Nicholas Tse Ting-fung was born at St. Teresa's Hospital in Ma Tau Wai, Hong Kong, on 29 August 1980, with ancestral roots in Panyu, Guangdong. He is the son of the actors Patrick Tse and Deborah Lee, and his younger sister Jennifer Tse is also an entertainer. He attended La Salle Primary School and then Hong Kong International School before finishing his schooling at St. George's School in Vancouver, Canada, and dropping out in Form Four. In 1995 he went to Tokyo to study music, having already written songs as a teenager. In December 1996 he signed with the Fitto label and debuted as a singer with the single The Law of Attraction, quickly becoming a star through a rock-influenced sound and a rebellious image; he released his first Cantonese album, My Attitude, in 1997, moved to Emperor Entertainment in 1999, and his Mandarin album Thank You for Your Love 1999 sold more than a million copies. In film he has mostly performed his own action and dangerous stunts; in 1999 he won Best New Performer at the 18th Hong Kong Film Awards for Young and Dangerous: The Prequel, and he went on to star in Gen-X Cops, Metade Fumaca, Master Q 2001 and Tiramisu. In 2006 he won Best Supporting Actor at the Hundred Flowers Awards for New Police Story; in 2010 he took Best Supporting Actor at the 29th Hong Kong Film Awards and the Asian Film Awards for Bodyguards and Assassins; and in 2011 he won Best Actor at the 30th Hong Kong Film Awards for playing an informant in The Stool Pigeon, becoming the first post-1980s winner of the prize, an occasion remembered for his public apology to his father from the stage. He later starred in As the Light Goes Out (2014) and Raging Fire (2021), and in 2024 served as action director on Customs Frontline. In 2003 he founded the post-production company Post Production Office, from 2014 hosted the cooking show Chef Nic and launched his own food brand, and in 2025 returned to the concert stage after twenty years.
Nicholas Tse has carried on the hard-edged tradition of Hong Kong action cinema through performing his own dangerous stunts and a rock persona, and became the first post-1980s Best Actor winner at the Hong Kong Film Awards. Through his post-production company he has taken part in the technical side of local film-making, and through his cooking show extended his stardom into a food brand.
Achievements
- 1999 · Won Best New Performer at the 18th Hong Kong Film Awards for Young and Dangerous: The Prequel
- 2011 · Won Best Actor at the 30th Hong Kong Film Awards for The Stool Pigeon, becoming the first post-1980s Best Actor winner
- 2003 · Founded the post-production company Post Production Office