Profile | How Hong Kong star Francis Ng went from movie villain to top character actor

This is the 57th instalment in a biweekly series profiling major Hong Kong pop culture figures of recent decades.

Francis Ng Chun-yu is a curious Hong Kong cinema statistic: despite being nominated six times for best actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards, the local industry’s highest honour, he has never won – despite being one of the city’s most acclaimed and versatile performers in recent decades.

Ng has built a fine career playing complex, often volatile characters. He is celebrated for his intense screen presence, and he is capable of stealing scenes with no more than an intimidating glare – as he did as a psychopathic gangster in the Young and Dangerous films in the 1990s.

His chameleonic range has seen him excel as everything from a conflicted police officer to a tender-hearted pilot to a homeless drug addict.