chow was born in poverty, and graduated from high school to work first as a street peddler and then as an office boy, before joining TVB's television-actor training program in the early '80s. unfortunately, TVB's brass soon decided that chow was not up to snuff and canned him. a friend of his, actor jamie chik, pleaded with TVB to give him another chance -- which they did... hosting a romper room-like children's show called 4:30 space shuttle. a producer chanced upon the show one afternoon, and noticed the incredibly bored chow's sarcastic attitude towards the show's kiddie audience: in the show's quiz segment, chow asked the names of the ancient three kingdoms, and received from one wretched child the response "hong kong, china, and taiwan." chow embraced the boy and said, "you are very smart! someday, you'll be a great man!" the producer split his sides laughing and decided that chow had the potential to be a star.
chow's early films were martial arts and dramatic vehicles, which didn't play to his strength: still, chow's deadpan comic mugging drew notice, and win's films finally cast him in the comedy all for the winners -- the film that made him hong kong's box-office king. he's since starred in six of hong kong's 10 all-time top-grossing movies, and makes more than $1.7 million U.S. for each of his star turns; despite the inconsistent quality (and box office) of his recent films, he's still one of hong kong's top draws.
source: jeff yang, dina gan, terry hong, and the staff of a. magazine, eastern standard time: a guide to asian influence on american culture (from astro boy to zen buddhism) (new york: metro east publications, 1997), pages 81-82.

recently...
stephen chow's 2001 film, shaolin soccer, was hong kong's highest-grossing chinese movie of all time, taking in nearly $46 million asia-wide, and is set to be released in the united states by miramax. for his work in the film (as actor, writer, director, and producer), he won awards for best actor, best director, and outstanding young director at the 21st annual hong kong awards.

additional information and slight variants
� he was born on the 22nd of june 1962.
� his birthplace is hong kong but he is native to shanghai.
� he has three sisters: one older and two younger.
� he came from a middle-class family.
� tony leung chiu-wai, the art film icon, was his co-host on 4:30 space shuttle for four years.
� in 1987, he starred in his first drama series, the price of growing up, for the same company that hosted 4:30 space shuttle.
� he dated some of his co-stars, including karen mok man-wai and athena chu yun (both of them are actors and singers).
� ...will add more later.