Raymond Lam

Early years

Raymond Lam was born into a wealthy family. His father, Lam Kwok-Wah (林國華), is a real-estate property developer in the mainland referred to as "Xiamen's Li Ka-shing" (廈門李嘉誠) who sits on the board of seven real estate and construction companies. Raymond has a younger sister and a younger brother. His paternal great-grandmother is Spanish, making Raymond 1/8 Spanish.

His birthname was Lam Wui-man (林匯文), which later changed to Lam Yat-fung (林逸峯), and stage name is Raymond Lam Fung. He calls himself Raymond as the pronunciation of it is similar to his birthname 'Wui-man'. The name was changed to give him a "feng shui advantage".

While his first languages are Cantonese and Hokkien, Lam studied in Kiangsu and Chekiang Primary School, a primarily Mandarin-speaking primary school in pre-Handover Hong Kong and is thus also fluent in Mandarin and English. Raymond Lam's childhood dream was to become a professional dancer. He studied in St. Paul's College, Hong Kong for Secondary School. Following that, he studied architecture in Xiamen University for 1st Year, and then completed the rest at University of Southern California, majoring in architecture and minoring in music.

Success in Hong Kong

Lam attended the 13th TVB artists training class in 1998 as an auditing student and was offered a contract with TVB upon graduation in September 1998. In the earlier part of his career, Lam appeared as a walk-on in numerous television series and as a host for TVB8. Lam rose to fame for his portrayal of the ruthless Ying Ching in the historical/science fiction drama A Step into the Past (2001). He was then offered his first lead role in Eternal Happiness (2002). In 2003, Lam won the TVB Anniversary Award for "Most Improved Male Artiste" for his performance in Survivor's Law.

In 2004, Lam gained fame in China for his role as Kou Chong in Twin of Brothers. He won the "Audience's Favourite Character" award at the TVB Anniversary Award, "Newcomer with the Most Potential" award at the 2nd Enlight Media Awards as well as "Favourite Actor Award" in Malaysia at the Astro Wah Lai Toi Drama Awards.

After a one year hiatus in 2005 due to inner conflicts in TVB, Lam made his comeback in La Femme Desperado (2006), which became the highest rated drama of the year.

In 2007, Lam was cast in The Drive of Life, a grand production by TVB to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong reunification. He was also invited to guest star in Heart of Greed. Though initially slated to appear for about 10 episodes in Heard of Greed, his appearance was extended to 30 episodes due to popularity. That year, he received the "Favourite Hong Kong TV Actor" award from QQ Entertainment Awards in mainland China.

The following year, Lam returned to star in the Moonlight Resonance, the sequel to Heart of Greed. The series was met with critical acclaim, and subsequently became the highest rated Hong Kong drama since 1991. Lam won the "Grand Popularity" award at the 41st TVB Anniversary Awards, as well as the "Favourite Male Character" award for his role as Kam Wing-ho. He was also crowned "Best Actor" at the StarHub TVB Awards held in Singapore and Astro Wah Lai Toi Drama Awards.

Also in 2008, Lam starred in the wuxia drama The Four. His portrayal of the character "Wu Qing" was met with critical acclaim from fans of the original novel by Woon Swee Oan. This was followed by a starring role in the martial arts series The Master of Tai Chi, for which he won "Best Actor" at the Asian Television Awards. Lam was also given the "Best Performance" award at the New York Festivals International Television & Film Awards, becoming the first Hong Kong actor to win the award.

In 2010, Lam starred in The Mysteries of Love, where he portrayed a genius physics professor. Lam's portrayal of a professor was described by audience using the slang word "Chok", which means "cool or handsome, to the point of electrifying". Lam stated that he thinks the word means "professional/serious" instead. Subsequently, the term went viral and Lam was named as the "King of Chok". The same year, Lam also made his foray into films, starring in Perfect Wedding with Miriam Yeung and The Jade and the Pearl with Charlene Choi.

Breaking into China

In 2011, Lam starred in the Chinese film The Sorcerer and the White Snake, alongside Jet Li, Huang Shengyi and Charlene Choi. The film was one of the top 5 grossing Chinese films of the year, and Lam was ranked on Forbes China Celebrity List for the first time.

In 2012, Lam played a policeman for the first time in Highs and Lows. High and Lows was the most watched Hong Kong drama in China that year, and Lam won "Best Actor" at the Huading Awards.

In 2013, Lam starred in Saving General Yang, portraying the fifth son Yang Yande. The same year, he was chosen along with Andy Lau, Chow Yun-fat and Tony Leung Chiu Wai as Hong Kong's "ideal man".

In 2014, Lam's contract with TVB ended and he did not renew. The same year, he portrayed Han Wudi in the drama The Virtuous Queen of Han, which won him the "Top 10 Most Popular Actor" award at the 9th Chinese TV Audience Festival. He also starred the Hong Kong series Line Walker. His character "Bao Seed" was praised by critics for being the "soul/essence" of the drama. Line Walker achieved an average rating of 30.5 becoming the highest-rated Hong Kong drama of the year. It also surpassed 24 billion views, becoming the only Hong Kong drama to join the "20 billion view" category for television dramas. Lam won the "Best Actor" award at the 15th Huading Awards for his performance both dramas.

At the end of 2014, Lam signed with Emperor Entertainment Group (EEG) for a reported sum of 100 million.

In 2015, Lam portrayed Lu Xiaofeng in the wuxia drama Detectives and Doctors. He is the fourth Chinese actor to portray the character, and was praised by critics for being the most outstanding Lu Xiaofeng.

Lam has been cast in the upcoming dramas Rule The World, playing Huang Taiji as well as The Legends of Monkey King, where he will play the titular Sun Wukong.

Singing

Apart from his acting career, Lam also performed some of the theme songs for the television series he acted in. In 2007, Lam signed on with EEG under its Music Plus Label, and released his debut album, Love is Finding You in Memories, on 23 November. The title track of the album served as one of the theme songs for TVB's The Drive of Life. More than 20,000 copies were sold a week after the album was released. In addition, the album received the IFPI Gold Disk Award and Lam won the "Most Popular Newcomer" award at the Jade Solid Gold Awards Presentation.

On September 10, 2008, Lam released his second album Your Love, and a month after the release, the album secured a double IFPI Platinum Award for reaching sales of more than 60,000 copies after 3 weeks. A song from the album, Love With No Regrets, became the theme song of Moonlight Resonance, and won many awards including the "Golden Tunes" award from the Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Award and Jade Solid Gold Awards Presentation.

In 2009, Lam released the album Let's Get Wet and stepped on the Hong Kong Coliseum for his first concert, held on 17 and 18 June, where both nights were sold out. EEG and TVB showed strong support for his concert and a billboard advertisement was featured at the entrance of Cross Harbour Tunnel to publicize the event. The tour continued to Vietnam in July, and then to America in December. Lam was awarded "Best Selling Male Singer" at the IFPI Hong Kong Top Sales Music Award, "Outstanding Trendy Singer" at the Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Award as well as "Asia-Pacific's Most Popular Male Singer" at the Jade Solid Gold Awards Presentation. Lam became the first singer to receive the award in three years, the youngest winner and the first to sing a Cantonese song when winning this award. However, the Hong Kong media criticized TVB for giving him that award out of commercial point.

On July 17, 2010, Lam released his fourth album Come 2 Me. From 27 to 30 July, Lam held his second concert at the Hong Kong Coliseum. He also held mini concerts at United States and Canada. Both the concert DVD as well as the album secured a IFPI Triple Platinum Award. The concerts continued over to Singapore, Malaysia, Macau and Guangzhou in early 2011.

On March 4, 2011, Lam released his first Mandarin and fifth album First. The album achieved IFPI Quadruple Platinum Award. On July 22, 2011, Lam released his sixth album LF, which includes the music videos of several songs from First. From 29–31 July 2011, Lam held his third concert, Light Up My Live, at HKC on four-sided stage. Light Up My Live was also his first world tour. Lam held an autograph session on November 26, 2011 where it was announced that both LF and the concert DVD sales reached Quadruple Platinum. The single "CHOK", from the LF album, was also named as the "Best Song" at the Jade Solid Gold Awards Presentation.

From March to June 2012, Lam was busy with his tour which had stops at Australia, Canada and United States. On August 17, 2012, Lam released his seventh album Self-Portrait. The title song, also named "Self Portrait" was written by the team behind Eason Chan's single "What's Going On…?"; and the music video was filmed in Toronto. The album topped the YesAsia charts, and reached Double Platinum. Lam also won "Most Popular Male Singer" at the Jade Solid Gold Awards Presentation.

On 26 January 2013, Lam held his fourth concert and world tour, A Time 4 You, with his eighth album of the same name released one day before the concert. The DVD album of the concert ranked first on iTunes' Top World Music Albums Charts. For the 3rd time, Lam won "Best Selling Male Singer" at the IPFI Hong Kong Top Sales Music Award. He also won several other awards.

In 2016, Lam released his seventh album, Trap. From 29 April until 1 May 2016, Lam held his fifth concert, Heart Attack LF Live In HK.

Personal life

Since 2013, Lam is dating Hong Kong actress Karena Ng.