Kenneth Tsang Biography
Kenneth Tsang was a Hong Kong actor whose career spanned for over five decades in films and TV shows. He was born on October 5, 1934, in Shanghai, and studied at Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, and later transferred to the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned a degree in architecture.
Kenneth Tsang began his acting career in the mid-1950s with his debut in the film The Feud in 1955, followed by Who Isn’t Romantic? in 1956. He starred in detective films and classic kung fu movies in the mid-1960s and collaborated with Hong Kong teen idols Connie Chan Po-chu and Josephine Siao. In the late 1960s, he appeared in a few Wong Fei-Hung movies.
Tsang rose to prominence in the 1980s, with his role as taxi cab owner Ken in John Woo’s A Better Tomorrow in 1986. He collaborated with Woo on subsequent movies like A Better Tomorrow 2 in 1987, The Killer in 1989, and Once a Thief in 1991. Kenneth Tsang appeared in several Singaporean Chinese dramas during the 1990s, notably The Teochew Family in 1995 and The Unbeatables II in 1996.
Kenneth Tsang’s career extended to Hollywood with The Replacement Killers in 1998, Anna and the King (1999), Rush Hour 2 (2000), and Die Another Day (2002) as General Moon. He continued to act in Hong Kong films throughout his career.
Kenneth Tsang was married three times. His first wife was Chan Laidi. In 1980, he married columnist and model Barbara Tang. In 1994, he married Chiao Chiao, a Chinese-born Taiwanese actress.
Kenneth Tsang Kong passed away on April 27, 2022, in Hong Kong, while undergoing a seven-day Covid-19 quarantine at the Kowloon Hotel.
