Once a side kick of Yun-Fat Chow. They made 4 movies together: Ying hung ho hon (1987), Gong woo ching (1987), Du shen (1989) and Dou hap (1991). They also made two TV series together: "Yang ka cheung" (1986) and "Sou hat yi" (1982).
Lau was awarded the Asian Filmmaker of the Year in the 2006 Pusan International Film Festival in Busan (formerly Pusan), Korea. He received the award after initiating a project Focus First Cuts to finance films from fledging Asian directors. One of the 6 films, the black comedy Fengkuang de shitou (2006) (aka Crazy Stone), has gone on to become to date the second top-grossing film in China this year.
Awarded honorary fellow member by the Hongkong Academy of Performing Arts (HKAPA). Past recipients of the honor include Yun-Fat Chow, John Woo and 'Anthony Wong (IX)'.
He and Tony Leung Chiu Wai made 6 movie together: A Fei zheng chuan (1991), Fan dou ma liu (1992), Haomen yeyan (1991), Wu hu jiang zhi jue lie (Jin pai wu hu jiang) (1991), Mou gaan dou III: Jung gik mou gaan (2003) and Zhong Huan ying xiong (1991). They also starred together in two short-lived tv-series: "Yang ka cheung" (1986) and "Luk ding gei" (1984).