Profile on Nicholas Tse Ting Fung

The prodigal son of the Hong Kong entertainment circle, Nicholas Tse Ting-Fung was born on August 29, 1980. Tse spent most of his formative years in Vancouver and Phoenix, Arizona, but Hong Kong audiences became acquainted with him as a child because of his parents, veteran actors Patrick Tse and Deborah Li. Both revelled in being the focus of media attention and often brought out Nicholas Tse and his sister to pose for holiday family photos, which were published in HK magazines. As a result of the early attention, Nicholas Tse became accustomed to being in the public eye and it seemed inevitable that he would follow in their footsteps?in more ways than one.
Starting out initially in music, Nicholas Tse made his first venture into the movies with his role as a young Chan Ho-Nam in Young and Dangerous: The Prequel (1998). Nicholas Tse's performance was rewarded with a Hong Kong Film Award for Best New Artist. Nicholas Tse followed this with strong outings in the drama Metade Fumaca (1999), and in commercial productions like Gen-X Cops (1999) and My Schoolmate, the Barbarian (2001). In addition, Nicholas Tse had a scene-stealing cameo in Comic King (2000), and wrote and co-directed a short with fellow actor Stephen Fung for the anthology film Heroes in Love (2001).
However, while Nicholas Tse is considered to be one of the most promising actors of his generation, it is his off-screen escapades that have garnered the most attention. Nicholas Tse kept the press busy ever since stepping foot in Hong Kong as a singer in 1996, from criticism of him riding on the coattails of his parents to news of rivalries with other male entertainers. In addition, his on-and-off-again relationship with older woman Faye Wong has been prime water-cooler discussion fodder. Not afraid to share his opinions,Nicholas Tse has also gained negative attention for his outspokenness in interviews. At one point, he was frozen by TVB after criticizing them in an inteview with TimeAsia.com.
More recently, it was Nicholas Tse's penchant for speed that put him in hot water. Nicholas Tse now infamous perversion of justice case?in which a chauffeur for entertainment company EEG attempted to take the blame for an accident that Nicholas Tse caused?was headline news for many months. The courts handed Nicholas Tse a guilty verdict and he spent two weeks in jail before being sentenced to 240 hours of community service, a decision that incited much public uproar. Nicholas Tse took a six-month sabbatical after the trial but returned to the entertainment circle in March of 2003. (Yinique 2003)

Nicholas Tse has produced a number of albums, known for their guitar riffs. Nicholas Tse has also starred in several other acclaimed films, such as Time and Tide and Metade Fumaca. Nicholas Tse enjoys good success in Hong Kong, as well as dating Hong Kong singer/actress Cecilia Cheung and Faye Wong.

However, Nicholas Tse came into the spotlight when he crashed his Ferrari F360 Modena in Central of Hong Kong in early morning on March 23, 2002. Initially it was claimed that his driver was responsible for the crash, but further investigation by the ICAC revealed that the story was fabricated, involving three other men and a police officer. Nicholas Tse was sentenced to 240 hours of community service for obstruction of justice, and officer Lau Chi-Wai was sentenced to six months in prison. He had spent two weeks in a detention center prior to sentencing, and there, Tse received a rectal infection as a result of the cavity searches. Although some viewed this charge as lenient, the 240 hours was the maximum punishment for this offense, given that Tse was also a young offender at the time (21 years and 7 months.) Nonetheless, some claimed that this sentence would send out the wrong message to Hong Kong youths, although it could be equally argued that handing out a harsher sentence because he was a celebrity is just as inappropriate as handing out a lighter one.

Nicholas Tse later had another accident in November, where he crashed his Audi in Lantau. Nicholas Tse was banned from driving for six months and fined 4000 Hong Kong dollars for reckless driving. Prior to this, Nicholas Tse was fined 7000 HKD and had his license suspended for a year for two separate charges of speeding.

Due to the high publicity of the case and his frequent automobile accidents, the crash site of his Ferrari on Red Cotton Drive in Central is now popularly known as the "Nicholas Curve" (霆鋒灣) by local HongKongese. Although it is not an official name, every HongKongese knows where it is.

Afterwards, Nicholas Tse spent several months to "discover himself", then releasing the album Reborn.