The following year, Lau played a major role in director Ann Hui's Boat People, which earned him a Hong Kong Film Award for Best New Performer nomination, as well as starring in the TVB series, The Emissary, which shot him to stardom.

In 1983, Lau starred as "Yeung Kuo" in The Return of the Condor Heroes, which was the top rated TV series of the year in Hong Kong, further boosting his popularity throughout Asia, and landed him the opportunity to star in his first leading film role in the action drama film, On the Wrong Track in the same year.

The same year, Lau directed and starred in his only directorial feature to date, the musical short Love Under the Sun to raise awareness about AIDS and dispel common misconceptions regarding its contagiousness.

In 2010, Lau played Di Renjie in Tsui Hark's Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame, which was nominated for the Golden Lion at the 2010 Venice Film Festival.

In 2017, Lau produced and starred as a righteous bomb disposal officer in Shock Wave, which earned him another Best Actor nomination for at the 27th Hong Kong Film Awards.