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Profile | How Hong Kong actor Louis Cheung emerged from the shadow of his singer wife Kay Tse

Hong Kong tabloids painted Louis Cheung as dependent on singer wife Kay Tse, but as an acclaimed actor he’s standing on his own two feet now

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Louis Cheung in an interview with the Post in 2011. At one time , Hong Kong tabloids mocked the singer, songwriter and actor for being less successful than his pop-star wife, Kay Tse. Now he is flying high. Photo: SCMP
This is the 37th instalment in a biweekly series profiling major Hong Kong pop culture figures of recent decades.
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There is a Cantonese slang phrase for men who are less successful than their female spouses, “eating soft rice”, which describes when a man is perceived to be financially reliant on a woman.

In the 2000s and 2010s, that expression was unfairly associated with singer and actor Louis Cheung Kai-chung in sensationalist tabloid media headlines about his relationship with pop singer Kay Tse On-kei, whom he married in 2007. Some internet users even took to calling him “Mrs Tse”.

Cheung, now 44, admitted years later that the negativity got to him, especially in the 2000s. “After I turned 30, I figured it out – am I what people say I am, or am I the one who decides who I am?” he said in a 2023 radio interview.

Louis Cheung and Kay Tse arrive at the 41st Hong Kong Film Awards presentation ceremony in April 2023. Photo: Sam Tsang
Louis Cheung and Kay Tse arrive at the 41st Hong Kong Film Awards presentation ceremony in April 2023. Photo: Sam Tsang

The couple did not let public opinion sway their relationship – they celebrated their 17th wedding anniversary earlier this year.

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And in recent years, Cheung has forged a path of his own as a serious film actor.

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