Nicholas TSE

In Hong Kong, actors tend to double as singers and vice versa. No one would expect that teen heartthrob Nicholas Tse would not only become one of the most popular singers in Hong Kong, but one of today’s top action stars in Hong Kong. His training under a Jackie Chan Stunt Team member and a master of Wing Chun has come full circle for the 27-year old singer turned action star.

Nicholas Tse is the son of 1950’s Hong Kong teen idol Patrick Tse Yin and actress Deborah Dik and the brother of Jennifer Tse. Nicholas was raised in Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada and holds dual citizenships for Canada and Hong Kong. For a year, Nicholas lived in Phoenix, Arizona before going back to Vancouver. Nicholas would drop out of school his sophomore year of high school and went back to Hong Kong.

When Nicholas got to sing at a party for a family friend, he was discovered by Albert Yeung, the head of Emperor Entertainment Group. Nicholas would sign a record deal with EEG and under the Fitto label, released his first album, MY ATTITUDE, in 1997. Nicholas became the next teen idol of Hong Kong, following in the footsteps of his famous dad. He would release an EP of songs that same year.

In early 1998, Nicholas would make his film debut as a young Chan Ho-Nam in YOUNG AND DANGEROUS: THE PREQUEL. The movie required Nicholas to learn to fight for the films and trained under Jackie Chan Stunt Team member Nicky Li, who was the film’s action director. Despite an ankle injury, Nicholas completed shooting the film, but was not allowed to see the film in its premiere. In Hong Kong, when a film is rated Category-III, it is like the NC-17 rating in the U.S.A. No one under 18 was allowed and Nicholas was only 17 at the time of the film’s release.

In 1999, Nicholas would breakthrough as an action star with the film GEN-X COPS, which featured an ensemble of Hong Kong’s best new talents, from Stephen Fung to Daniel Wu. Nicholas performed most of his own stunts and fights but a knee injury during the finale forced him to be doubled. Despite this, executive producer Jackie Chan stated Nicholas would be the next big action star in Hong Kong after previewing a rough cut of the film. In his exact words, “Today, it’s Jackie Chan. Tomorrow, it’s Nicholas Tse.” Not even Nicholas would think it would happen, but over time, it had happened.

Nicholas continued success in Hong Kong as both a singer and an actor until 2002, when he went through a major crisis. A car accident led to a charge in obstruction of justice charges against Tse and he would serve 240 hours of community service, in which Tse worked in a public library. The incident would result in a fall in his popularity. Tse would take time off completely to find himself and in 2003, returned with the appropriately titled album REBORN.

In 2004, Nicholas teamed up with Jackie Chan in NEW POLICE STORY, Chan’s official comeback to Hong Kong cinema after a struggling career in Hollywood. The film was a hit and Tse’s popularity has once again risen. Proving himself further, Nicholas continued martial arts training not only under Nicky Li, but Nic’s preferred style is Wing Chun. Nicholas has also proven to be an agile kicker, working alongside Donnie Yen and Shawn Yue as kicker Tiger Wong in DRAGON TIGER GATE.

Shocking news came in September 2006 when it was announced that Nicholas secretly married girlfriend and actress Cecilia Cheung in the Philippines. In early 2007, Nicholas starred in the series WING CHUN, a continuation of the 1981 hit kung fu classic THE PRODIGAL SON in which Nicholas played the son of Yuen Biao’s character from the film. Both Yuen and Sammo Hung co-starred in the series. Nicholas trained in Wing Chun from Sifu Guy Lai for the film and continues training to this day. Nicholas also starred in what many consider his best film to date, the action thriller INVISIBLE TARGET, where he performed all of his own stunts, proving himself to be one of the best new action stars today.

Great news came on August 2, 2007 when Nicholas and Cecilia became the parents of a healthy baby boy they named Lucas. Despite his personal problems in the past, Nicholas has risen through and is to this day, one of the most respectable stars in the Hong Kong industry. With his English being perfect, he may someday, hit the international market, but that’s up to him to decide. Meanwhile, he is enjoying success not only as an entertainer, but as a loving father as well.

Despite the recent Hong Kong scandal, in which Nicholas’ wife Cecilia was named as one of the women involved with actor-singer Edison Chen, Nicholas and Cecilia are still together and sticking with each other. Nevertheless, Jackie Chan’s “prophecy” that he made in 1999 has come true. Nicholas Tse has become one of the next big action stars in Hong Kong and he seems very proud of that title.

SELECT FILMOGRAPHY
2009 – The Storm Riders II
2007 – Invisible Target
2006 – Robin-B-Hood
2006 – Dragon Tiger Gate
2005 – A Chinese Tall Story
2005 – The Promise
2004 – New Police Story
2004 – Enter the Phoenix
2004 – Moving Targets
2003 – The Medallion
2002 – My School Mate, The Barbarian
2001 – Comic King
2000 – Time and Tide
1999 – A Man Called Hero
1999 – Gen-X Cops
1998 – Young and Dangerous: The Prequel