Leslie Cheung

Leslie Cheung was a Hong Kong singer-actor and one of the most influential queer cultural icons in the Sinophone world, celebrated for his androgynous style, boundary-breaking performances, and open embrace of his bisexuality. Cheung publicly acknowledged being bisexual in interviews in the 1990s and early 2000s, and he lived openly with his partner Daffy Tong from 1983 until his death. His film career included internationally acclaimed queer-relevant roles such as Cheng Dieyi in Farewell My Concubine (1993) and Ho Po-wing in Wong Kar-wai's Happy Together (1997), performances that cemented him as a global LGBTQ+ cinema icon. On stage, Cheung pushed gender norms with avant-garde fashion, cross-gender costuming, and a flamboyant persona that made him a pioneer of queer visibility in 1980s-90s Hong Kong. He died by suicide on April 1, 2003, after a long struggle with clinical depression; his death prompted an outpouring of grief across Asia and remains a defining, widely discussed chapter of his legacy.