To list the many awards bestowed on Andy Lau during his decades at the top of the celebrity pecking order would simply be an exercise in rhetoric. Suffice to say that in Asia, even those with just a shred of regard for popular culture are familiar with the Hong Kong megastar.

Andy Lau, or Liu Dehua, broke into show business with roles in popular TV series in the 1980s. He wasted little time climbing to heartthrob status, parlaying his success into both the film and music industries. He spent the 1990s riding the Canto-pop wave and has dominated the industry since. Lau and three of his similarly wholesome contemporaries were dubbed, "the four heavenly kings".

Lau has released more than 120 films, recorded some 50 albums, and weathered scandals surrounding his sex life and a crazed fan. Still, he is on top. The singer is currently touring the Chinese mainland, promoting his latest Mandarin album, Miracle World, and will perform in Beijing on November 2.

Being mobbed by swooning females and chased through Asia has been an ordinary part of life for the 45-year-old for decades now. And Lau is comfortable with his astronomical popularity, regarding himself as simply a "friend" to his masses of admirers.

"I'm just like a friend of everybody," he said recently in Beijing, while promoting his latest movie, The Brother.

"I feel like when I walk everywhere in the world, as long as I meet some Chinese, they all know me. If I'm young, if I'm handsome, then you can love me, but I'm 45 already.

"They still love me. I think it is affection. It's not the audience and the idol; it's friendship."

Throughout Asia, Lau's face in various guises is plastered on posters promoting his films. He is best known for his lover roles, but has also done kung fu fare and serious drama. He has continued to juggle both screen and song, and during the 1990s, released hits that were internationally recognized by MTV, Billboard and IFPI.

Of course, Lau's clean-cut, enduring good looks aided his rise as an all-round entertainer. But it is not just the glamorous publicity shots that make the fans go weak.

Lau recalls leaving his house to buy an electrical appliance in 2003. It was during the SARS outbreak and, like most other people, the star wore a face mask. Lau, who also wore a hat that day, said he was taken aback when he was recognized. Lau was in Harbin, the capital city of China's northernmost Heilongjiang province, to perform a concert. Wind was blowing heavily and the temperature dropped to minus four degrees. On stage, Lau was thinly-dressed and battling a cold. Off stage, 50-60,000 screaming fans were in heaven.

Since his first recordings, Lau's technical talent as a singer has come under fire. During the heavenly kings era, Jacky Cheung was always regarded as the "king of singing." Yet it was Lau who preserved, and today remains the only one of the four "kings" still at the top of their cut-throat industry, having cemented his reputation as an a bankable star in for the long haul.

Lau is known by insiders for his hard work and drive. In his mission to conquer the entertainment world, he frequently juggles recording and acting commitments. Catching up on sleep in his car during a break from shooting is not unusual for the artist.

In person, the artist is real, down-to-earth and emits a charming smile. He enjoys bowling and has a high score of 279.

Lau hasn't always been so adept in the spotlight. Making his first big leap into film, he spoke of being dogged by a sensation that he was sleepwalking through his performances. Only now is he beginning to savor the challenges of his acting vocation. He is venturing beyond the safety of the persona of the dashing leading man, taking on riskier and more complex characters, such as the tightly wound triad spy he played in the hit Infernal Affairs trilogy. He'll even tackle subordinate parts if he thinks they are enough of a stretch.

Lau won the Best Actor trophy at the 23rd Hong Kong Film Awards for his performance as a conflicted monk in Running on Karma. In accepting the honor, Lau took the stage and proclaimed: "I love the film industry!"

"The people who work in this business just classify me as an idol," he said. "But never mind. I am an artist."

The son of a fire fighter, Lau was the fourth of six children, growing up in a public-housing estate in Hong Kong. It was a very poor area where there was not even running water, and Lau used to make up to eight trips a day to collect water for his family. Today, he commands about US$1 million per movie and averages three a year. He performs several concerts annually for about US$125,000 a show, and he boasts a steady stream of lucrative fees for advertisements and endorsements.

A key plank of Lau's appeal is the exhaustive concert schedule he has maintained since the early days. His huge fan base throughout Asia has continued to grow since the first song he wrote, Cold Rain, and Lau now has an extensive list of Cantonese and Mandarin hits to his credit.

His concerts are a lavish affair. Beyond the music, there is the electrifying atmosphere and dazzling costume and visual effects. On stage, Lau is charismatic and theatrical. He has dressed up as a magician, a samurai and a Cantonese opera singer for past performances, and has even demonstrated his proficient command of Chinese calligraphy while onstage.

Through the years, Lau has consolidated his success as a performer with business interests. In 2003, he launched his media company, Focus Group Holdings Limited. At last year's Pusan International Film Festival, he was honored as Asian Filmmaker of the Year, in recognition of his company's $HK25m Focus First Cuts project, which has already helped six directors finish shooting independent films. They included mainland director Ning Hao's Crazy Stone, which grossed nearly 20 million yuan at the domestic box office.

But Lau has also been embroiled in his share of controversy. He has been forced to deny speculation about his sexual orientation, which became the hottest topic in entertainment news. In 2001, Lau came clean to the Hong Kong media about his girlfriend of 18 years, former Malaysian beauty queen Carol. A former girlfriend Yu Ho-yun, a Taiwanese actress, published a kiss-and-tell expose about their relationship 20 years ago with Andy, including intimate pictures as well as love letters written to her by Lau.

Just this year, Lau faced perhaps the biggest challenge to his perfect man image when the father of a crazed fan committed suicide. As widely reported by the press, 29-year-old Yang Lijuan's 12-year obsession with Lau not only impoverished her family but drove her 68-year-old father to commit suicide in Hong Kong on March 27 this year. The man, a teacher, left a 12-page suicide note blaming Lau for causing the family's financial woes, while also pleading with the star to meet his daughter one more time.

In support of the daughter's obsessive dream, the Yang family spent all their savings. They sold their only house in Lanzhou in the hope the girl could travel and meet the star. Lau has twice commented on the matter. "I'm very unhappy because a girl who likes me did so many things to hurt her father," he said days after the father's death. He urged the girl to stop her unreasonable behavior and asked other fans to not emulate her.

And yet, despite all those rumors and incidents, Lau goes on doing what he knows best, performing and winning more fans in the process.

Andy Lau performs at Fengtai Concert Hall on Friday

(China Daily 10/31/2007 page4)