# Derek Tsang

Derek Tsang Kwok-cheung (曾國祥; born 8 November 1979) is a Hong Kong filmmaker and actor. The son of actor Eric Tsang, Tsang got his start in the Hong Kong film industry working for director Peter Chan 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 Best New Director at the 47th Golden Horse Awards.
His solo directorial debut Soul Mate (2016) was critically praised, receiving 12 nominations at the 36th Hong Kong Film Awards and 7 nominations at the 53rd Golden Horse Awards. His next film, Better Days (2019), was nominated for Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards, becoming Hong Kong’s first Oscar submission directed by a Hong Kong native to be nominated in the category.

## Early life

Derek Tsang was born to actor Eric Tsang and his second wife Rebecca Chu in Hong Kong on 8 November 1979.
Tsang described his upbringing as mostly detached from his father's public limelight. 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.
Tsang received his bachelor of arts in Sociology at the University of Toronto Scarborough in 2001.

## Career

After graduation, Tsang 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.
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.
Tsang's solo directorial debut, Soul Mate (2016), earned him Best Director nominations at various film award ceremonies, including the 36th Hong Kong Film Awards, the 53rd Golden Horse Awards and the 11th Asian Film Awards.
His next film, Better Days (2019), won eight out of twelve categories at the 39th Hong Kong Film Awards, including Best Film and Best Director. The film was subsequently chosen as Hong Kong's official entry for Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards. The film was nominated, but ultimately lost to Denmark's Another Round. Tsang became the first native Hong Kong director in the category.
In July 2021, Tsang was invited to become a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

## 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. He credits his half sister Bowie Tsang for teaching him about film and literature.

## Personal life

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

## Filmography
### Directing

* Lover's Discourse (2010)
* Lacuna (2012)
* Soul Mate (2016)
* Better Days (2019)
* 3 Body Problem (2024), episodes 1-2

### Producers

* She's Got No Name (2024)

### Acting

* Stoma (2020)
* The Strangled Truth (2019)
* Missbehavior (2019)
* The Brink (2017)
* Love Off the Cuff (2017)
* S Storm (2016)
* Robbery (2016)
* From Vegas to Macau III (2016)
* From Vegas to Macau II (2015)
* Zombie Fight Club (2014)
* Z Storm (2014)
* Naked Ambition 2 (2014)
* Golden Chicken 3 (2014)
* Streets of Macao (2014)
* SDU: Sex Duties Unit (2013)
* My Sassy Hubby (2012)
* Triad (2012)
* Love in the Buff (2012)
* The Thieves (2012)
* Girl$ (2010)
* Once a Gangster (2010)
* Dream Home (2010)
* Ex (2010) - Sol
* Claustrophobia (2008) - John
* Ocean Flame (2008)
* Scare 2 Die (2008)
* Run Papa Run (2008) - Chicken
* Tactical Unit: No Way Out (2008)
* Simply Actors (2007) - Window cleaner vendor
* Single Blog (2007) - Woody
* Dragon Boys' (2007) - Fox Boy (Canadian TV Miniseries)
* My Name Is Fame (2006)
* On the Edge (2006) - Mini B
* Midnight Running (2006) - Peter
* The Third Eye (2006) - Gum
* Without Words (2006) - Michael
* Isabella (2006) - Fai
* Cocktail (2006) - Kuen
* A.V. (2005) - Band-Aid
* It Had to Be You! (2005)
* The Eye 2 (2004) - Joey's co-worker
* The Park (2003) (as Derek Tsang) - Dan
* Men Suddenly in Black (2003) - Young Tin

## Awards and nominations

| Award | Year | Nominated work | Category | Result | Ref. |
| Academy Awards | 2021 | Better Days | Best International Feature Film (representing Hong Kong) | Nominated | |
| Asian Film Awards | 2017 | Soul Mate | Best Director | Nominated | |
| AACTA Awards | 2020 | Better Days | Best Asian Film | Won | |
| China Film Director's Guild Awards | 2017 | Soul Mate | Best Hong Kong / Taiwan Director | Won | |
| China Film Director's Guild Awards | 2020 | Better Days | Best Hong Kong / Taiwan Director | Won | |
| Golden Horse Awards | 2010 | Lover's Discourse | Best New Director (shared with Jimmy Wan) | Nominated | |
| Golden Horse Awards | 2016 | Soul Mate | Best Director | Nominated | |
| Golden Rooster Awards | 2017 | Soul Mate | Best Directorial Debut | Nominated | |
| Golden Rooster Awards | 2020 | Better Days | Best Director | Nominated | |
| Hong Kong Film Awards | 2017 | Soul Mate | Best Director | Nominated | |
| Hong Kong Film Awards | 2017 | Soul Mate | Best New Director | Nominated | |
| Hong Kong Film Awards | 2020 | Better Days | Best Director | Won | |
| Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award | 2017 | Soul Mate | Best Director | Nominated | |
| Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award | 2020 | Better Days | Best Director | Won | |
| Hong Kong Film Directors' Guild | 2017 | Soul Mate | Best Director | Won | |
| Hong Kong Film Directors' Guild | 2020 | Better Days | Best Director | Won | |
| Osaka Asian Film Festival | 2011 | Lover's Discourse | Grand Prix (shared with Jimmy Wan) | Won | |
| Osaka Asian Film Festival | 2017 | Soul Mate | ABC Award | Won | |
| Osaka Asian Film Festival | 2020 | Better Days | Audience Award | Won | |
| Primetime Emmy Awards | 2024 | 3 Body Problem | Outstanding Drama Series | Nominated | [27] [28] |