Derek Tsang
曾國祥
Tsang at the 2010 Hong Kong International Film Festival
Born (1979-11-08) 8 November 1979
British Hong Kong
Occupation(s)Actor, film director
Spouse
​
(m. 2019)​
Parents
Family
  • Bowie Tsang (half-sister)
  • Tsang Wing Yee (half-sister)
  • Mark Tsang (brother)
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese曾國祥
Simplified Chinese曾国祥

Derek Tsang Kwok-cheung (曾國祥; born 8 November 1979) is a Hong Kong film director and actor. The son of actor Eric Tsang, Tsang got his start in the Hong Kong film industry working for director Peter Chan Ho-Sun after graduating from University of Toronto Scarborough in 2001. He made his acting debut in Men Suddenly in Black (2003) and directorial debut with Lover's Discourse (2010), sharing the directing credit with Jimmy Wan Chi-man. The duo was nominated for a Golden Horse Award for Best New Director in 2010.

His solo directorial debut Soul Mate (2016) was critically praised, receiving a Hong Kong Film Award for Best Film nomination at the 36th Hong Kong Film Awards. His next film Better Days (2019) was the Hong Kong submission for the Academy Awards and received a Best International Feature Film nomination, becoming the first Hong Kong submission directed by a Hong Kong native to do so.

Early life

Derek Tsang was born to actor Eric Tsang and his second wife Rebecca Chu in Hong Kong[1] on 8 November 1979.

Tsang described his upbringing as mostly detached from his father's public limelight.[2] He said his father had moved out to live on his own when Tsang was a child because he had wanted to keep his personal life separate from the entertainment industry, which allowed Tsang "an ordinary, middle-class upbringing". Tsang lived with his mother, grandmother, and younger brother Mark in Mei Foo Sun Chuen before the family, excluding his father, moved to Canada when Tsang was 11.[3]

Tsang received his bachelor of arts in Sociology at the University of Toronto Scarborough in 2001.[4]

Career

After graduation, he moved back to Hong Kong, where his father arranged for him to work under director Peter Chan Ho-Sun. There, he met producer Jojo Hui and director Jimmy Wan Chi-man, both of whom would go on to be Tsang's frequent collaborators.[3]

Despite not pursuing an acting career, Tsang has had a variety of acting roles since the start of his career, which he attributed to other actors not wanting to be typecast into roles with unflattering characteristics. He made his screen debut in Men Suddenly in Black (2003), cameoing as the younger version of his father's character. There he met director Pang Ho-cheung, whom Tsang would later collaborate with on various projects.[3]

Tsang made his solo directorial debut with Soul Mate (2016).[3] He was subsequently nominated for Best Director awards at various film award ceremonies, including at the 36th Hong Kong Film Awards and the 53rd Golden Horse Awards.

His next film, Better Days (2019), won eight out of 12 categories at the 39th Hong Kong Film Awards, including Best Film and Best Director. The film was subsequently chosen as the official entry for Hong Kong for Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards. It was shortlisted but lost to Denmark's Another Round.[3] He was the first native Hong Kong director in the category.[5]

Filmmaking

Tsang said his influences are primarily derived from art-house cinema, with early influences from director Wong Kar-wai and the French New Wave, as opposed to his father Eric Tsang's works, which consisted of mostly of mainstream comedies.[2] He credits his half sister Bowie Tsang for teaching him about film and literature.[3]

Personal life

Tsang married actress Venus Wong in 2019. He has expressed a reluctance to cast Wong due to the negative perception of nepotism.[3]

Filmography

Directing

Acting

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryNominated workResult
201047th Golden Horse AwardsBest New DirectorLover's DiscourseNominated
201653rd Golden Horse AwardsBest DirectorSoul MateNominated
201711th Asian Film AwardsBest DirectorNominated
36th Hong Kong Film AwardsBest DirectorNominated
Best New DirectorNominated
8th China Film Director's Guild AwardsBest Hong Kong / Taiwan DirectorWon
31st Golden Rooster AwardsBest Directorial DebutNominated
2020 39th Hong Kong Film Awards Best Director Better DaysWon
26th Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award Best DirectorWon
11th China Film Director's Guild Awards Best Hong Kong / Taiwan DirectorWon

References

  1. ↑ Soriano, Jianne (2021-03-18). "5 Things To Know About Derek Tsang And His Oscar-Nominated Film, "Better Days"". Tatler Hong Kong. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  2. 1 2 Meet Hong Kong filmmaker Derek Tsang Kwok-cheung, director of Better Days (YouTube video). South China Morning Post. June 29, 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Lee, Edmund (2020-10-11). "Why director Derek Tsang doesn't want to talk about his father". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 2020-10-11. Retrieved 2021-07-13.
  4. ↑ University of Toronto: Derek Tsang, Hong-Kong Filmmaker, Alumni Portrait, retrieved 2021-04-03
  5. ↑ Hinds, Carolyn (2021-04-25). "Why Derek Tsang Made 'Better Days,' His Film That's Already Made Oscar History". Observer. Archived from the original on 2021-04-25. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
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