Johnnie To Kei-fung (杜琪峯, born 22 April 1955 in Hong Kong) is a director and producer with an intensely profilic output in films, best known for crime and gangster movies, many which earned him international acclaim.
Starting his career as early as age 17, To had an interest in cinema when working as a messenger for Hong Kong's TVB studios. His first cinematic release, 1980s' The Enigmatic Case which he directed at age 25, paves the way for To's career move to making movies, but it wasn't until a decade later with 1990's A Moment of Romance (starring Andy Lau) and All About Ah Long (starring Chow Yun-fat) makes him a household name in Asia.
Establishing his own studios, Milkyway Image (with frequent collaborator Wai Ka-Fai), Johnnie To's films has made regular appearances in film festivals representing Hong Kong or Asia, with a surprisingly huge cult following in the West, his fans including director Quentin Tarantino. No, really
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Notable Films from this Director:
- The Big Heat (1988)
- Iron Butterfly (all 3 films)
- All About Ah Long (1989)
- The Fun, The Luck & The Tycoon (1990)
- A Moment Of Romance (1990-1996) - Produced the first two films, directed the third
- Justice, My Foot! (1992, starring Stephen Chow)
- Heroic Trio (1993)
- Executioners (1993)
- The Mad Monk (1993, starring Stephen Chownote )
- The Longest Nite (1998) - Producer only
- A Hero Never Dies (1998)
- Running Out of Time (1999) (1999)
- The Mission (1999)
- Needing You (2000)
- Fulltime Killer (2001)
- PTU (2003) - produced all six of the movies, but only directed the first
- Turn Left, Turn Right (2003)
- Running On Karma (2003)
- Throw Down (2004)
- Triad Election (2005)
- Exiled (2006)
- Mad Detective (2007)
- Sparrow (2008)
- Life Without Principle (2011)
- Drug War (2012)
- Office (2015)
