Cantonese, or Standard Cantonese, is a language that originated in the vicinity of Canton (i.e. Guangzhou) in southern China, and is often regarded as the prestige dialect of Yue Chinese.

In mainland China, it is a lingua franca in Guangdong Province and some neighbouring areas, such as the eastern part of Guangxi Province. Outside mainland China, it is spoken by the majority population of Hong Kong and Macau in everyday life. It is also spoken by overseas Chinese communities in Southeast Asia (like Singapore and Christmas Island), the United States, Canada, Brazil, Peru, Cuba, Panama, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as parts of Europe, and is the most widely spoken non-Mandarin Sinitic language in the world.

While the term "Cantonese" refers narrowly to the prestige dialect described in this article, it is often used in a broader sense for the entire Yue branch of Chinese, including related dialects such as Taishanese.

The Cantonese language is also viewed as part of the cultural identity for the native speakers across large swathes of southern China, Hong Kong and Macau. Although Cantonese shares much vocabulary with Mandarin Chinese, the two languages are not mutually intelligible largely because of pronunciation and grammatical differences. Sentence structure, in particular the placement of the verb, sometimes differs between the two languages. The use of vocabulary in Cantonese also tends to have more historic roots. The most notable difference between Cantonese and Mandarin is how the spoken word is written; with Mandarin the spoken word is written as such, where with Cantonese there may not be a direct written word matching what was said. This results in the situation in which a Mandarin and Cantonese text almost look the same, but both are pronounced differently.

Russell Dominic Peters (born September 29, 1970) is a Canadian comedian, actor and disc jockey. He began performing in Toronto in 1989 and has been nominated for four Gemini Awards.

Russell Peters was born in Brampton, Ontario, Canada to Eric and Maureen Peters. His family is of Anglo-Indian ancestry and is Catholic. His father was born in Bombay, Maharashtra, India, and worked as a federal meat inspector; he is regularly mentioned and featured in his comedy work. His mother was born in Calcutta, West Bengal, India. He has an older brother named Clayton who was born in Calcutta. Russell attended Chinguacousy Secondary School for grades 9–10, and North Peel Secondary School for grades 11–12 in Brampton.

Peters began performing in Toronto in 1989. Peters' popularity extends to several countries. He has since also performed in the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Afghanistan, Sweden, South Africa, India, the Caribbean, Philippines, Vietnam, mainland China, Canada, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, France, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Jordan, Norway, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Trinidad among other places.

Stephen Chow Sing-Chi (Chinese: 周星馳, born 22 June 1962) is a Hong Kong actor, comedian, screenwriter, film director and producer.

Stephen Chow began as a temporary actor for TVB. He entered TVB in early 1980s, and was trained there, although he had few opportunities to appear in films. Chow graduated from TVB's acting classes in 1982. Chow began to find some success with the children programme 430 Space Shuttle, which he co-hosted with Tony Leung Chiu-Wai.

In 1987, Chow entered into the movie industry through the film Final Justice, which won him the Taiwan Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actor.

While Chow became quite well known on TVB for his comedies (especially 1989's The Final Combat), he shot to stardom in 1990's All for the Winner. This film made him and his older sidekick Ng Man-Tat two of the most sought-after stars in the Hong Kong film industry. Chow would collaborate with Ng on many of his more successful comedies, including Shaolin Soccer. Chow became Hong Kong's undisputed No. 1 comedian, taking over the mantle of Michael Hui. Unlike Hui, Chow's comedies are of the mo lei tau genre. With his expert comic timing and "rubber-faced mannerisms", Chow ranked alongside Andy Lau, Chow Yun-fat and Jackie Chan as the major box office draws of the 1990s.