Eric Tsang

Eric Tsang Chi-wai MH (Chinese: 曾志偉; born 14 April 1953) is a Hong Kong actor, film director, producer, and television host, best known for hosting the variety show Super Trio series on the Hong Kong television network TVB over 18 years.[1][2]

Not to be confused with Erick Tsang.
In this Chinese name, the family name is Tsang.
Eric Tsang

MH
曾志偉
Eric Tsang at the Shanghai Film Festival in 2007
Born (1953-04-14) 14 April 1953
British Hong Kong
OccupationTVB Deputy General Manager, Master of Ceremonies, actor, director, producer, comedian, parody singer
Spouse(s)
Wang Mei Hua
​
​
(m. 1972; div. 1975)​

Rebecca Chu
​
​
(m. 1989; died 2020)​
Children
AwardsChangchun Film Festival
Best Supporting Actor
2006 2 Young
Hong Kong Film Awards – Best Actor
1992 Alan and Eric Between Hello and Goodbye
Best Supporting Actor
1997 Comrades: Almost a Love Story
2017 Mad World

Golden Bauhinia Awards – Best Supporting Actor
1997 Comrades: Almost a Love Story

Golden Horse Awards – Best Supporting Actor
1998 Hold You Tight

TVB Anniversary Awards – My Favourite On-Screen Partners (Non-Dramas)
1998 Super Trio series
1999 Super Trio Series
2001 Super Trio Series
2004 Super Trio Series
Best Presenter
2009 Super Trio Series

Chinese name
Traditional Chinese曾志偉
Simplified Chinese曾志伟
Eric Tsang
Eric Tsang's hand print and autograph at the Avenue of Stars in Hong Kong.
Traditional Chinese曾志偉
Simplified Chinese曾志伟

Family background

Tsang is a Hakka of Wuhua ancestry. His father, Tsang Kai-wing, was a former football coach and player, then served in the Royal Hong Kong Police Force from 1940 to 1972. He fled to Taiwan to escape from the Independent Commission Against Corruption in 1976 after being convicted of corruption and sentenced to three years in jail, while still free pending an appeal. In 2001, the Department of Justice seized his house in La Salle Road and later auctioned it for HK$4.35 million after 10 years of civil proceedings. Tsang Kai-wing died in Taiwan in 2011 with his son Eric and other family members around him.[3][4]

Tsang is also a cousin of former Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Frederick Ma.[4]

In his youth, Tsang was a Hong Kong professional soccer player.

Career

Tsang began his showbusiness career as a stuntman. Due to his popularity, Tsang is often the master of ceremonies (MC) in events organised by the Hong Kong television network TVB, and he was nicknamed "Prize Master" (獎門人).

He is known for being a short plump guy with a habit of speaking before thinking, often landing himself into hot water. His insults have led to him being assaulted by rumored triads over bad mouthing singer Joey Yung. As an MC in the Miss Chinese International Pageant, he often favours contestants in Hong Kong.

Nevertheless, Tsang also appeared in many successful Hong Kong films, gaining actor awards and nominations. Early on in his career, he was typecast as a bumbling, ugly, and crude sidekick, and it was not until encouragement from his daughter Bowie Tsang to stop doing comedic roles that he went on to star in a film with friend Alan Tam and was awarded a Hong Kong best actor award. Perry Lam, a cinema critic from Muse, wrote that Tsang 'brings directness, straightness and a lack of nonsense to whatever role he plays, and occasionally demonstrates an uncanny ability to enter the egoless states of which only the greatest of character actors like Robert Duvall are capable.'[5] He also was an occasional singer. Despite his high-pitched voice, he sings his parodies and theme songs to variety shows in a low-range tenor or high-range baritone of 2 octaves.[6]

Personal life

Tsang is a devout Buddhist, often leading other actors in efforts to raise money for Hong Kong Buddhist temples and events.[7]

Tsang's best friends are Natalis Chan and Alan Tam, who are also famous singers and actors from Hong Kong. Tsang has been close friends with Tam's family since childhood as their fathers were colleagues in the police force and played football together.

Tsang was married two times. His first marriage was with Taiwanese actress Wang Mei Hua (王美華) in 1972 and they had two daughters, Bowie Tsang and Tsang Wing Yee. Due to Tsang's sociable nature with spending more time with his friends and at work rather than at home, they divorced three years later in 1975. Wang brought their eldest daughter back to Taiwan, while their younger daughter moved to Canada.

His second marriage was with Rebecca Chu (朱錫珍) in 1989 and they had two sons, Derek Tsang, who is a famous international director who directed Better Days, and Mark Tsang. Chu and her two sons later immigrated to Toronto, Canada without him, who chose to stay in Hong Kong and they had been living in a long-distance relationship since then.[8] On 21 April 2013, the Hong Kong 3 Weekly Magazine reported that Tsang's current wife was named as Sung Lai Wah (宋麗華) and they had lived apart for 20 years, this was dismissed by Bowie Tsang on the following day. In fact, Sung Lai Wah was the mother of Alan Kuo.[9] Chu died of cancer on 3 August 2020 at the Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital.[10]

Sexual assault allegation

In December 2013, Next Magazine published an anonymously-produced interview with actress Yammie Lam where she said that she had been raped by two Hong Kong entertainment industry "big brothers" 20 years ago. According to Lam, one of the individuals had died not long ago, while the other individual is alive. She further claims that the second individual had raped her during a film production in Singapore. However, the names of the alleged perpetrators were censored out of the audio, which generated intense media speculation. It is not known who the interviewer was; in fact, the interviewer's voice shows evidence of having been digitally manipulated from a natural female voice to a male voice.[11][12] In January 2018, a mainland Chinese journalist uploaded what purported to be an uncensored recording of Yammie Lam's 2013 interview. In the new 2018 clip, the interviewer now has a natural female voice, and the formerly censored portions implicate Alan Tang (deceased in 2011) and Eric Tsang as the two alleged rapists of Lam. Media analysts have endorsed the authenticity of the newly released video; they note that the 2018 video did not have noise removal or other post-production traces that are observed in the publicly released 2013 clip; hence, whomever leaked the video must have had direct access to the original unedited video.[13]

Two days after the release of the January 2018 video, the sexual offense claim against Eric Tsang was corroborated by Grace Han, a talent agent who formerly headed the Ford Models agency in Asia. Han further alleged that Eric Tsang had sexually assaulted more than one woman, and claims to know of a specific incident in which a group of male Hong Kong celebrities, led by Tsang, allegedly drugged seven female models in a Hong Kong karaoke bar and raped six of them, while one girl escaped after she noticed the drugging.[14][15]

Tsang rejected the authenticity of the uploaded video and did not address Grace Han's allegation. A week after the allegations surfaced, Tsang filed a defamation lawsuit against Grace Han in the Hong Kong High Court, arranged for a press event, and announced that "punishment" is needed. Tsang further claimed to the media that he had already won a defamation lawsuit in 2006 on similar grounds, but independent media sources have not been able to corroborate this claim.[14][15]

Selected filmography

References
  1. http://www.meizhou.cn/news/1206/08/12060800068.html Eric Tsang's ancestry, 8 June 2012
  2. "Eric Tsang". chinesemov.com. Retrieved March 27, 2010.
  3. Central Station (31 August 2009). "The worst of times for Fred Ma". Archived from the original on 2011-06-04.
  4. Tsang Kai-wing dies aged 94 after 35 years as corruption fugitive, SCMP, Danny Mok, 19 Jan 2011
  5. Lam, Perry (April 2008). "'Little big man'". Muse Magazine (15): 94.
  6. [Eric Tsang singing Love of My Life with Alan Tam and Hacken Lee (dropped to D major key)]
  7. 组图：娱乐圈明星信佛知多少. QQ News (in Chinese). 27 February 2007. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
  8. "Eric Tsang's family comes second". Retrieved 2018-09-07.
  9. "曾志偉與妻感情好得很". tw.news.yahoo.com (in Chinese). Retrieved 2020-11-26.
  10. sina_mobile (2020-08-06). "曾志伟现任妻子朱锡珍去世，为何港媒说她的名字叫宋丽华？". k.sina.cn. Retrieved 2020-11-26.
  11. JayneStars - Admitted Raped by entertainment "Big Brother"
  12. https://variety.com/2018/film/asia/hong-kong-eric-tsang-denies-rape-allegations-1202661112/
  13. BBC China, 2018 (traditional Chinese)
  14. Sina China, 2018 (simplified Chinese)
  15. Variety, 2018 (English)
  16. Kil, Sonia (June 15, 2016). "Korea's CJ Entertainment Announces China Production Lineup". Variety. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
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