Leslie was born in Hong Kong in 1956. He went to school in England. On returning to Hong Kong, he entered into the Second Asian Song Contest and was first runner-up. He then began a career as what was then known as Rediffusion Television and is today called Asia Television as an actor. In 1981, Cheung released his solo album "The Wind Blows On", which launched Cheung's career as one of Hong Kong's most popular male singers. He soon became well known as a film actor as well, appearing in such acclaimed films as Patrick Tam's Nomad (1982), John Woo's A Better Tomorrow I & II (1986,1988). Tsui Hark and Ching Siu-tung's A Chinese Ghost Story I & II (1987,1988) , Stanley Kwan's Rouge (1988) and Wong Kar-wai's Days of Being Wild (1990).

In 1990, Cheung had decided to wrap up his career as a recording artist and immigrate to Canada. The makers of FareWell to My Concubine, however, persuaded him to stay on a bit longer and take the role of Cheng Dieyi. To prepare for the role, he spent a long time training in the movements and gestures of the Peking Opera and learning to speak the Peking dialect, no easy task for one whose mother tongue is Cantonese. Since making Farewell, Cheung has acted in Ashes of Time, a martial arts constume drama directed by Wong Kar-wai.

Leslie also has the world's largest Internet fan club called The Leslie Cheung Fan Club.

Leslie commited suicide on April 1st, 2003, a terrible loss to the world. He was a world class actor and a deep and sensitive human being. Here are his final words from the note he left...

"Depression. Thank you to all my friends. Thank you Professor Felice Lieh Mak. This year has been tough. I can't stand it anymore. Thank you Mr. Tong. Thank you to my family. Thank you to Fat Sister. I have not done one single bad thing in my life, why does it have to be this way?" Leslie

| Ronny Yu | Wu Chien Lien |