Dean Shek

Dean Shek
Shek at The Wit and Wisdom of Cinema City event held at the Hong Kong Film Archive on 9 April 2016.
Background information
Chinese name	石天 (traditional)
Chinese name	石天 (simplified)
Pinyin	Shí Tiān (Mandarin)
Jyutping	Sek6 Tin1 (Cantonese)
Birth name	Lau Wai-sing 劉偉成 (Traditional) 刘伟成 (Simplified) Liú　Ｗěi　Ｃhéng (Mandarin) Ｌau4 Wai2 Sing4 (Cantonese)
Origin	Hong Kong
Born	(1950-10-17) 17 October 1950 (age 66) Beijing, China
Other name(s)	Charlie Shek
Occupation	Actor, film producer, film director, screenwriter, film presenter
Years active	1968-1992
Spouse(s)	Lau Chun-yue (1979-present)
Ancestry	Tianjin, China

Dean Shek (sometimes written Shek Tien) a.k.a. Dean Shek Tin (born 17 October 1950) is a veteran Hong Kong feature film actor and film producer with over 92 films acting credits to his name. Shek is perhaps best known as Professor Kai-hsien in the 1978 film, Drunken Master, Lung Sei in the 1987 film, A Better Tomorrow 2, and Snooker in the 1990 film, The Dragon from Russia.

With ancestral roots from Tianjin, China, Shek was born on 17 October 1950 in Beijing, before moving to Hong Kong at the age of 3. There, he attended the Shung Tak Catholic English College before studying filmmaking, acting and voice acting at Shaw Brothers Studio's actors training program in 1968.

Shek began his career as a contracted actor at Shaw Brothers Studio in 1968, making his first brief appearance in the film Twin Blades of Doom (1969). He received more substantial roles at Shaws, in musicals such as The Singing Killer, romantic films including A Time For Love (1970), comedies such as The Human Goddess (1972) and martial arts films such as The Fists of Vengeance (1972).

Shek left Shaw Brothers in 1973. The same year, he appeared in Master with Cracked Fingers, the first film to feature Jackie Chan in a starring role. He made his directorial debut in 1975 with The Monk, and worked as assistant director on Black Alice (1975), A Queen's Ransom (1976), Iron Fisted Monk (1977).