Advertisement
Profile | From lowbrow comedy star to vocal opponent of Chinese Communist Party, Hong Kong actor and film producer Chapman To is still controversial
- Hong Kong actor and producer Chapman To is best known for his roles in the trilogy of Infernal Affairs films and a number of bawdy comedies
- His vocal support for the pro-democracy cause has affected his ability to work in Hong Kong, and To now lives in Taiwan, where he gained citizenship
Reading Time:4 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
1
This is the 17th instalment in a biweekly series profiling major Hong Kong pop culture figures of recent decades.
Advertisement
Chapman To Man-chat is a name that dedicated fans of Hong Kong comic films will readily recognise.
Best known for his roles in bawdy and lighthearted productions, the actor, who began his career at Hong Kong terrestrial broadcaster ATV, achieved mainstream recognition in the early 2000s with his role in the acclaimed big-screen crime thriller Infernal Affairs and its sequels.
To’s outspoken and boisterous personality has won him admirers – he runs an online talk show with over 900,000 followers – and landed him in hot water, particularly given his support for the pro-democracy cause in Hong Kong since the 2014 “umbrella movement” protests.
Born Edward Ng Cheuk-cheung in 1972, To grew up in Hong Kong, and had a reputation as a class clown in school. “The teachers’ comment in my handbook was always ‘talkative’. Not ‘best sense of humour’, but talkative,” he told HK Magazine in 2007.
Advertisement
To’s father, a gambling addict, left the family when he was young, but he followed in his father’s footsteps anyway and became a gambler at the age of 17. To escape from loan sharks chasing him, To fled to Taiwan; he returned to Hong Kong when he was 22, and started working in construction.
Advertisement