His portrayal of Cheng, who experiences bitterness and regret throughout his life, and is driven to suicide by a failed love affair, was one of great sensitivity, and an incandescent charisma that few knew he possessed. The '90s saw Cheung steadily improve as an actor with some varied roles: a cunning jewel thief in John Woo's slick suspense drama, Once a Thief (1990) a suave villain in Wong Kar-Wai's Days of Being Wild (1991) and his extraordinary star turn as the gay, female-impersonating Chinese opera singer Cheng Dieyi in Chen Kaige's brilliant historical drama Farewell My Concubine (1993). That film helped Cheung present his versatility as a romantic leading man as well as his skill at action sequences. The film's success allowed Cheung to expand his film range and his next role was as an opium-smoking playboy in Stanley Kwan's Rouge (1987), a romantic ghost story that fluctuated between the Hong Kong of the '30s and the '80s.

The turning point came when John Woo cast him as the rookie cop opposite Chow Yun-fat in the wildly popular Hong Kong action flick A Better Tomorrow (1986). His high profile in pop music led to some film work, which at first was light, teen fare. Cheung used this opportunity to cultivate his first taste of stardom as one of Asia's most popular singers and a celebrity to Chinese-speaking people around the world. Upon his return to Hong Kong, he entered in the 1976 ATV Asian Music Contest, and took second prize. He was fascinated by cinema from an early age (his father was the tailor to screen legend William Holden) and following graduation from secondary school, he studied drama at Leeds University in Great Britain. He was 46.Ĭheung was born on Septemin Hong Kong, the youngest of ten children. Leslie Cheung, the Chinese singer and actor who won international acclaim for his role as a homosexual opera singer who commits suicide in the Oscar-nominated Farewell My Concubine (1993), died after leaping from a hotel in Hong Kong on April 1.

A chinese ghost story (2003)