Eric Kot Man-fai, born in Hong Kong on 30 December 1966, is a radio and television presenter, actor and film director best known as the "soft" half of the pop duo Softhard. The son of a tipper-truck driver, he grew up in Fuk Loi Estate in Tsuen Wan, the fourth child in the family, attended Precious Blood Tak Ching Primary School in Tai Wo Hau and graduated from Wah Yan College Kowloon in 1984 before studying design at the Caritas Bianchi College of Careers, where he met Jan Lamb. He worked as a window dresser for the fashion designer Walter Ma and sold clothes with Lamb at Esprit. On 21 March 1988 the pair joined Commercial Radio as part-time disc jockeys to form Softhard, with Kot reporting traffic as the "Road Angel". The duo hosted popular programmes such as Old Folks' Home Hour on CR2 and the television show Softhard Production; their 1991 debut album and the 1993 rap-flavoured record Murder on Broadcast Drive are regarded as forerunners of Cantonese rap and made them a fixture of 1990s Hong Kong popular culture. From the late 1990s Kot worked apart from Lamb and concentrated on film acting; in 1995 he received Hong Kong Film Awards nominations for both best actor and best supporting actor, the former for Three Loving Youths. He directed his first feature, First Love: The Litter on the Breeze, in 1998, which won best original film music at both the Hong Kong Film Awards and the Golden Horse Awards. A leading figure in Hong Kong street fashion, he set up the design house Double X Workshop with Calvin Choy of Grasshopper in 1994, later opened a Hong Kong store for the Japanese label A Bathing Ape, ran an internet radio station and created the clothing brand 4A. In 2006 he reunited with Lamb for the Long Time No See concerts at the Hong Kong Coliseum, and in 2025 he won a Hong Kong Drama Award for best supporting actor for the stage play Di-Dar.
Softhard, formed by Kot and Jan Lamb, reshaped Hong Kong radio with street language and irreverent humour, and the duo's rap-style records are seen as a forerunner of Cantonese rap. Kot later moved into film acting and fashion design, becoming one of the defining figures of 1990s Hong Kong popular culture.
Achievements
- 1988 · Joined Commercial Radio part-time with Jan Lamb to form the duo Softhard.
- 1995 · Was nominated for Best Actor at the 14th Hong Kong Film Awards for Three Loving Youths.
- 1998 · Made his directorial debut with First Love: The Litter on the Breeze, which won best original film music at the Hong Kong Film Awards and the Golden Horse Awards.