Hong Kong Actor Sean Lau Ching-wan Wins Best Actor for 'Papa' at 18th Asian Film Awards

The 18th Asian Film Awards were held yesterday (March 16) at the Xiqu Centre in West Kowloon. Sean Lau Ching-wan beat strong contenders including Taiwanese actor Eddie Peng and Korean star Choi Min-sik to win Best Actor for his role in the film Papa. Overjoyed, he took the stage to cheer for Hong Kong cinema, saying, “I’m so happy to win this award with a Hong Kong film. I’d like to thank the director for their trust, as well as my on-screen family—Guk Jor-lam, my daughter, and my son So Man-tou. He’s been nominated for Best New Actor this time, an award I’ve never even been nominated for. You’re already amazing! I still have great confidence in Hong Kong films, and I hope we can all keep working hard together.” The Best Actress award went to Indian actress Shahana Goswami for Santosh, triumphing over strong competitors like Sylvia Chang and Kim Go-eun. The Best Film award was claimed by All We Imagine as Light, while Best Director went to Yoshida Daihachi for Teki Cometh.

In an interview, Sean Lau shared his feelings about the win: “After filming this movie, the kids in the film kept calling me ‘Papa,’ which made me so happy. Having this family, and winning this award because of them, made me a bit nervous. I’m grateful for their performances that helped me achieve this, and I thank everyone for supporting me and Hong Kong cinema. There are so many great Hong Kong films, so I’m not worried—I’ve been through several ‘film winters’ before.” When asked about Yakusho Koji, who presented him the award, he said, “He’s an outstanding actor. I often watch his movies. (Some say you resemble Yakusho Koji?) He’s much more stylish—super handsome when he was young. (You’re handsome too!) Well, I’ll be humble and say it like it is. (Would you like to work with him?) If I had that honor, I’d definitely give it a try.”

Reflecting on the cheers from the media when he won, he laughed, “The first time I won a Hong Kong Film Award, I also heard a huge wave of cheers from the press—it was so touching that I didn’t know what to say on stage. I hope those cheers were for Hong Kong cinema. (How will you celebrate?) I haven’t thought about it yet. I didn’t expect to win. Though I had confidence in myself, you never know until the end.”