Mirror star Edan Lui receives two Hong Kong Film Award nominations for best new performer

The boy band singer proves that he’s more than a Canto-pop heartthrob, as his acting skill earns him two nominations at the Hong Kong Film Awards this year

The nominations for the 2023 Hong Kong Film Awards are out now, and as expected, established stars such as Anthony Wong, Louis Cheung, Sammi Cheng and Sylvia Chang feature prominently on the list. But there is also a lot of hype around Canto-pop boy band Mirror’s member Edan Lui, whose acting prowess in Hong Kong Family and Chilli Laugh Story has earned him two nominations in the best new performer category, making him the only actor to have more than one nomination this year.

The other nominees for the same category includes Sahal Zaman in The Sunny Side of the Street, Jer Lau, another Mirror member, in Mama’s Affair and Henick Chou in A Light Never Goes Out.

While we eagerly await to find out who receives the top honours at the 41st awards ceremony on April 16, to build anticipation we have listed five things you should know about Lui:

1. He actually debuted as an actor in 2021

While he is nominated for best newcomer, neither films are his first time as an actor. Back in 2021, he had his television debut as the lead actor in ViuTV’s Ossan’s Love, which is a Hong Kong adaptation of the popular Japanese television drama series. He plays a straight property agent Tin Yat-hung, on whom his co-star Anson Lo’s character has a crush.

2. His music video got one million views in less than three days

Above Mirror (Photo: Instagram / mirror.weare)

As a boy band, Mirror enjoys sky-high popularity in Hong Kong, but Lui stands out as one of the most popular. The music video for his song Little Comedian ranked first on streaming platforms such as YouTube on the first day it was released in July 2021, and in less than three days it had garnered more than one million views, making him the member with the highest views in the shortest time.

3. He has been praised by his co-star Sandra Ng

Above A poster of “Chilli Laugh Story” (Photo: Instagram / chillilaughstory)

Released in July 2022, this comedy also stars Sandra Ng, the veteran actress who was invited to join The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 2022 class. Lui plays the lead character Coba Cheung, who loses his main source of income, and must work with his bickering parents to sell chilli sauce during the pandemic. The wacky characters and their bond as a family made the film popular in the city, and it became the fourth highest-grossing Hong Kong-produced film of 2022. Despite Lui being in an early stage of his acting career, Ng highly praised his potential and said in an interview with a Chinese media platform that she expected him to play the lead character in his next film.

4. He attended 18 screenings in a day to greet his fans

Above Edan Lui (second from right) and the cast of “Hong Kong Family” (Photo: Instagram / HKFamily)

Leading actresses Teresa Mo Shun-kwan, who is nominated for Best Actress at this year’s Hong Kong Film Awards, banded with Lui in Hong Kong Family, which follows the story of a dysfunctional family whose fault lines are revealed at a reunion dinner. Lui played the hot-tempered son, a role that earned him rave reviews. The box office hit more than HK$10 million one week after the film was released. The Canto-pop star attended 18 screenings in a day to greet his fans, and even sang the theme song of the movie at some of the screenings.

5. He credits his success as a performer to his persistence as a student

Above Edan Lui (Photo: Instagram / mirror.weare)

Born in 1997, Lui was a student at HKU’s Business School. He had once expressed interest in studying social work as he was confident in communication and public speaking. But when he was choosing his university degree, he listened to his secondary school teacher’s advice and chose IT, without having any knowledge of coding. When he entered university, he failed his first examination. Today, he advises students to pick a subject that they like. He said in an interview to the Chinese media in 2020 that the greatest takeaway from his student days was the persistence he put in his studies—and it was the same quality that has made him a star.

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Topics

Mirror Edan Lui Hong Kong Film Awards Cantopop Singer Entertainment Boyband Best new performer Culture