Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor

The Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor is an annual Hong Kong industry award presented to an actor for the best performance by an actor in a leading role.

Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor
Awarded for	Performance by an actor in a leading role
Country	Hong Kong
Presented by	Hong Kong Film Awards
First award	1982
Currently held by	Sean Lau — Papa (2025)

History

The award was established at the 1st Hong Kong Film Awards (1982) and the first winner and the sole participant in this category was Michael Hui for his role in the film Security Unlimited. From the 2nd Hong Kong Film Awards (1983), there are 5, sometimes 6, nominations for the category of Best Actor from which one actor is chosen the winner of the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor, except the 2nd Awards when Sammo Hung and Karl Maka shared the award. The most recent recipient of the award was Sean Lau, who was honoured at the 43rd Hong Kong Film Awards (2025), for his performance in Papa.

The actor with most awards in this category is Tony Leung Chiu-wai with six wins. He also holds the record for the actor with the most awards in the Best Supporting Actor category. Jackie Chan holds the record for an actor with the most nominations without ever winning, until the 24th Hong Kong Film Awards (2005) he was nominated 10 times without a single award.

Winners and nominees

Year	Actor	Film	Note
1982 (1st)	Michael Hui	Security Unlimited	[1]
1983 (2nd)	Karl Maka	Aces Go Places	[2]
	Sammo Hung	Carry On Pickpocket
	Michael Chan	Crimson Street
	George Lam	Boat People
	Leslie Cheung	Nomad
1984 (3rd)	Tony Leung Ka-fai	Reign Behind a Curtain	[3]
	Peter Wang	Ah Ying
	Sammo Hung	The Dead and the Deadly
	Richard Ng	Winners & Sinners
	Alex Man	Hong Kong, Hong Kong
1985 (4th)	Danny Lee	Law with Two Phases	[4]
	Chow Yun-fat	Hong Kong 1941
	Kent Cheng	Beloved Daddy
	Michael Hui	Teppanyaki
	Jackie Chan	Project A
1986 (5th)	Kent Cheng	Why Me?	[5]
	Chow Yun-fat	Women
	Michael Hui	Mr. Boo Meets Pom Pom
	Jackie Chan	Heart of Dragon
	Jackie Chan	Police Story
1987 (6th)	Chow Yun-fat	A Better Tomorrow	[6]
	Danny Lee	Brotherhood
	Ti Lung	A Better Tomorrow
	Michael Hui	Inspector Chocolate
	Tony Leung Ka-fai	The Last Emperor
	Tony Leung Chiu-wai	Love Unto Waste
1988 (7th)	Chow Yun-fat	City on Fire	[7]
	Leslie Cheung	A Better Tomorrow II
	Chow Yun-fat	An Autumn's Tale
	Chow Yun-fat	Prison on Fire
	Danny Lee	City on Fire
	Eric Tsang	Final Victory
	Da Shichang	The Romance of Book and Sword
1989 (8th)	Sammo Hung	Painted Faces	[8]
	Leslie Cheung	Rouge
	Michael Hui	Chicken and Duck Talk
	Andy Lau	As Tears Go By
	Max Mok	Lai Shi, China's Last Eunuch
1990 (9th)	Chow Yun-fat	All About Ah-Long	[9]
	Jackie Chan	Miracles
	Chow Yun-fat	God of Gamblers
	Michael Hui	Mr. Coconut
	Sammo Hung	Eight Taels of Gold
	Richard Ng	Beyond the Sunset
1991 (10th)	Leslie Cheung	Days of Being Wild	[10]
	Jacky Cheung	Bullet in the Head
	Stephen Chow	All for the Winner
	Michael Hui	Front Page
	Tony Leung Ka-fai	Farewell China
1992 (11th)	Eric Tsang	Alan and Eric - Between Hello and Goodbye	[11]
	Chow Yun-fat	Once a Thief
	Stephen Chow	Fight Back to School
	Andy Lau	Lee Rock
	Ray Lui	To Be Number One
1993 (12th)	Tony Leung Ka-fai	92 Legendary La Rose Noire	[12]
	Jackie Chan	Police Story 3
	Stephen Chow	Justice, My Foot!
	Charles Heung	Arrest the Restless
	Tony Leung Ka-fai	King of Chess
1994 (13th)	Anthony Wong	The Untold Story	[13]
	Jackie Chan	Crime Story
	Sean Lau	C'est la vie, mon chéri
	Sean Lau	Thou Shalt Not Swear
	Wu Xing Guo	Temptation of a Monk
1995 (14th)	Tony Leung Chiu-wai	Chungking Express	[14]
	Jacky Cheung	To Live and Die in Tsimshatsui
	Leslie Cheung	He's a Woman, She's a Man
	Chow Yun-fat	Treasure Hunt
	Stephen Chow	From Beijing with Love
	Eric Kot	Oh! My Three Guys
1996 (15th)	Roy Chiao	Summer Snow	[15]
	Andy Lau	Full Throttle
	Stephen Chow	A Chinese Odyssey Part 2: Cinderella
	Chow Yun-fat	Peace Hotel
	Jackie Chan	Rumble in the Bronx
1997 (16th)	Kent Cheng	The Log	[16]
	Jackie Chan	Police Story 4: First Strike
	Leslie Cheung	Viva Erotica
	Leon Lai	Comrades: Almost a Love Story
	Sean Lau	Big Bullet
	Michael Wong	First Option
1998 (17th)	Tony Leung Chiu-wai	Happy Together	[17]
	Leslie Cheung	Happy Together
	Sean Lau	Full Alert
	Tony Leung Ka-fai	Island of Greed
	Tse Kwan-ho	The Mad Phoenix
1999 (18th)	Anthony Wong	Beast Cops	[18]
	Jackie Chan	Who Am I?
	Sonny Chiba	The Storm Riders
	Leon Lai	City of Glass
	Sean Lau	The Longest Nite
	Tony Leung Chiu-wai	The Longest Nite
2000 (19th)	Andy Lau	Running Out of Time	[19]
	Sean Lau	The Victim
	Francis Ng	Bullets Over Summer
	Eric Tsang	Metade Fumaca
	Anthony Wong	Ordinary Heroes
2001 (20th)	Tony Leung Chiu-wai	In the Mood for Love	[20]
	Chow Yun-fat	Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
	Andy Lau	A Fighter's Blues
	Tony Leung Ka-fai	Jiang hu: The Triad Zone
	Francis Ng	Juliet in Love
2002 (21st)	Stephen Chow	Shaolin Soccer	[21]
	Jacky Cheung	July Rhapsody
	Hu Jun	Lan Yu
	Andy Lau	Love on a Diet
	Liu Ye	Lan Yu
2003 (22nd)	Tony Leung Chiu-wai	Infernal Affairs	[22]
	Leslie Cheung	Inner Senses
	Leon Lai	Three: Going Home
	Andy Lau	Infernal Affairs
	Tony Leung Ka-fai	Double Vision
2004 (23rd)	Andy Lau	Running on Karma	[23]
	Jacky Cheung	Golden Chicken 2
	Sean Lau	Lost in Time
	Francis Ng	Infernal Affairs II
	Simon Yam	PTU
2005 (24th)	Tony Leung Chiu-wai	2046	[24]
	Jackie Chan	New Police Story
	Stephen Chow	Kung Fu Hustle
	Alex Fong	One Nite in Mongkok
	Daniel Wu	One Nite in Mongkok
2006 (25th)	Tony Leung Ka-fai	Election	[25]
	Simon Yam	Election
	Aaron Kwok	Divergence
	Tony Leung Ka-fai	Everlasting Regret
	Andy Lau	Wait 'til You're Older
2007 (26th)	Sean Lau	My Name Is Fame	[26]
	Aaron Kwok	After This Our Exile
	Tony Leung Chiu-wai	Confession of Pain
	Chow Yun-fat	Curse of the Golden Flower
	Jet Li	Fearless
2008 (27th)	Jet Li	The Warlords	[27]
	Aaron Kwok	The Detective
	Simon Yam	Eye in the Sky
	Sean Lau	Mad Detective
	Andy Lau	The Warlords
2009 (28th)	Nick Cheung	Beast Stalker	[28]
	Louis Koo	Run Papa Run
	Tony Leung Chiu-wai	Red Cliff
	Simon Yam	Sparrow
	Donnie Yen	Ip Man
2010 (29th)	Simon Yam	Echoes of the Rainbow	[29]
	Wang Xueqi	Bodyguards and Assassins
	Simon Yam	Night and Fog
	Aaron Kwok	Murderer
	Sean Lau	Overheard
2011 (30th)	Nicholas Tse	The Stool Pigeon	[30]
	Chow Yun-fat	Confucius
	Jacky Cheung	Crossing Hennessy
	Tony Leung Ka-fai	Bruce Lee, My Brother
	Nick Cheung	The Stool Pigeon
2012 (31st)	Andy Lau	A Simple Life	[31]
	Sean Lau	Life Without Principle
	Sean Lau	Overheard 2
	Jiang Wen	Let the Bullets Fly
	Ge You	Let the Bullets Fly
2013 (32nd)	Tony Leung Ka-fai	Cold War	[32]
	Nick Cheung	Nightfall
	Chapman To	Vulgaria
	Sean Lau	The Bullet Vanishes
	Tony Leung Chiu-wai	The Silent War
2014 (33rd)	Nick Cheung	Unbeatable	[33]
	Tony Leung Chiu-wai	The Grandmaster
	Louis Koo	The White Storm
	Sean Lau	The White Storm
	Anthony Wong	Ip Man: The Final Fight
2015 (34th)	Sean Lau	Overheard 3	[34]
	Eddie Peng	Rise of the Legend
	Sean Lau	Insanity
	Huang Bo	Dearest
	Daniel Wu	That Demon Within
2016 (35th)	Aaron Kwok	Port of Call	[35]
	Andy Lau	Lost and Love
	Nick Cheung	Keeper of Darkness
	Tony Leung Ka-fai	The Taking of Tiger Mountain
	Jacky Cheung	Heaven in the Dark
2017 (36th)	Gordon Lam	Trivisa	[36]
	Shawn Yue	Mad World
	Francis Ng	Shed Skin Papa
	Tony Leung Ka-fai	Cold War 2
	Richie Jen	Trivisa
2018 (37th)	Louis Koo	Paradox	[37]
	Andy Lau	Shock Wave
	Ronald Cheng	Concerto of the Bully
	Tian Zhuangzhuang	Love Education
	Ling Man-lung	Tomorrow Is Another Day
2019 (38th)	Anthony Wong	Still Human	[38]
	Aaron Kwok	Project Gutenberg
	Chow Yun-fat	Project Gutenberg
	Philip Keung	Tracey
	Francis Ng	Man on the Dragon
2020 (39th)	Tai Bo	Suk Suk	[39]
	Aaron Kwok	I'm Livin’ It
	Louis Koo	A Witness Out Of The Blue
	Chu Pak Hong	My Prince Edward
	Jackson Yee	Better Days
2022 (40th)	Patrick Tse	Time	[40]
	Gordon Lam	Hand Rolled Cigarette
	Gordon Lam	Limbo
	Leung Chung Hang	Zero to Hero
	Francis Ng	Drifting
2023 (41st)	Sean Lau	Detective vs Sleuths	[41]
	Mak Pui Tung	The Sparring Partner
	Yeung Wai Lun	The Sparring Partner
	Anthony Wong	The Sunny Side of the Street
	Louis Cheung	The Narrow Road
2024 (42nd)	Tony Leung Chiu-wai	The Goldfinger	[42]
	Bowie Lam	In Broad Daylight
	Siuyea Lo	Time Still Turns the Pages
	Dayo Wong	A Guilty Conscience
	Dong Chengpeng	Dust to Dust
2025 (43rd)	Sean Lau	Papa	[43]
	Raymond Lam	Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In
	Neo Yau	The Way We Talk
	Michael Hui	The Last Dance
	Aaron Kwok	Rob N Roll

Multiple wins and nominations

The following individuals received two or more Best Actor awards: Wins Actor Years 6 Tony Leung Chiu-wai 1995, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2024 4 Tony Leung Ka-fai 1984, 1993, 2006, 2013 Sean Lau 2007, 2015, 2023, 2025 3 Andy Lau 2000, 2004, 2012 Anthony Wong 1994, 1999, 2019 Chow Yun-fat 1987, 1988, 1990 2 Kent Cheng 1986, 1997 Nick Cheung 2009, 2014 Sammo Hung 1983, 1989

The following individuals received five or more Best Actor nominations: Nominations Actor 18 Sean Lau 15 Chow Yun-fat 14 Tony Leung Ka-fai 13 Andy Lau 12 Tony Leung Chiu-wai 10 Jackie Chan 8 Leslie Cheung Michael Hui Aaron Kwok 7 Stephen Chow 6 Anthony Wong Francis Ng Jacky Cheung Simon Yam 5 Nick Cheung

Records

Items	Name	Statistics	Notes
Most wins	Tony Leung Chiu-wai	6 wins	12 nominations
Most nominations	Sean Lau	18 nominations	4 wins
Oldest winner	Patrick Tse	Age 85 years, 342 days	for Time
Oldest nominee		Age 85 years, 191 days
Youngest winner	Tony Leung Ka-fai	Age 26 years, 185 days	for Reign Behind a Curtain
Youngest nominee	Jackson Yee	Age 19 years, 76 days	for Better Days
Most nominations without win	Jackie Chan	10 nominations

See also

• Hong Kong Film Award
• Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress
• Hong Kong Film Award for Best Supporting Actor
• Hong Kong Film Award for Best Supporting Actress
• Hong Kong Film Award for Best Action Choreography
• Hong Kong Film Award for Best Cinematography
• Hong Kong Film Award for Best Director
• Hong Kong Film Award for Best Film
• Hong Kong Film Award for Best New Performer