Leslie Cheung

Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing ({{zh-ts|t=張國榮|s=张国荣}}; Cantonese {{IPA2|ts??55 kw?k33 w??11}}, Jyutping: zoeng1 kwok3 wing4; Mandarin Pinyin: Zhāng Guóróng, Wades-Giles: Chang Kuo-jung)

Sexual orientation

Cheung was bisexual, but despite numerous tabloid rumours he denied everything at the first half of his career. After his immigration to Canada, however, his stance relaxed considerably. He began to accept gay roles and was one of the few Hong Kong actors who were willing to do so as early as the 1990s.

Related Topics:
Bisexual - Tabloid - Gay

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Cheung's first gay role was Cheng Diyi in Farewell, My Concubine (1993) (the film shared the Palme d'Or in 1993 in the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film). The character Cheng Diyi was a Dan (one who plays female roles) Beijing opera singer who falls in love with his male singing partner. In Wong Kar-wai's Happy Together (1997), Cheung played another gay role, Ho Po-wing, this time including graphic sex scenes, which got him nominations for the Best Actor Award in both the Golden Horse Awards and the Hong Kong Film Awards.

Related Topics:
Farewell, My Concubine - 1993 - Cannes Film Festival - An Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film - Dan - Wong Kar-wai - Happy Together - 1997 - Golden Horse Awards - Hong Kong Film Awards

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The tabloids renewed their fervor in reporting rumours about him, however, after one of the tabloids caught a snapshot in 1995 of his holding hands with another man, Daffy Tong Hok-Tak (唐鶴德), who was later revealed to be Cheung's partner since the 1980s. In a 1997 concert, Cheung decided to brave the rumours and said that Tong was his "most beloved" after his mother. In a 2001 interview with TIME magazine's Asia edition, he came out as bisexual. The Hong Kong media eventually accepted the two men's relationship and gave Tong the nickname "Tong Tong" (in the style of "Gor Gor"). After Cheung's death, Tong took a page out in the Hong Kong newspapers for obituaries, in which he was listed as a surviving spouse (未亡人), and was named the executor of Cheung's estate.

Related Topics:
1995 - 1997 - 2001 - TIME - Came out

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