POON Chan-
A local actor,
Poon’s work includes productions on stage, television and film; he frequently collaborates with local and international artists and directors. His recent productions are EEG’s One Last Gift (as AU YEUNG Hei), Project Roundabout’s The Beauty Queen of Leenane (as Pato), The Truth (as Michael); Hong Kong Repertory Theatre’s A Dream Like a Dream (as Patient No. 5), Hu Xueyan, my Dear (as Hu Xueyan) and The Professor (as Professor); Music Nation Group’s My Very Short Marriage (as Gallen); Dionysus Contemporary Theatre’s Le Dieu du carnage (as Alan), as well as the Hong Kong Arts Festival’s A Floating Family – A Trilogy (as Wong Chau-wing). Other major works with the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre include The Legend of the Mad Phoenix (in the role of Tong Tik-sang), Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land, Black Elk Speaks, A Small Family Business, Uncle Vanya, Art, Communicating Doors, Dr. Faustus, Shed Skin and Rabbit Hole. He also appeared in the W Theatre Group’s Shuraba, Yakusha Theatre’s Into the Womb, On and On Theatre’s Best Wishes.
Poon is also a playwright and director. In 2010, An Ordinary Man was presented at Prospect Theatre’s Playwright Scheme, a full production followed at the 39th Hong Kong Arts Festival in 2011, directed by Poon for a 23-show run. In 2023, he transformed from actor to director, directing My Very Short Marriage for 19-show run.
Most recently, Poon has devoted much of his energy to television and film. Notable roles include Hill in HKTV’s drama To Be or Not To Be, Chiu Tsz Lung in ViuTV’s premiere drama series Margaret & David – Green Bean, which garnered much praise; and most recently – Charles in The Parents League. Other television performances include HKTV’s Doom+5’s ‘Resurrection’ and The Election, episodes of RTHK’s Under the Lion Rock in 2014 and 2015, and Fox Asia’s The Trading Floor. His films include The Mad Phoenix, The Umbrella Story, Love Au Zen, Weeds on Fire, Pseudo Secular, The Moment, Men on the Dragon, Beyond the Dream and Love is Blind, Hate Too.
Poon has received numerous accolades, including 16 nominations in the Hong Kong Drama Awards, of which he won three Best Actor (Tragedy/Drama) awards for Rabbit Hole (2013), The Professor (2014) and Hu Xueyan, my Dear (2017). He also received three Best Supporting Actor awards in 1995, 2005 and 2011. Poon’s portrayal of Tong Tik-sang in the film The Mad Phoenix (1997) won him nominations for Best Supporting Actor in both the 34th Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan and the 17th Hong Kong Film Awards; his portrayal of WONG Suk-yee in the film Men on the Dragon (2018) also won him nominations for Best Supporting Actor in the 38th Hong Kong Film Awards. In 2005, Poon received the Lee Hysan Foundation Fellowship of the Asian Cultural Council to further his studies in New York. He was awarded Best Artist (Drama) by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council in 2012.
Apart from performing, Poon Chan Leung is a co-founder of Project Roundabout, a three-year project focusing on actors and their practice, with Louisa So and Harry Cheung.