Johnnie To

Name: Johnnie To
Date of Birth: April 22, 1955
Place of Birth: Hong Kong

Mini-bio: It's impressive enough when a director retains the creativity and energy needed to reinvent themselves after working in the film industry for over two decades, but it's another thing entirely when -- ... read moreas in the case of Hong Kong director Johnny To -- a filmmaker is almost single handedly responsible for keeping that entire industry afloat in a time of dire financial crisis. Nevertheless, when such powerhouse Hong Kong filmmakers as John Woo and Tsui Hark opted to take their trade to Western shores, To remained back home to play a key role in keeping the spirit of Hong Kong film alive -- a challenge which he greeted with not only staunch determination but considerable skill as well. Following his directorial debut with the 1980 period martial arts fantasy The Enigmatic Case, To's career came to something of an apex in the late 1980s thanks to such memorable action films as The Big Heat and tender, personal dramas like All About Ah-Long (the latter of which landed star Chow Yun-Fat a Best Actor award at the 1990 Hong Kong Film Awards). After taking the helm for such memorable action films as The Heroic Trio and directing Stephen Chow in such films as Justice, My Foot and Mad Monk in the early '90s, To moved into producing with the creation of independent film company Milky Way Films -- a company which yielded such popular Hong Kong action efforts as Nai-hoi Yau's The Longest Nite and Expect the Unexpected. Though To's production company was indeed a success, his career behind the camera was in need of some rejuvenation -- an issue which he readily addressed with the release of his highly praised 1999 crime drama The Mission. Utilizing convention as a springboard to explore new territories of characterization in the well-worn crime genre, To breathed new life into Hong Kong cinema and began to gain international attention thanks to such efforts as The Mission and the outrageous 2001 action thriller Fulltime Killer. Despite the fact that To excelled at action films, it wasn't all about the gunplay. Such projects as the lightweight New Year's comedy Fat Choi Spirit and the supernatural comedy My Left Eye Sees Ghosts proved without a doubt that he was equally adept at getting laughs from fun-loving filmgoers. It was during this period that To began to develop fruitful professional relationships with such talents as director Wai Ka-Fai and actor Andy Lau. After exploring the effects of karma among the musclebound set in the bizarre but effective 2003 action thriller Running on Karma (the film which served as the seventh collaboration between To and Lau), the director explored the effects of media violence on the public in the fast-paced action thriller Breaking News. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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Johnnie To mini-bio: With over thirty directing and producing credits to his name, stretching from the height of the Hong Kong New Wave right up to today, über-filmmaker Johnny To could be considered an institution in the former British colony. In fact, his Milky Way production company, which he formed in partnership with frequent collaborator Wai Ka-fai in 1996, has become the de facto hallmark of quality filmmaking in Hong Kong since the Handover in 1997. His filmography is an eclectic collection of films from almost every genre and featuring almost every major Hong Kong film star, including classic films from the late Eighties and early Nineties including Heroic Trio (1993) & All About Ah-Long (1989), some ultra-cool crime-noir productions during the late Nineties; The Longest Night, Expect the Unexpected, and The Mission. Romances; Loving You (1995) & Needing You (2000). As well as a number of crowd-pleasing comedies; Wu Yen (2001) and Love on a Diet (2001). Unfortunately, the 'Jerry Bruckheimer of Hong Kong' has been in a creative and financial lull since 2001. In addition to facing diminishing box office returns stemming from the overall decline of the Hong Kong film industry, some of To's recent efforts have performed disappointingly, such as Fat Choi Spirit (2002), Full-Time Killer (2001), and Running Out of Time 2 (2001). However, in 2003, the veteran filmmaker was back in fine form with the release of PTU (2003), a crime-noir thriller, and Running on Karma (2003), about a body builder/exotic dancer with special visions that helps a cop track a vicious killer. These were both award winners at the Hong Kong Film Awards that year. These were followed closely by Breaking News (2004) & Throw Down (2004), then Election (2005) and follow-up Election 2 (2006), the award nominated companion piece. The Election films have both deservedly earned international acclaim and comparisons to The Godfather.