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Eric Tsang

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Not to be confused with Erick Tsang.
In this Hong Kong name, the surname is Tsang. In accordance with Hong Kong custom, the Western-style name is Eric Tsang and the Chinese-style name is Tsang Chi-wai.
Eric Tsang
MH
曾志偉
Tsang in 2007
Born (1953-04-14) 14 April 1953 (age 71)
British Hong Kong
Occupation(s)Actor, director, producer, television host
Years active1972–present
Spouses
Wong Mei Hua
​
​
(m. 1972; div. 1975)​
Rebecca Chu
​
​
(m. 1989; died 2020)​
Children4, including Bowie and Derek
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese曾志偉
Simplified Chinese曾志伟
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinZēng Zhìwěi
Yue: Cantonese
JyutpingZang1 Zi3-wai5
Eric Tsang
Eric Tsang's hand print and autograph at the Avenue of Stars in Hong Kong.
Traditional Chinese曾志偉
Simplified Chinese曾志伟
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinZēng Zhìwěi
Wade–GilesTs'eng Chih-wei
IPA[tsʰə̌ŋ ʈʂɻ̩̂wèɪ]
Yue: Cantonese
JyutpingZang1 zi3 wai5
IPA[tsɐ́ŋ tɕīːwɐ̬i]

Eric Tsang Chi-wai MH (Chinese: 曾志偉; born 14 April 1953) is a Hong Kong actor, film director, producer, and television host, best known for hosting the variety show Super Trio series on the Hong Kong television network TVB over 18 years.[1][2] He is the general manager of TVB.[3]

Early life

Tsang is a Hakka of Wuhua ancestry. His father, Tsang Kai-wing, was a former football coach and player, then served in the Royal Hong Kong Police Force from 1940 to 1972. He fled to Taiwan to escape from the Independent Commission Against Corruption in 1976 after being convicted of corruption and sentenced to three years in jail, while still free pending an appeal. In 2001, the Department of Justice seized his house in La Salle Road and later auctioned it for HK$4.35 million after 10 years of civil proceedings. Tsang Kai-wing died in Taiwan in 2011 with his son Eric and other family members around him.[4][5]

Tsang is a cousin of former Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Frederick Ma.[5]

In his youth, Tsang was a Hong Kong professional soccer player.[6]

Career

Tsang began his show business career as a stuntman. Due to his popularity, Tsang is often the master of ceremonies (MC) in events organised by the Hong Kong television network TVB; due to him being the main host of the variety show Super Trio series, he was nicknamed "Prize Master" (獎門人),[7][8] his title in the show. In the 1980s and 1990s, he made parody comedy cassette tapes with songwriter, actor, and comedian Andrew Lam Man Chung. Tsang's singing vocal range is a tenor with no falsetto.[9]

He is known for being a short plump guy with a habit of speaking before thinking, often landing himself into hot water.[citation needed] His insults have led to him being assaulted by rumored triads over bad mouthing singer Joey Yung.[10] As an MC in the Miss Chinese International Pageant, he often favours contestants in Hong Kong.[citation needed]

Tsang has appeared as an actor in many successful Hong Kong films, gaining awards and nominations. Early on in his career, he was typecast as a bumbling, ugly, and crude sidekick, and it was not until encouragement from his daughter Bowie Tsang to stop doing comedic roles that he went on to star in a film with friend Alan Tam and was awarded a Hong Kong best actor award.[citation needed] Perry Lam, a cinema critic from Muse, wrote that Tsang 'brings directness, straightness and a lack of nonsense to whatever role he plays, and occasionally demonstrates an uncanny ability to enter the egoless states of which only the greatest of character actors like Robert Duvall are capable.'[11] Tsang has also been an occasional singer. Despite his high-pitched voice, he sings his parodies and theme songs to variety shows in a low-range tenor or high-range baritone of 2 octaves.[12]

In January 2021, Tsang was appointed TVB's deputy general manager (Non-Drama, Music Production & Programme) and special advisor to the executive committee and will be responsible for the variety show and infotainment program segment.[13] Tsang was involved in the Miss Hong Kong 2021 audition process.[14]

In September 2021, TVB management appointed Tsang as new general manager of content operation.

Personal life

Tsang is a devout Buddhist, often leading other actors in efforts to raise money for Hong Kong Buddhist temples and events.[15]

Tsang's best friends are Natalis Chan and Alan Tam, who are also famous singers and actors from Hong Kong. Tsang has been close friends with Tam's family since childhood as their fathers were colleagues in the police force and played football together.

Tsang has been married twice. His first marriage was to Taiwanese actress Wang Mei Hua (王美華) in 1972 and they had two daughters, Bowie Tsang and Tsang Wing Yee. They divorced in 1975. Wang brought their eldest daughter back to Taiwan, while their younger daughter moved to Canada.

His second marriage was to Rebecca Chu (朱錫珍) in 1989 and they had two sons, Derek Tsang, the director of Better Days, and Mark Tsang. Chu and their two sons later immigrated to Toronto, Canada without Tsang, who chose to stay in Hong Kong and they have had in a long-distance relationship since then.[16] On 21 April 2013, the Hong Kong 3 Weekly Magazine reported that Tsang's current wife was named Sung Lai Wah (宋麗華) and they had lived apart for 20 years. This was dismissed by Bowie Tsang on the following day. In fact, Sung Lai Wah was the mother of Alan Kuo.[17] Chu died of cancer on 3 August 2020 at the Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital.[18]

Sexual assault allegation

In December 2013, Next Magazine published an anonymously produced interview with actress Yammie Lam where she said that she had been raped by two Hong Kong entertainment industry "big brothers" 20 years ago. According to Lam, one of the individuals had died not long ago, while the other individual is alive. She further claims that the second individual had raped her during a film production in Singapore. However, the names of the alleged perpetrators were censored out of the audio, which generated intense media speculation. It is not known who the interviewer was; in fact, the interviewer's voice shows evidence of having been digitally manipulated from a natural female voice to a male voice.[19][20] In January 2018, a mainland Chinese journalist uploaded what is purported to be an uncensored recording of Yammie Lam's 2013 interview. In the new 2018 clip, the interviewer now has a natural female voice, and the formerly censored portions implicate Alan Tang (deceased in 2011) and Eric Tsang as the two alleged rapists of Lam. Media analysts have endorsed the authenticity of the newly released video; they note that the 2018 video did not have noise removal or other post-production traces that are observed in the publicly released 2013 clip; hence, whoever leaked the video must have had direct access to the original unedited video.[21]

Two days after the release of the January 2018 video, the sexual offense claim against Eric Tsang was corroborated by Grace Han, a talent agent who formerly headed the Ford Models agency in Asia. Han further alleged that Eric Tsang had sexually assaulted more than one woman, and claims to know of a specific incident in which a group of male Hong Kong celebrities, led by Tsang, allegedly drugged seven female models in a Hong Kong karaoke bar and raped six of them, while one girl escaped after she noticed the drugging.[22][23] Han's Weibo post has since been deleted.[24]

Tsang rejected the authenticity of the uploaded video and denied Grace Han's allegation.[25] A week after the allegations surfaced, Tsang filed a defamation lawsuit against Grace Han in the Hong Kong High Court, arranged for a press event, and announced that "punishment" is needed. Tsang further claimed to the media that he had already won a defamation lawsuit in 2006 on similar grounds, but independent media sources have not been able to corroborate this claim.[22][23]

Selected filmography

References

  1. ^ http://www.meizhou.cn/news/1206/08/12060800068.html Archived 2015-11-07 at the Wayback Machine Eric Tsang's ancestry, 8 June 2012
  2. ^ "Eric Tsang". chinesemov.com. Retrieved March 27, 2010.
  3. ^ 趙允琳 (2021-09-27). "曾志偉上任短短八個月再升職 獲TVB委任做總經理". 香港01 (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  4. ^ Central Station (31 August 2009). "The worst of times for Fred Ma". Archived from the original on 2011-06-04.
  5. ^ a b Tsang Kai-wing dies aged 94 after 35 years as corruption fugitive, SCMP, Danny Mok, 19 Jan 2011
  6. ^ "出身足球世家踢球比演戏专业 曾志伟：最爱梅西-搜狐体育". 2010.sohu.com. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  7. ^ "曾志伟父亲将移灵香港 涉贪污潜逃台湾36年_影音娱乐_新浪网". ent.sina.com.cn. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  8. ^ "TVB收视率扑街？！掌门人曾志伟强势回归救市！-新闻频道-手机搜狐". m.sohu.com. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  9. ^ 冇有線電台 -曾志伟 林敏驄 （完整版）, 2 December 2014, archived from the original on 2021-12-13, retrieved 2021-10-27
  10. ^ "揭秘曾志伟昔日嘲讽容祖儿长相丑遭暴打内幕". www.sohu.com. Retrieved 2021-12-29.[permanent dead link‍]
  11. ^ Lam, Perry (April 2008). "'Little big man'". Muse Magazine (15): 94.
  12. ^ [Eric Tsang singing Love of My Life with Alan Tam and Hacken Lee (dropped to D major key)]
  13. ^ "Actors take on senior roles at TVB". The Standard. 2021-01-22
  14. ^ "Miss Hong Kong Pageant Location Shoot May Happen In Singapore, Says TVB Deputy GM Eric Tsang". TODAYonline. Retrieved 2021-05-17.
  15. ^ 组图：娱乐圈明星信佛知多少. QQ News (in Chinese). 27 February 2007. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
  16. ^ "Eric Tsang's family comes second". Retrieved 2018-09-07.
  17. ^ "曾志偉與妻感情好得很". tw.news.yahoo.com (in Chinese). 21 April 2013. Retrieved 2020-11-26.
  18. ^ sina_mobile (2020-08-06). "曾志伟现任妻子朱锡珍去世，为何港媒说她的名字叫宋丽华？". k.sina.cn. Retrieved 2020-11-26.
  19. ^ JayneStars – Admitted Raped by entertainment "Big Brother"
  20. ^ "Hong Kong Star Eric Tsang Denies Rape Allegations". 11 January 2018.
  21. ^ BBC China, 2018 (traditional Chinese)
  22. ^ a b Sina China, 2018 (simplified Chinese)
  23. ^ a b Variety, 2018 (English)
  24. ^ "被指性侵女星 曾志伟：要让造谣者付出代价". BBC News 中文 (in Simplified Chinese). Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  25. ^ 黃梓恒 (2018-01-17). "曾志偉開記招否認曾性侵：再忍只會令網絡暴力愈來愈嚴重". 香港01 (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  26. ^ Kil, Sonia (June 15, 2016). "Korea's CJ Entertainment Announces China Production Lineup". Variety. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
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