'PEOPLE HAVE ALWAYS wanted to oblige me with a new image,' says Ekin Cheng Yee-kin. 'But I already have one: a guy who loves playing computer games and hunting down new technical gadgets - someone who always mixes work and play.' He sighs. 'But then I've been in showbusiness for more than 20 years - so if I'm really that frivolous and have managed to hang around after all these years, I must be really lucky.'
A minute later, however, Cheng is raving about realising his childhood dream of landing the lead role in a Thai film version of Japanese comic Ultraman. 'My ultimate honour,' he says with a grin.
He might be frustrated about being seen as a perennial slacker - a reputation he admits is of his own making - but the 39-year-old doesn't seem to be interested in acting his age. He might have played plenty of unflappable ladykillers and fiery mobsters, but the real-life Cheng is more likely to dance across the room, squealing with delight, when told he doesn't have to change for a photo shoot.
After becoming one of Hong Kong's most popular movie stars in the late 1990s with his role as handsome gang leader Chan Ho-nam in the Young and Dangerous series, Cheng's career came unstuck as the new century dawned. He had a much-publicised spat with his then employer, Albert Yeung Sau-shing's Emperor Entertainment Group (EEG), after refusing to sack his long-time manager, Sandy Lamb San-san. His stint as a Canto-pop singer stalled, and his movie career fared no better, with roles in critically panned farces such as My Wife is 18 (with Charlene Choi Cheuk-yin) and Protege de la Rose Noire (with Choi and her Twins mate Gillian Chung Yan-tung).
He came in for plenty of bad press after breaking up with long-time partner Maggie Siu Mei-kei because of a reported affair with Cantopop singer Gigi Leung Wing-kei.
The media circus that accompanied each of these developments could well have hurt even the most hardened celebrity, let alone someone as laid back as Cheng. 'It's okay now,' he says.