hou has acted in four films, including starring as the main character "lung" in fellow taiwanese new wave auteur edward yang's "taipei story" (1985), which was perhaps yang trying to return the favor for hou casting him in his film "a summer at grandpa's" (1984). prior to that appearance, hou appeared in another fellow taiwanese new wave filmmaker's film, ko i-chen's "i love mary" (1984). in 1986, hou played the character "boy-boy" in kei shu's "lao niang gou sao" (1986) and in 2013, hou appeared as an older parental figure in jie liu's high school comedy, "young style" (2013).