Aaron Kwok

Aaron Kwok Fu-shing (born 26 October 1965) is a Hong Kong singer, dancer and actor. He has been active since the 1980s to the present. The media refer to him, Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau and Leon Lai as the Cantopop Four Heavenly Kings (四大天王). Kwok's onstage dancing and displays is influenced by Michael Jackson. While most of his songs are in the dance-pop genre, he has experimented numerous times with rock and roll, ballad, rock, R&B, soul, electronica and traditional Chinese music. Kwok graduated from St. Joseph's College in Hong Kong. After graduating from secondary school, Kwok worked as a junior staff in King Fook Gold & Jewellery Co. Ltd. His father, who owns a small gold retail store, desired that he gain experience in the business with the view of eventually handing the family business over to him. If not for one of Kwok's brothers taking over the gold business, his father would not have allowed him to join the entertainment industry. In 1984 at the age of 19, Kwok joined a dancer training course at TVB, where his talent for dancing was immediately recognized. Kwok then performed in music videos and variety shows for other singers. In 1987 he was transferred to the acting department of the talent training course and became a TV actor, where he played minor parts in TVB dramas. In 1990 he did a TV commercial in Taiwan for the Honda motorcycle DJ-1RR. The commercial gained him instant popularity with Taiwan girls, and he immediately burst onto the music scene. Kwok then began his music career with three mandopop albums including the famous song "Loving You Forever" (對你愛不完) to accompany his dance moves. After his success in Taiwan, he returned to Hong Kong in 1991 to do Cantopop. The next few years saw his popularity reach fever-pitch, and he was soon ranked as one of the "Four Heavenly Kings". Kwok became one of Hong Kong and Asia's most prominent pop stars. He won his first major awards with the 1991 Jade Solid Gold Top 10 Awards and 1991 RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards. He would then win a major award every year until 2001. As a solo performer, his sell-out concerts in Hong Kong, mainland China, United States, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia and other countries total over 200 to date. In 1999 he won his first "Asia Pacific most popular artist" award. As soon as Kwok entered the music industry in 1991, he started a fast-dancing trend (勁歌熱舞). Kwok's onstage dancing and displays has been known to be influenced by Michael Jackson. Later in his career, he is known to have won a prestigious "Top ten Hong Kong dance award" (十大舞蹈家年獎). Of all the performing arts at which Kwok excels, stage appearances remain his perennial favorite. His dance accomplishments are also matched with stage displays. On February 17, 2008 he held an "Aaron Kwok De Show Reel Extension Live" concert at the Hong Kong AsiaWorld Arena with the largest revolving stage measured at 10m x 9.44m and created a new entry for the Guinness Book of World Records. Over the years, Kwok has also indulged in other mediums such as TV commercials and acting. He began his acting career with the TVB series Rise of Genghis Khan, and the 1988 series Twilight of a Nation about the Taiping Rebellion. One of his more noticeable role was for the 1996 TVB drama series Wars of Bribery where he plays an ICAC special-agent with Athena Chu. He also starred in various movies. At the Taiwan's 42nd Golden Horse Awards ceremony on November 13, 2005, Kwok was the surprise winner of Best Leading Actor award for his role in the film Divergence. It was Kwok's first Golden Horse nomination and beat veteran Hong Kong star Tony Leung Ka-fai to win the honour. He again won the Best Actor Award again at the 43rd Golden Horse Awards on November 24, 2006 for his role in the film After This Our Exile. He became only the second actor in the history of the Golden Horse Awards to win the Best Actor Award consecutively. Jackie Chan first accomplished this back in the 1992-3. Among the four heavenly kings in the 1990s, Kwok was generally known to have the best image. He was famous for popularizing a new type of "center-split hair style" that became a crazed trend. Throughout his career he did change his hair style numerous times including styles such as the five-five split or the four-six split.