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Meet Hong Kong hottie Karl Ting: he battled Simu Liu for the Shang-Chi role and auditioned for K-pop’s SM Entertainment, but ended up finding success on TVB like his idol Tony Leung

STORYCherry Chan
Hong Kong star Karl Ting is looking at a brighter future. Photos: @karl_ting/Instagram
Hong Kong star Karl Ting is looking at a brighter future. Photos: @karl_ting/Instagram
Hong Kong celebrities and icons

  • Before TVB’s Mr. Hong Kong contest, Karl Ting auditioned for SM Entertainment – and Korean actor Park Seo-jun is one of his idols
  • He was one of many Asian actors who tried out for the lead role in Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, with the part going to Simu Liu, of course

Karl Ting has been making waves as a TVB presenter and actor since his 2016 debut, his hard work paying off when he was named most improved actor at the 2021 TVB Anniversary Awards.

Currently, Ting has the lead part of Chai Hing Jau on TVB drama Freedom Memories, which is about Hong Kong’s entertainment industry during the 1980s and TVB stars during that era. The 24-year-old actor is proving to be up to the mark in his role, and there’s been talk about his potential to be one of the millennial “Five Tigers of TVB” like the original 80s version, which included Tony Leung and Andy Lau; the latter went on to become one of Canto-pop’s Four Heavenly Kings.

As one of TVB’s rising talents, let’s take a look into his career and what makes him so special.

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His first shot at fame was on TVB’s Mr. Hong Kong

Karl Ting at the 2016 Mr. Hong Kong competition. Photo: @karl_ting/Instagram
Karl Ting at the 2016 Mr. Hong Kong competition. Photo: @karl_ting/Instagram

Ting emigrated to Canada when he was 14, but returned to Hong Kong in 2016 under the Project Boyz Power event organised by Canadian-Cantonese television channel Fairchild TV, to take part in TVB’s Mr. Hong Kong contest.

He was named Mr. Photogenic and came in second for the contest, but after the initial spotlight, he went through a dry spell for half a year as no work came, Ting told Ming Pao Weekly. But he persisted and endured the tough times before finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

He wanted to be a K-pop star

Karl Ting was originally aiming for K-pop fame. Photo: @karl_ting/Instagram
Karl Ting was originally aiming for K-pop fame. Photo: @karl_ting/Instagram
TVB’s Mr. Hong Kong contest was not Ting’s first shot at showbiz, in fact, he told Headline Daily that, in 2014, he was keen on making it in the South Korean entertainment industry. He tried out for Korean entertainment giant SM Entertainment when they held auditions in Canada, and disclosed that Wendy of popular girl group Red Velvet was among his cohorts.

Ting did not pass, and admitted that he was envious of K-pop stars for having a large platform to reach audiences, which is “every artist’s dream”.