live abroad, I opted to stay in the school dormitory. My adjustments were easy. I met nice people who eventually became my friends. Even the food in Taiwan is very close to what we have back home. My Chinese classes were difficult but nevertheless manageable for a serious student like me. In my free time, I would surf the net or borrow books from the library. If I still have more free time, I would watch CNN and Hong Kong movies with English subtitles. One time, my friend, Marlyn and I were looking for a good movie to watch on tv. We came across a movie in Chinese ( with English subtitle ) which featured a rich businessman having a hard time dealing with his actress-girlfriend,. Marlyn asked me to see the movie since the story seems interesting. The businessman soon became blind and dumped by his girlfriend. The lead actor according to Marlyn had resemblance with her former boyfriend he..he..he.. We enjoyed the movie and both fell in love with the actor in the end. It took us another month to find out who that lead actor was. We initially learned that he is Liang Chao-wei or Tony Leung, a very famous actor in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Mainland China and that movie is called Blind Romance.
The movie, Blind Romance started my love affair with Tony Leung and Asian films in general. As another Asian, I realized I can relate more with their plot than their Hollywood counterparts. Being a Tony Leung fan led me to discover other outstanding actors in the region like Andy Lau, Gong Li, Zhang Ziyi, Maggie Cheung, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Anthony Wong, and Eric Tsang and world-class directors like Wong Kar-wai, Ang Lee, Zhang Yimou, Tran Anh Hung, and Hou Hsiao-Hsien. This discovery alone is enough reason to thank Mr. Tony Leung. Without his clever choice of script, co-actors, and directors, I would not be able to rediscover the beauty of Asian films.
“ Happy Birthday Tony! I wish you nothing but the best in every endeavor you are in and wishes to be in the future. I am very happy to have known you. “
I have to say another " Thank you" to Tony-addict for the scanned newspaper clip. She sent that one to me in August 2005 several days after I saw Tony in Taipei.
