Wu Hsing-kuo

Wu Hsing-kuo (Chinese: 吳興國; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Ngô͘ Heng-kok) is a Taiwanese film and stage actor, known for both his performance of complex movie roles as much as for his innovative adaptations of Western classics into traditional Peking Opera.^[1][2]

Wu Hsing-kuo
Born	(1953-04-12) 12 April 1953 (age 72) Taiwan
Education	Chinese Culture University
Awards	Hong Kong Film Awards – Best New Performer 1994 Temptation of a Monk
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	吳興國
Simplified Chinese	吴兴国
Transcriptions Southern Min Hokkien POJ Ngô͘ Heng-kok

In this Chinese name, the family name is Wu.

Life and career

Wu was trained in classical Peking Opera since the age of 11 in Taiwan's state-run Fu-Hsing Chinese Opera School, specializing in wu sheng (male martial) roles. He was admitted with honors into the Theatre Department of Chinese Culture University in Taipei, trained under master Chou Cheng-jung (Zhou Zheng-rong) and became the leading dancer of Lin Hwai-min's Cloud Gate Dance Theater. However, his teacher Chou Cheng-jung (Zhou Zheng-rong) considered him as a pretentious student who didn't focus on study and finally abandoned him in 1989. After that, Chou Cheng-jung (died in 2000) never met him again. In addition, most traditional Chinese opera audiences do not recognize him as a qualified actor.

In 1986, he and a group of enthusiastic friends founded the Contemporary Legend Theatre (zh) in Taipei, seeking to revitalize traditional Chinese theatre by adapting Western classical plays to the style and techniques of Peking Opera. He was the leading actor and director of four Shakespeare adaptations, including the critically acclaimed Kingdom of Desire (慾望城國), an adaptation of Macbeth, and King Lear (李爾在此), in which Wu plays all the parts.

In 1992, Wu was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study in New York with Richard Schechner. That year, he also won the Hong Kong Film Award for best new actor.

Wu is currently artistic director of the Contemporary Legend Theatre, and continues to take on challenging roles in both the modern theatre and Chinese Opera. He crosses the fields of traditional opera, dance, modern theatre, cinema, and television.

Filmography

Films

Year	English title	Original title	Role	Notes
1993	18		Weirdo
	Temptation of a Monk	誘僧	Shi Yansheng
	Green Snake	青蛇	Xu Xian
1994	The Great Conqueror's Concubine	西楚霸王	Yu Ziqi
	Rock N'Roll Cop	省港一號通緝犯	Wong Kun
	Right Here Waiting...	等愛的女人	Dickson Koo
	God of Gamblers Return	賭神2	Chao Siu-chi
	What Price Survival	獨臂刀之情	Wang Ning
	Red Rose White Rose	紅玫瑰白玫瑰
1996	Shanghai Grand	新上海灘	Fung King-yiu
1997	The Soong Sisters	宋家皇朝	Chiang Kai-shek
2000	Comeuppance	天有眼
2001	The Accidental Spy	特務迷城	Lee Sang-zen
2009	Who Rules Over the Destiny of China	誰主沉浮	Chiang Kai-shek
2011	Four Hands	麵引子	Sun Hou-cheng
2012	Love on Gallery Bridge	爱在廊桥	Lin Changtian
2025	Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants	射雕英雄传：侠之大者	Reverend Yideng
	Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force	封神第二部：战火西岐	Wen Zhong

TV series

Year	English title	Original title	Role	Notes
1996	Love, Sword, Mountain & River	情劍山河	Zhao Kuangyin
	The Story of the President	總統的故事	Lee Teng-hui
1997	China at War	烽火中國
1999	Holiday	假期	Chu Chen-hsiang
	Dangerous Games	危险游戏	Guan Luochuan
2000	Tiger's Tenderness	老虎的溫柔	Huang Ho-chun
2001	Master Swordsman Lu Xiaofeng	陸小鳳之決戰前後	Ye Gucheng
2003	Flaming Romance	天命因緣	Su Jifei
2005	Lovelorn High Heels	失戀高跟鞋	Ma Ta-cheng
2006	To Live to Love	长恨歌	Li Puzhi

Awards

• Awarded Best New Performer at the Hong Kong Film Awards in (1992).
• Nominated for Best Actor at the 13th Hong Kong Film Awards (1994) for his role in Temptation of a Monk