Asia’s Number One Movie Comedian, Stephen Chow Sing-Chi has eclipsed his previous Asian hits with the new smash Martial Arts Action Comedy Kung Fu Hustle. The 42-year-old Hong Kong native has been directing for less than a decade (He made his directorial debut back in 1996 with the hilarious God Of Cookery).

Western audiences got their first look at Chow’s unique brand of comedy in 2004, when his football spoof Shaolin Soccer enjoyed an international release at both the cinema and DVD. Kung Fu Hustle tells the story of Sing (Chow) who aspires to the gangster lifestyle only to find that fate has something much more impressive in store.

To date, Kung Fu Hustle is the biggest and most successful Hong Kong movie of all time - and with all the current global success a franchise was inevitable - a sequel is already in the works for a late 2005 Shanghai shoot and a TV series based on the film is already well under way in a Hong Kong hillside studio with Chow taking the helm as director.

Consumed by a passion for Martial Arts and specialising in films about the underdog - mirroring his life from modest roots in Kowloon to international superstar - this is Stephen Chow, Writer, Director, Producer and Actor, he is Hong Kong’s favourite everyman and has made over 50 films to date.

Back in the mid-80s he felt like he was stuck in a cycle he would never break, trapped inside the unglamourous world of Hong Kong children’s television, as a host on the popular Space Shuttle 430. Rejected for reasons of height at his audition to study in a local TV channel’s prestigious acting school, he gained access to the school’s less well-regarded night courses through a friend. Little did he know, those years working to please some of the toughest audiences in the territory enabled Chow to hone his skills and his unique brand of “Mo Lei Yau� (nonsense comedy, literally ‘meaningless talk’ in Cantonese) was born.

A 20-year ‘overnight success’, Chow brims with an understated determination and drive - a keen reminder that good things do come to those who wait. “Kung Fu Hustle was released in its original language, Chinese, and with subtitles.� Chow says, “I think using the original language preserves the mood and spirit of the overall movie.�

For the rest of the interview please see JADE SCREEN VOL. 3, ISSUE 4