Brigitte Lin
Brigitte Lin was a long-running star of the Taiwanese and Hong Kong film industries, someone that Wong Kar-wai grew up watching on screen. Critic Stephen Teo posits that Wong dressing Lin in a blonde wig and sunglasses is a reference to her status as a Chinese film icon, active since the '70s when Wong would have been a boy watching her films. Lin also appeared in the film that Wong Kar-wai made simultaneously with Chungking Express, his wuxia epic Ashes of Time, both released in 1994.
Tony Chiu-Wai Leung
Chungking Express marked the beginning of a collaboration between Tony Chiu-Wai Leung and Wong Kar-wai that has so far spanned seven films. His turn in In The Mood For Love (2000) earned him a best actor prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2000. He is another stalwart of Hong Kong cinema, and notably appeared in a number of action maestro John Woo's films, including the smash hit Hard Boiled (1992).
Faye Wong
Faye Wong is mainly known as a Chinese pop star, commonly referred to simply as "The Diva." While her role in Chungking Express brought her to the attention of Western audiences — Quentin Tarantino was particularly vocal of his admiration — her fame from this film pales in comparison to her popularity as a musician in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Her other noteworthy collaboration in the 1990s was her recording stint with the British dream-pop band Cocteau Twins. She sings the Chinese-language rendition of The Cranberries' "Dreams" that plays at the end of the film, which would go on to become one of her biggest hits.
Takeshi Kaneshiro
In a funny play on the theme of doubling explored in the film, Takeshi Kaneshiro was also a singer, albeit a much less popular one that Faye Wong. While Chungking Express was not his first acting role, it did effectively launch his film career. He'd go on to star in Chinese films that became crossover hits in the states, such as the Jet Li vehicle House of Flying Daggers (2004) and John Woo's Red Cliff (2008).
