Profile | The chaotic life of Anthony Wong, the 3-time Hong Kong best actor ‘shut out’ by China

From humble beginnings, Anthony Wong overcame adversity to become one of Hong Kong’s top actors and a man unafraid to speak out

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Hong Kong actor Anthony Wong at an interview with the Post in 2019. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Published: 7:15am, 7 Nov 2025Updated: 7:40am, 7 Nov 2025

This is the 63rd instalment in a biweekly series profiling major Hong Kong pop culture figures of recent decades.

For over a decade, Hong Kong actor Anthony Wong Chau-sang has navigated a career defined by conflict: he is blacklisted by some in his home city and in mainland China for his support of the “umbrella movement” protests in 2014.

While many of his peers have faded or pandered to new political realities, Wong has persisted.

Despite rumours he had moved to Taiwan – which he denied in a 2023 Post interview, stating “I’ve never left” – his focus remains fixed on Hong Kong, where he stays active in local theatre and collaborates with filmmakers who share or tolerate his sentiments.

Anthony Wong at an interview with the Post in 2001. Photo: Martin Chan

Wong is no stranger to forging a path amid adversity.

Born Anthony William Perry in 1961 to an English father and a Cantonese mother, his childhood turned difficult at age four, when his father abandoned him and his mother for his primary family in the UK.

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