DgcityTony Leung Ka-fai has spent four decades becoming other people on screen. On November 10, the audience at the Golden Rooster Awards in Xiamen saw the man himself. At 68, Leung won best actor for his turn as a villain in “The Shadow’s Edge,” his first Golden Rooster after a career stretching back to the early 1980s.
The award completes a rare set. Leung already held Hong Kong Film Awards and Taiwan Golden Horse honors for best actor, and the Golden Rooster makes him only the second performer after Tony Leung Chiu-wai to hold all three of the Chinese-speaking world’s major best-actor prizes. It is the kind of milestone that usually invites speeches about legacy; Leung used his to talk about work.
“Winning doesn’t mean we can call it a day,” he told the room. “Let’s get to work.” He thanked the director, the Jackie Chan stunt team, the crew and the audience, and said his first Golden Rooster nomination felt strange and dreamlike. He had been seen through his characters, he said, and being seen was a piece of luck.
Fans fell for the moment immediately after. In a circulating video, a staff member offers to carry the new trophy for him. Leung playfully refuses. “Not a chance,” he says. “I can’t let go of it.” The clip quickly became one of the warmest trends of the night.
He also offered a small explanation of how he has stayed grounded across decades of fame. When he steps onto a set, he said, he stops being Tony Leung and becomes the character; he only returns to himself when he opens the door at home. The thing he is proudest of, he added, is how many lights he can switch on in his own house.
The 39th Golden Rooster edition spread its honors widely. “Dead to Rights,” the Nanjing-set drama, won best feature, while Gao Ye took best actress for the same film. The Teochew-language “A Letter to Grandma” won the jury prize and best screenplay. For Leung, though, the night belonged to a first — one that arrived after more than forty years, and which he had no intention of letting anyone carry for him.
