Courtney Wu's early life was marked by a humble upbringing in Hong Kong, where he was born into a working-class family. As a teenager, he would sneak into the cinema after school, often watching European movies twice in a day, at 2:30 and 5:30 pm. During these viewings, he would focus on camera movement and angles, developing a keen interest in the role of a director, while also paying attention to the actors.
For about a year and a half, Courtney continued this habit, until he was eventually caught by the cinema usher and found the cinema door shut. Two years later, he moved to the United States to continue his high school education. When it came time to choose a major in college, Courtney followed his intuition, inspired by a TV episode of "Incredible Hulk", and chose radiologic technology.
After becoming a licensed radiologic technologist, Courtney pursued his passion for acting through occasional classes at the People's Light Theatre in Malvern and the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia. In 1991, he landed a role as police officer Welch in Neil Simon's play "Rumors" at a dinner theatre near Philadelphia with the Phoenix Company.
Upon his return to Hong Kong, Courtney entered the movie industry, securing occasional roles in local films. Today, he has appeared in over 90 films and 30 TV programs in Hong Kong. Since 2007, he has also appeared in "Police Magazine", a weekly show on RTHK, the government TV station.
In 2016, Courtney joined forces with executive producers and directors to take on the lead role in the film "Ten Years", which earned the Best Picture Award at the 35th Annual Hong Kong Film Award ceremony. His short film "Who's Next" generated 610K views on YouTube within its first two months in 2019.
As an avid fan of Dick Wolf's "Law and Order SVU" since its inception 25 years ago, Courtney hopes to one day appear in the television series as a major villain.
