Kent Cheng (born 1951) is a Hong Kong actor who has twice won the Hong Kong Film Award for best actor, for Why Me? (1985) and for a 1996 police drama. Born Cheng Jak-si and nicknamed 'Fat Kent', 'Brother Kent', 'Fat Cat' and 'Bulldog', he is of Chaozhou descent, was born in Shantou and moved to Hong Kong as a small child. The eldest of eight in a poor family, he first lived in a rooftop flat on a Wan Chai street and later in a resettlement estate in Wang Tau Hom. He graduated from a Kowloon primary school in 1965 as a member of its first cohort and was allocated a place at Ying Wa College the same year, but after Form One his family could afford to educate only one child, so he dropped out to let his younger brother continue. As a boy he was captivated by the child actress Fung Bo-bo and wrote an essay declaring his ambition to be an actor, for which a teacher scolded him for vanity. At fourteen he became an apprentice gem setter, taking evening classes; by 1972 he had qualified and worked as a goldsmith, spending about a decade in the jewellery trade. He entered the film industry in 1973–74 through a film company's training course, initially playing bit parts, and joined TVB in 1976, appearing in the long serial Hotel. In 1985 he wrote, directed and starred in Why Me?, playing an intellectually disabled young man called 'Fat Cat'; it was his fortieth film and his first non-comedic role, and it won him both the best actor prize at the 5th Hong Kong Film Awards and a special jury award. He later revived the character on television, turning it into a pop-culture landmark. He was nominated for best supporting actor at the 13th Hong Kong Film Awards for Crime Story (1993), and in 1997 he won a second best actor award at the 16th Hong Kong Film Awards for the 1996 police drama, also taking best actor at the 2nd Golden Bauhinia Awards. He has remained steadily active in both film and television, moving between comedy and drama, and is one of the few actors to have twice been crowned a Hong Kong Film Awards best actor.
Cheng made his name as the intellectually disabled 'Fat Cat' in Why Me?, a character he carried into television until it became a pop-culture landmark; a two-time Hong Kong Film Award Best Actor, he is one of the few character performers equally at home in comedy and serious drama.
Achievements
- 1973 · Entered the film industry through a studio training course, initially playing bit parts
- 1986 · Won Best Actor at the 5th Hong Kong Film Awards for writing, directing and starring in Why Me?
- 1997 · Won Best Actor at the 16th Hong Kong Film Awards for the 1996 police drama