Cheung achieved widespread recognition as an actor in the 1990s. He played a womaniser longing for the return of his estranged mother in "Days of Being Wild" (1990), which won him Best Actor at the 1991 Hong Kong Film Awards. His role as a homosexual Peking opera actor in "Farewell My Concubine" (1993) catapulted him to prominence in the western world. Cheung's reputation as a queer celebrity consolidated with his role in the 1997 drama "Happy Together", a film explicitly depicting a homosexual male relationship. His comeback as a recording artist in the late 1990s, particularly with his 1996 album "Red", was noted for sonic experimentation and extravagant, graphic imagery. He was awarded the Golden Needle Award, the highest distinction of the RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards, in 1999. In 2000, he was honoured as "Asia's Biggest Superstar" at the CCTV/MTV Music Honours in mainland China. Cheung committed suicide by jumping off the 24th floor of the hotel Mandarin Oriental on 1 April 2003, having been diagnosed with severe clinical depression.