Emotion Cheung


Emotion Cheung is a Hong Kong male artist. His English name, Emotion, is a homophone of his Chinese name, "Kam-ching". He was active in Hong Kong stage plays, television and film industries in his early years, and later went to China to develop his acting career.  He won the Hong Kong Drama Award for Best Actor twice for "Luv" and "The French Kiss", and is the first Hong Kong best drama actor. In addition, he was once a Hong Kong television artist.

Early life

Cheung grew up in Block 3, Shek Lei Estate, Kwai Tsing District in his early years. During his secondary school years, he moved to Tsuen Wan District. He has three younger siblings and his father was a construction worker. In 1979, he studied at the afternoon school of S.K.H. Chu Oi Primary School. He graduated from Lui Ming Choi Lutheran College in 1984 in Form 5. His academic performance was average at school, but he managed to pass five subjects in the Hong Kong [Certificate of Education Examination] and was promoted to Form 6 at the same secondary school. However, he dropped out and did not take the Hong Kong [Higher Level Examination] because he was unable to cope with the amount of study material that needed to be memorized.
On the other hand, he showed his talent for drama in secondary school.  He has participated in school drama activities since Form 2, mainly as a director, and is a member of the Boys' Brigade. Cheung failed in his first application to the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, so he spent several months working as an advertising agent for a business magazine, mainly lobbying clients to place advertisements. From the second half of 1985 to the first half of 1986, he recommended himself to the Hong Kong Commercial Radio as a program host and planning trainee, and was eventually accepted by Fung Chin-ping. He received training from Amen Ng, Terrence Wong Kwai-lam, James Fung Wai-tong, Frankie Lo Wing Kwan. He once assisted in the recording of Eighteenth Floor Block C and created the sound effects behind the scenes. The rest of the time he dealt with program activities other than broadcasting. In 1986, he applied to the Academy of Performing Arts for the second time and was admitted as a student. The reason why he did not choose to apply for the TV station's artist training class was that he thought the training in the class was unorthodox.

Career

Cheung completed the Advanced Diploma programme at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in 1990. His classmates included Sunny Chan, Jim Chim, Emily Kwan, Jerry Ku, Joey Leung, Rain Lau. After graduating in 1990, he and Sap Sam Chan were hired by the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre. However, because the salary at Asia Television was more attractive, Cheung worked for ATV as an artist and left after his contract ended in 1993.  At the same time, he became increasingly active in the stage drama industry.  He founded the stage drama troupe "Acting Family" in 1991. Before 2000, he served as a creator, actor, director and producer for the drama troupe. Just a few years after entering the industry, he won his first stage play award.  In 1992, he won the Best Actor award at the first Hong Kong Drama Awards for his performance in Luv.  During the same period, he attended the dubbing class run by Lo Kwok Hung and May Tse, and thus he has voiced some dramas and movies, such as The Ghost Story directed by Tsui Hark and the first episode of Toy Story.
Cheung felt lost and confused during 1993 and 1994 and did not want to act.  The he hosted a late-night program "Emotion Cheung For You" on Metro Radio. From 1994 to 1995, he worked for Hong Kong Cable Television and partnered with Miguel Choi to host the cable YMC channel program "Youth People's Congress". At that time, the cable executives were reluctant to accept the innovative ideas he put forward on the show, which made Cheung frustrated. He used the live broadcast program to express his true feelings, his views on creation and his thoughts on the creative department executives, and was eventually kicked out of the company. The tapes of the relevant program clips were even used by cable TV as negative examples to train new employees.
In 1995, Cheung joined TVB under the encouragement and recommendation of Sunny Chan. In 2000, due to limited development opportunities and no salary adjustment, he signed with StarEast. During his time as a TVB artist, Cheung was involved in hosting and acting projects. He is best known for his ability to imitate characters in the variety show Enjoy Yourself Tonight, where he was appreciated by the then producer of the show, Chan Ka-lun, and joined the hosting team.  The opportunity to serve as a variety show host came from his own initiative, with the goal of reaching a wider audience. In addition to being active in the film industry, he also developed his personal career in China.
In 2000, he served as an instructor for the "Sweet Sweet Life" actor training class jointly organized by Metro Radio and Breakthrough.  Later, he realized that he was not a first-line actor and his Mandarin was not good enough. He thought that he could avoid the embarrassing situation of disagreeing with producers by becoming a manager. Therefore, from 2003 to 2006, he served as the manager and drama and acting consultant of "Dong Shan Culture" which he co-founded with his friends. With the birth of his daughter, he needed to devote more time to his family, so he handed over the business to his partner and served as an art consultant for Beijing Yihe Xingguang Culture Agency from 2006 to 2014.
In the late 2000s, Cheung continued his studies and graduated with a Master of Fine Arts degree in Directing from the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts in 2011.  In 2012, he won the Best Actor Award at the 21st Hong Kong Drama Awards for his performance in the drama "The French Kiss".  This is his second time winning the Best Actor award.
In 2016, he played the role of Fu Guosheng in the China online drama Yu Zui, which increased his popularity in the China market. In 2017, he and singer Lee Kin Tat won the Chinese Golden Melody Award for "Outstanding Dual Singing Song" for the song Good Friends. He is currently the host of "Nam Yan Lo Gau" on Meme Hong Kong Online Radio and "20, 30, 40" on Channel 234. He has also acted in films and television shows in both Hong Kong and China.
Cheung and his partner Hanks trained actors for ViuTV's 2023 drama Left On Read directed by Chan Kin-long. In the 8-class course, he shared his views on acting and life with students. Cheung believed that drama originated from life, so he liked to observe various details in daily life. He also told his students that "hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times." Cheung also plays the role of the school principal in the drama.

Personal life

In 1996, Cheung met Zhang Yan, a mainland Chinese actress and student who was sent by South China University of Technology to intern at TVB, through hosting the TVB travel program Walk Around China.  The two registered their marriage in Hong Kong in 2004 and have a daughter. The daughter’s godfather is director Tsui Hark.
In April 2021, Zhang returned to Hong Kong from abroad and was placed under compulsory quarantine at the Regal Airport Hotel. On the 5th of the same month, he was arrested for violating the quarantine order by leaving the quarantine room.  He was soon sent to North Lantau Hospital and then transferred to the Penny's Bay Quarantine Camp for quarantine.  Afterwards, he said that he needed fresh air to cope with his heart problems, so he asked the hotel staff to leave the room and rest in the hotel lobby.