Hong Kong actor Kenneth Tsang died alone in his hotel room in the Yau Tsim Mong district in Hong Kong while being quarantined for Covid-19.
He was 87 years old. Tsang had been in quarantine for seven days after returning from Singapore on Monday and was found unconscious by hotel staff on Wednesday (April 27).
The cause of death remains unclear as he had tested negative for Covid-19 and had no underlying medical conditions.
Tsang had acted in 237 productions both in Hong Kong film and television specifically in detective and martial arts movies.
He also achieved international recognition for his role in the James Bond film Die Another Day in 2002, John Woo’s The Killer in 1989, Rush Hour 2 in 2001 (which also starred Jackie Chan) and The Replacement Killers in 1998 with Chow Yun-Fat and Mira Sorvino.
Tsang who was born on Sept 2, 1935 started his acting career in 1955 after graduating with an architecture degree from the University of California, Berkeley.
Before that he attended Wah Yan College, Kowloon secondary school for boys in Yau Ma Tei.
Despite a prolific screen career that spanned 66 years, Kenneth Tsang never played the leading man. He is perhaps best remembered for being the handsome bad guy in Hong Kong cinema classics such as Teddy Girls. In the year that he did that film which was in 1969, he had also appeared in 25 other films. His last role was in the 2021 film, The Attorney.
He was also known for his television appearances from the 70’s onwards where he appeared in 50 drama serials.
Tsang also worked in theatre alongside screen veteran Lisa Lu Yan in 2006 and 2008 in De Ling & Empress Dowager Ci Xi. He was later awarded the best supporting actor award at the Hong Kong Film Awards for his role in Overhead 3 (2014)
He has one son with his first wife Lan Di, and a daughter with his second wife, Barbara Tang. He has been married three times.
Hong Kong currently requires all inbound travellers to undergo a quarantine period of 14 days.