Andy Lau Tak-wah (Traditional Chinese: 劉德華; Simplified Chinese: 刘德华; (born September 27, 1961 in Hong Kong as 劉福榮) is a Hong Kong pop star and a movie actor.

The first lead role that made his initial popularity was the TVB series Hunting in 1982. In the same year, Andy started in his first movie in Boat People. Later in 1983, his role as Yang Guo in wuxia TV serial The Return of the Condor Heroes made him even more popular and landed him his first leading role in a Shaw Brothers' film called On the Wrong Track.

Andy's most recent role was in Battle of Wits in 2006.

He has since appeared in more than 100 films, and has a huge fan base throughout Asia with the success of both his onscreen performance and his musical career. Andy Lau is best known for his (often) recurring roles in the King of Gamblers.

Lau is known to some more for his good looks than for his strengths of acting, though he has answered his critics since the turn of the century in a series of critically acclaimed movies, especially those directed by Johnnie To. His first major acting prizes came with A Fighter's Blue and Running Out of Time in 2000. In 2004, he won the prestigious Golden Horse Award for his performance in Infernal Affairs 3, the sequel to the popular Infernal Affairs which is to be remade in Hollywood as The Departed starring Matt Damon as the police mole Lau played. Western audiences may also be familiar with his performance in House of Flying Daggers.

Andy Lau was recently awarded "No.1 Box Office Actor 1985-2005" of Hong Kong, yielding a total box office of HKD 1,733,275,816 for shooting 108 films in the past 20 years. It is compared to the first runner-up Stephen Chow (HKD 1,317,452,311) and second runner-up Jackie Chan (HKD 894,090,962). "I've never imagined that would be as much as 1.7 billion!" He told the reporters.

He is also one of the most successful Chinese music celebrities, with an extensive list of Cantonese and Mandarin hits to his credit. His first music contract came in 1985, but his singing career reached stellar status in 1990 with the release of the album entitled 可不可以 "Would It Be Possible?", and his subsequent releases only solidified his status as a highly marketable singer. Andy Lau along with Jacky Cheung, Aaron Kwok and Leon Lai also named as the Cantopop Four Great Heavenly Kings (四大天王.

Andy Lau also got into Guinness World Records for "Most Awards Won By A Canto-Pop Male Artist". By April 2000, Andy Lau had won an unprecedented 292 awards, for a singing career that began in 1988. Since 1992, Lau has appeared in concert 179 times.

The most notable hits by Andy Lau include 一起走過的日子 (The Days We Passed Together), 愛不完 (Neverending Love), 潮水 (The Tide), 忘情水 (Forget Love Potion), 中國人 (Chinese People), 笨小孩 (Stupid Child), 愛你一萬年 (Love You Forever (lit. Love You For 10,000 Years)), 你是我的女人 (You Are My Woman).

Despite kissing with a number of female celebrities over the years, there were constant rumors that Andy Lau was gay. He has never denied such claims nor did he ever come out like his fellow Hong Kong star, Leslie Cheung.

Rumor also has it that Andy Lau is married with a child, who supposedly lives in London and works at the local McDonald's in Canary Wharf.[citation needed] After avoiding the question for many years, he denied the report in an interview for his new movie and stated that he was not married.