Ekin Cheng was born in Hong Kong in 1967 with ancestral roots in Enping, Guangdong. In 1986 he entered Television Broadcasts Limited's artiste training class and came to notice through a soft-drink commercial. Losing the 1987 New Talent Singing Contest, he nonetheless appeared that year in his first television drama, Shooting Star, and became familiar to audiences through A Time of Passion (1990) and The Legend of Zu: Fairy Couple (1991). Signed by BMG Hong Kong in 1991, he began a parallel singing career. In 1992 he made his film debut in The Call Girls 1988 II, and was recruited by Wong Jing for roles in Future Cops (1993), Return to a Better Tomorrow (1994) and Temple Street Story (1995). In 1996 he starred for director Andrew Lau in the comic-book adaptation Young and Dangerous, which took over HK$21 million and made his gangster character Chan Ho-nam a favourite with audiences, turning him into a new-generation screen idol; he went on to appear in six films of the series and reunited with the cast in Golden Job (2018). He also headlined the comic-based romances Feel 100% and Feel 100% Once More (both 1996) with Sammi Cheng, both box-office successes that confirmed his drawing power. From 1997 he signed acting contracts with Golden Harvest and later China Star, starring in the comic adaptations The Storm Riders (1998) and A Man Called Hero (1999) as the characters Whispering Wind and Hero Wah, before returning to the series with The Storm Warriors (2009). His other hits included The Intruder (1998) and The Duel (2000). After 2000 he appeared in action films such as Tokyo Raiders (2000), Running Out of Time 2 (2001) and Divergence (2005), the comedy My Wife Is 18 (2002), the thriller My Twin Brother (2004) and the drama Claustrophobia (2009), and played gangsters seeking to retire in Kowloon Ice House (2001), Walk with the Dragon (2006) and Once a Gangster (2010). In 2008 he shared the Best Actor prize at the 12th Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival for Rule Number One. Later works include Saving General Yang (2013) and Break Up 100 (2014).
His turn as Chan Ho-nam in the Young and Dangerous series made Ekin Cheng a screen idol in 1996, and the film's HK$21 million gross helped fuel a wave of comic-book adaptations. He went on to embody comic heroes such as The Storm Riders' Whispering Wind and to craft a brooding underworld persona in films like Kowloon Ice House, becoming a defining face of late-1990s Hong Kong cinema.
Achievements
- 1987 · Appeared in his first television drama, Shooting Star, beginning to be recognised by audiences.
- 1996 · Starred as Chan Ho-nam in Young and Dangerous, which grossed over HK$21 million.
- 2008 · Won Best Actor at the 12th Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival for Rule Number One, sharing the prize with Shawn Yue.