ProfileWhy Michael Tse, Hong Kong actor behind Laughing Gor, is a lesson in resilience

This is the 71st instalment in a biweekly series profiling major Hong Kong pop culture figures of recent decades. Back in the first decade of his entertainment career, which began in the mid-1980s, Michael Tse Tin-wah was a face you recognised but a name you might have struggled to place. He was a backup dancer hitting his marks behind Cantopop icons; a fiercely loyal triad henchman swinging a machete in the Young and Dangerous films; a dependable character actor equipped with a sinister, lopsided smirk. But his endurance paid off. In 2009, after more than two decades of playing the sidekick, the villain or the comic relief, he was cast in a supporting role in the TVB police procedural series E.U. Operating under the street name Laughing Gor, Tse infused his character, an undercover policeman embedded in a triad syndicate, with a cocktail of cynicism, swagger and hidden vulnerability. With his hooded eyes and that signature crooked smile, he looked every bit a man surviving on his wits. When the writers killed the character off midway through the season, something unprecedented happened: viewers flooded the internet with digital memorials and many demanded his resurrection. “I was a bit shocked at how well received my character was and how many people actually cried when he died,” he told the South China Morning Post around four months after his character died on screen. “At that moment, I was over the moon. Every now and then, I’d go on to the blog to check people’s messages for Laughing.” TVB listened, resurrecting Laughing Gor for a prequel film, Turning Point (2009). It marked Tse’s first major lead role on the big screen and saw him team up with three huge stars: Anthony Wong Chau-sang, Francis Ng Chun-yu and Eric Tsang Chi-wai. Tse continued with the character in the television series Lives of Omission and then another film, Turning Point 2, both released in 2011. Lives of Omission was named best drama at the TVB Anniversary Awards. This new-found leading-man status cemented Tse’s television reputation as an exaggerated, invincible tough guy – a persona so potent it occasionally spilled over into meme culture. In the 2013 series Sniper Standoff, Tse’s last TVB drama as a contract actor, his character casually chats on his mobile phone while dangling from a cliff face with just one hand. The physics-defying moment went viral and became an enduring internet joke, embraced by netizens for its sheer absurdity. Born Tse Hing-wah in 1967, he entered show business through music and dance, not acting. He graduated from TVB’s dance training programme in 1986, spending five years as a dancer for the Hong Kong broadcaster. During his gruelling apprenticeship, he was a regular backup dancer for Cantopop icons such as Anita Mui Yim-fong and Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing. Dancing in the shadows of the city’s biggest stars laid the foundation for his own relentless work ethic. In 1994, he pivoted to pop music himself, forming the short-lived boy band Wind Fire Sea with Jordan Chan Siu-chun and Jason Chu Wing-tong. Signed to Rock Records, the group released their self-titled debut album in 1994, followed by Joyful World in 1995. Tse took his first notable big-screen role in 1995, appearing in Tsui Hark’s wuxia gem The Blade. His breakthrough came playing the hot-headed triad member Dai Tin Yee in the influential Young and Dangerous series between 1996 and 2000. In 1997, his singing and dancing background caught the eye of Jacky Cheung Hok-yau, and Tse landed the second male lead part in Hong Kong’s first modern musical, Snow.Wolf.Lake. For nearly a decade following the triad film boom, Tse proved himself a reliable supporting actor at TVB, showing off his comedic timing in long-running sitcoms like Virtues of Harmony and Legal Entanglement in the early 2000s. His performance as a ruthlessly ambitious man in the 2006 hit series La Femme Desperado earned him his first best actor nomination at the TVB annual awards. A year later, he reminded audiences of his roots by winning the first season of the joint TVB and Hunan TV production Strictly Come Dancing, showing that his physical prowess was still sharp. Tse’s career has not been without personal missteps, notably a drink-driving incident in December 2008. The following spring, the SCMP reported that he pleaded guilty after he lost control of his car in the Western Harbour Crossing and collided with another vehicle. At Eastern Court, the magistrate noted it was “only by the greatest fortune that no one was hurt” in the crash. The court also heard that Tse had a history of traffic offences. He was ordered to pay a fine of HK$9,500 and to surrender his driving licence for 18 months, and he received a suspended six-week jail sentence. Ironically, his court sentencing happened just as Laughing Gor was blowing up on television. Returning to TVB studios for an interview, Tse acknowledged his mistake and the worry it caused his friends and family. “I am not going to celebrate; the matter is not worthy of celebration,” he said of the trial’s conclusion. Tse’s later career serves as a barometer for the shifting tectonic plates of Chinese entertainment. After nearly two decades at TVB and a reported disappointment at not winning the best actor award for Lives of Omission, Tse chose not to renew his contract with the broadcaster. Instead, he founded a production company and set his sights on the mainland Chinese market. He capitalised on 1990s nostalgia by reuniting with his Young and Dangerous co-stars for the heist film Golden Job (2018), while maintaining a steady output in mainland crime thrillers such as The Infernal Walker (2020), 72 Hour Golden Operation (2023) and Burning Blood (2024). He reached new heights of mainland popularity in 2021 by joining the reality competition Call Me by Fire, which saw him and his Young and Dangerous castmates form the fan-favourite “Greater Bay Area” group. Away from the industry, Tse guards his personal life. He married his long-time girlfriend, model Tina Lee Tin-yan, in 2005 after a 12-year relationship. The couple have two children – a son born in 2015, and a daughter in 2018. Tse has openly spoken about the sacrifices of fatherhood, recalling to Nancy Sit Ka-yin in a 2022 interview that his mainland workload once kept him away from his family for eight months. The legacy of Laughing Gor remains the now 58-year-old’s ultimate calling card – the role that transformed him from a dependable side player into a leading star. But separate the actor from his on-screen swagger and you find the ultimate industry survivor. Looking back at his ascent through the ranks of Hong Kong entertainment, Tse’s own reflections perfectly capture the secret to his endurance. “I didn’t have much acting experience, and when you join a new company, of course you’re not given important jobs to do,” he said in the 2009 SCMP interview. “You have to grab every opportunity you get, and once you have the chance to show what you can offer, people will start paying attention to you, and then they offer you the heavier roles. “If you want to play this game, you have to play by certain rules.” Want more articles like this? Follow SCMP Film on Facebook

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Michael Tse’s journey from backup dancer to Young and Dangerous henchman to leading film and TV actor showcases his endurance and tenacity

Michael Tse’s journey from backup dancer to Young and Dangerous henchman to leading film and TV actor showcases his endurance and tenacity