Nicholas Tse

Nicholas Tse Ting-fung is a Hong Kong actor, singer, television chef, and entrepreneur born on 29 August 1980. After launching his music career in 1996, he pivoted toward acting. He became widely recognized for his film roles in Metade Fumaca, New Police Story, Bodyguards and Assassins, The Viral Factor, and Raging Fire, as well as the television series The Proud Twins.

Born in Ma Tau Wai, Kowloon, to actors Patrick Tse and Deborah Lee, Tse spent his youth alongside his younger sister, Jennifer Tse. At age eight, he moved to Vancouver, Canada, attending St. George's School until he was expelled for fighting a bully. After dropping out of Hong Kong International School due to intense media attention, he attended middle school in Phoenix, Arizona, but was expelled for poor academic performance. He later studied at the Tokyo Music Institute in 1996. In 2021, Tse applied to renounce his Canadian citizenship.

Tse began his musical path in 1997 with the Fitto label, later Emperor Entertainment Group, releasing his hit debut album My Attitude to help settle his father's debts. He won the Most Popular New Artist Award at the 1997 Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music Awards Presentation. His successful albums Viva and Jade Butterfly followed, with the latter earning him the World's Best Chinese Artist honor at the 2002 World Music Award. In April 2025, Tse became the first Chinese singer to perform at Kai Tak Stadium.

As an actor, Tse featured in films like Young and Dangerous: The Prequel, Gen-X Cops, and Invisible Target, alongside television shows such as Aiming High and The Monkey King: Quest for the Sutra. He learned martial arts from Jackie Chan and Chung Chi Li, trained in Wing Chun with Philip Ng, and starred with Donnie Yen in Dragon Tiger Gate. He earned Best Supporting Actor at the 4th Asian Film Awards for Bodyguards and Assassins and won Best Actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards for The Stool Pigeon, completing a historic sweep of all three major Hong Kong Film Award acting categories.

In business and culinary arts, Tse founded the special effects firm Post Production Office, becoming chairman of Digital Domain in Greater China after a 2016 acquisition. He launched the culinary show Chef Nic in 2014, opened a Hong Kong bakery, created the Chef Nic lifestyle brand, and received the Friend of Michelin honor in 2016. In 2025, he joined the Tencent cooking show The Divine Dish as a judge.

Tse married actress Cecilia Cheung in 2006, having two sons, Lucas and Quintus, before their 2011 divorce. He later rekindled a relationship with singer Faye Wong in 2014. His early career included public controversies and legal issues, notably a 2002 conviction for obstruction of justice following a car crash cover-up, which resulted in community service, as well as driving penalties and a settled dispute with a photographer.