Chronology

1958	Born on July 17 in Shanghai. His father is a hotel manager and his mother is a housewife. He is the youngest of three children.
1963	Moves with his mother to Hong Kong and lives in the Tsim Sha Tsui district. His father and siblings are unable to join them due to onset of the Cultural Revolution.
1980	Attends Hong Kong Polytechnic (now Hong Kong Polytechnic University), majoring in graphic design.
1982	Quits college and enrolls in a director training program offered by Television Broadcasts Limited. Continues to work there as a scriptwriter after graduation. Produces first television drama 執到寶 (Don’t Look Now) and is assistant director for 輪流轉 (Five Easy Pieces). Writes first screenplay 彩雲曲(Once upon a Rainbow).
1985	Writes 吉人天相 (Chase a Fortune), a comedy. Meets Alan Tang Kwong-wing, a former actor who became a film producer, at Wing Scope.
1986	Writes the screenplay for The Final Victory.
1988	Directs As Tears Go By, which receives positive reviews and good box office sales.
1989	At the 8th Hong Kong Film Awards, As Tears Go By wins Best Supporting Actor (Jacky Cheung) and Best Art Direction (William Chang) As Tears Go By screens at Cannes Film Festival at the International Critics’ Week.
1990	Days of Being Wild released but is received poorly among audiences and is pulled from theaters.
1991	Days of Being Wild received five awards at the 10th Hong Kong Film Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Leslie Cheung), Best Art Direction, and Best Cinematography. The film re-released in theaters but still receives poor reception among audiences.
1992	Founds Jet Tone Films with Jeff Lau.
1994	Chungking Express released. Ashes of Time released two months later. Chungking Express was made during the lengthy production of Ashes of Time.
1995	Fallen Angels released in Hong Kong. Chungking Express wins four awards at the 14th Hong Kong Film Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Tony Leung), and Best Editing. Ashes of Time wins another three: Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, and Best Costume and Make-up Design. The two films compete with each other in seven categories, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Art Direction. At the Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards, Ashes of Time wins Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Actor (Leslie Cheung).
1996	Fallen Angels wins three awards at the 15th Hong Kong Film Awards: Best Supporting Actress (Karen Mok), Best Cinematography, and Best Original Score. Chungking Express was the first Wong’s film screened in the US. It is released in DVD by Rolling Thunders, a distribution company launched by Quentin Tarantino. Wong made his first commercial, which is for the brand of Takeo Kikuchi.
1997	Happy Together released. Wong wins Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival; this is the first major international award won by Wong and the first Cannes award won by a director from the Greater China Region. Happy Together is nominated for the Palm d’Or. Tony Leung Chiu-wai wins Best Actor at the 16th Hong Kong Film Awards.
1998	Fallen Angels screens in the US. Wong mentions In the Mood for Love is in preproduction
2000	In the Mood for Love released. It premieres in May at the Cannes Film Festival, where Tony Leung Chiu-wai wins the Best Actor award. It wins the Best Technical Grand Prize and is nominated for the Palm d’Or. In the Mood for Love premieres at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.
2001	In the Mood for Love screens in the US. The film wins five awards at the Hong Kong Film Awards, including Best Actor (Tony Leung Chiu-wai), Best Actress (Maggie Cheung), Best Art Direction, Best Costume and Make-up Design, and Best Film Editing. It also wins six “best foreign film” awards, including New York Film Critics Circle Awards and British Independent Film Awards. Wong directs a short promotion film for BMW. Wong is awarded the Bronze Bauhinia Star by the Hong Kong SAR Government for his contribution to society.
2004	2046 released. It premieres at the Cannes Film Festival and is nominated for a Palme d’Or.
2005	2046 screens in the US. It wins six awards at the Hong Kong Film Awards, including Best Actor (Tony Leung Chiu-wai), Best Actress (Zhang Ziyi), Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Costume and Make-up Design, and Best Original Film Score. Eros premieres in September at the Venice Film Festival.
2006	Wong chairs the jury at the Cannes Film Festival and receives the Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur.
2007	My Blueberry Nights, Wong’s first feature film in English, opens at Cannes. The Hand released in the omnibus Eros. Wong receives an Honorable Doctorate Degree in Social Sciences from the Open University of Hong Kong.
2008	My Blueberry Night opens in the US. Ashes of Time Redux, a remaster of the original, released with redubbed dialogue; however, Leslie Cheung’s voice is retained due to the actor’s suicide in 2003.
2013	The Grandmaster released. It is the opening film for the Berlin Film Festival. Wong receives the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French government for his contribution to film.
2014	Wong receives a lifetime achievement award at the 45th International Film Festival of India. The Grandmaster wins twelve awards at the 33rd Hong Kong Film Awards, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress (Zhang Ziyi), Best Supporting Actor (Max Zhang), Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Costume and Make-up Design, Best Action Choreography, Best Original Film Score, and Best Sound Design. The Grandmaster receives two nominations at the Academy Awards: Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design. Wong chairs the Grand Jury at the Berlin Film Festival.
2015	The 3D version of The Grandmaster released in mainland China and Taiwan.
2016	To celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of Jet Tone, the 40th Hong Kong International Film Festival screens Wong’s films produced by Jet Tone, including the 3D version of The Grandmaster and the sixty-minute version of The Hand.