Carina Lau

Carina Lau Kar-ling (Chinese: 劉嘉玲; Jyutping: Lau4 Gaa1-ling4; born 8 December 1965) is a Hong Kong actress and singer. She started her acting career at TVB, before achieving success with her girl-next-door roles in the 1980s' Hong Kong films. She is also known for her role as Empress Wu Zetian in Tsui Hark's Detective Dee film series. Lau won Best Actress at the Nantes Three Continents Festival for Days of Being Wild (1990), at the Golden Rooster Awards for Curiosity Kills the Cat (2006), and at the Hong Kong Film Awards for Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (2010).

Lau was born on 1965 in Suzhou, Jiangsu, with her ancestral home in Rong County, Guangxi, to Lau Gwai Ming (1940–2006) and Wong Fuk Mui (born 1944).

Lau's paternal grandfather moved to Thailand in 1935 to make a living and later moved to the country with his wife in 1938, just before the Canton Operation during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Lau's father, Lau Gwai Ming, was born in Thailand on 1940. Lau's father returned to China in 1955 and with the help of All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, he studied at a junior high school in Guangzhou and high school in Suzhou. Following the start of Cultural Revolution in 1965, overseas Chinese who returned to China were targets of criticism. Lau's father moved to Hong Kong in 1976, while Lau moved to Hong Kong with her mother and brother in 1978, and joined TVB's acting class in 1983.

Lau made her on-screen debut in TVB's The Clones (1984) where she starred opposite of her future husband, Tony Leung. She gained wider recognition after a series of appearances in successful drama series such as The Duke of Mount Deer and Police Cadet and skyrocketed to fame following her role as a wealthy heiress in one of Hong Kong's most-watched ever series, Looking Back in Anger (1989).

Lau then expanded to films. She was nominated at the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress for her role in Her Beautiful Life Lies (1989). She received acclaim for her role in Days of Being Wild (1991), one of her many collaborations with film director Wong Kar-wai. She continued to showcase her versatility with impressive performances in the martial arts epic Saviour of the Soul (1991), the biopic Center Stage (1991), the cross-dressing comedy He's a Woman, She's a Man (1994), and the offbeat romance Gigolo and Whore (1994). Following parts in the wuxia classic Ashes of Time (1994) and James Bond pastiche Forbidden City Cop (1997), Lau once again attracted the attention of various awards juries with her measured portrayals of bisexual silk factory owner Wan in Intimates (1997) and a prostitute in the 19th-century epic Flowers of Shanghai (1998).

Her roles as Hon Sam's wife in the two Infernal Affairs sequels and an android in Wong Kar-wai's 2046 (2004) further increased Lau's international recognition. Lau then stepped in the shoes of Sarah Jessica Parker for the Hong Kong version of Sex and the City, named Sex and the Beauties (2004). She won rave reviews for her performances as unhappily-married Rose in the low-budget thriller Curiosity Kills the Cat (2006) and as Wu Zetian in the blockbuster Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (2010), which earned her a Golden Rooster Award for Best Actress and a Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress, respectively. She reprised her role as Wu Zetian in two Detective Dee prequels. She received a Best Actress nomination at the Cannes Film Festival for her role as a rich housewife abandoned by her husband in Bends (2013).

In 2016, Lau was one of the celebrities that appeared on the Chinese reality show Up Idol. Since then, she has made guest appearances in other mainland reality TV shows. In June 2017, she and her husband were invited to become a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In 2021, she hosted Reflection, a short web series interviewing various female celebrities.

In 2024, she hosted the Jiangsu TV talk show Jia Ren Zi You Yue.