“aka MR. CHOW ”Documentary Exposes the Real 'Character' Behind the 'Crazy' Restaurant (Exclusive)

See the trailer for ‘aka MR. CHOW’ which will debut Sunday, Oct. 22 on HBO and will be available to stream on Max

An actor, artist and global restaurateur is giving fans a closer look into his life.

In the trailer of aka MR. CHOW, which PEOPLE can exclusively premiere, restaurateur and actor Michael Chow invites viewers into his life to learn more about his struggles as an immigrant and business owner. The documentary, debuting Sunday, Oct. 22 on HBO and streaming on Max, pulls back the layers on a “man who doesn’t want people to know who he really is.”

“When I was young, I wanted to be a painter,” Chow (born Zhou Yinghua) explains in the opening of the trailer while dancing around a spacious art studio.

“I painted religiously,” he says before revealing one of the struggles he faced before achieving his dream: “You learn very quickly: China in the west was nothing.”

Chow, who also goes by M, then explains that he was told, “No you can’t be a painter. You can’t do anything except for restaurant or laundry.”

Chow’s choice was clear, so he opened a restaurant and created a new persona in the process: Mr. Chow.

“I wanted to create respect — respect for my country,” Chow says in the documentary’s trailer, adding that Chinese culture was seen as “the low of low,” and he “wanted to show them we are the chic of chic.”

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Chow’s first iteration of his Beijing-style restaurant Mr. Chow opened in London in 1968. He expanded to the U.S. in 1974 with a location in Beverly Hills before opening a second U.S. location in New York City in 1979. Mr. Chow now has additional locations across the world, including in Miami, Las Vegas and Saudi Arabia.

The trailer shows scenes from Chow’s restaurant, which has been frequented by the likes of Mariah Carey, Kim Kardashian and Jessica Alba, He tells his staff, “This is theater. We are looking for transcendence to a higher place.”

"The restaurant was crazy," says Grace Coddington, former creative director at Vogue.

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The trailer then cuts to clips of patrons dancing around the restaurant, the restaurant's signature noodle show and stills of celebrities making appearances at the hot spot.

“It was a safe place for a lot of people,” Chow's son Maximillian tells the camera.

“Mr. Chow is a character, created by him, of the man who doesn’t want people to know who he really is," adds Chow's friend Kevin Lipton.

The video shifts as the viewer is transported back to Chow’s art studio. He explains that his father was an artist who “revolutionized the Beijing Opera.” Chow also shares a piece of advice he received from his father: “Wherever you go, always remember, you are Chinese.”

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“The problem with racism? It hurts,” Chow candidly tells the camera. “You take away my glasses and you take away my Rolls Royce, I’m not good enough now.”

Later in the trailer, an art critic views Chow’s work, assessing that “these paintings speak about turmoil, about tension — but, they’re also joyous and free,” as the restaurateur is seen working on large paintings by throwing globs of paint, burning with a blowtorch, and cracking eggs on the canvas throughout the end half of the trailer.

“Art and creativity is something that is very important to him,” Maximillian explains. “It’s one of the things that makes us human.

In addition to his work as an artist and in restaurants, Chow has made appearances as an actor in films such as Rush Hour, Basquiat and My Sister’s Keeper. 

aka MR. CHOW debuts Sunday, Oct. 22 at 9:00 p.m. EST/PST on HBO and will be available to stream on Max.

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